Search results for "Biophysics"
showing 10 items of 3515 documents
Protein-Membrane Interaction
2012
In the following chapter I present a nanosized and addressable protein sensor platform based on membrane coated plasmonic particles. I show unequivocally the covering of gold nanorods with lipid bilayers and thereafter the subsequent detection of streptavidin binding to biotin moities in the lipids. The binding of the streptavidin on the membrane covered gold nanorods is detected by monitoring the spectral shift by fast single particle spectroscopy (fastSPS) on many particles in parallel.
Reversible stress softening and stress recovery of cellulose networks
2009
The mechanical properties of the plant cell wall play an important role in communication, differentiation and growth of plant cells. In particular, the expansive growth of plant cells is only possible because the material that forms the plant cell wall yields at a specific stress level, allowing for an increase in cell wall area. This process can be defined in mechanical terms as the relaxation of the wall stress. The current understanding of plant cell growth suggests that such relaxation behaviour occurs due to the presence of wall loosening agents rather than to the properties of the cellulose network itself. It is believed that certain nonenzymatic proteins, acting as wall loosening age…
The chains of stress recovery
2021
Ubiquitination primes the cell for recovery from heat stress
Photocrosslinkable polysaccharide hydrogel composites based on dextran or pullulan-amylose blends with cytokines for a human co-culture model of huma…
2016
Although a large body of research has been devoted to biomaterial development for bone tissue engineering and related medical disciplines in the last few years, novel and optimized materials especially for bone fractures of critical sizes demand continued development. In this respect, polysaccharide-based hydrogels demonstrate beneficial properties and fulfill the main requirements for a bone tissue scaffold as they are hydrophilic, biocompatible, and biodegradable. The aim of the present study was the development of a natural polysaccharide-based scaffold material that can integrate with the host tissue and support bone regeneration. For this purpose, we prepared and investigated two polym…
Invited commentary: Differential learning is different from contextual interference learning.
2016
There has been renewed interest in the detailed structure of what is learned and the boundary conditions that foster motor learning. The accompanying article by Hossner et al. (2016), particularly their findings about augmented feedback in the context of different levels of additional noise, is consistent with this focus. Unfortunately, the findings from Hossner and colleagues appear to be based on incorrect interpretations of the differential learning (DL) approach. Essential discrepancies in the experimental conditions suggest the basis for the deviating results obtained in comparison to those of the original DL experiments. In this comment, it is also shown that the author's assumptions …
Hypoxia-Selective Dissociation Mechanism of a Nitroimidazole Nucleoside in a DNA Environment
2019
Photodynamic therapy is a promising approach to treat a variety of superficial tumors and other diseases. One of its major limitations arises from its dependence on molecular oxygen, which decreases the efficiency of the therapy in hypoxia conditions commonly developed by solid tumors. The present contribution reveals the molecular mechanism of a modified thymine bearing a nitroimidazole substituent, a photosensitizer able to produce highly harmful interstrand cross-links in the DNA double strand after irradiation selectively in absence of oxygen. The mechanism is resolved at a fully atomistic and electronic level relying on quantum mechanics (CASPT2, coupled-cluster, DFT, and TD-DFT method…
Permeability properties of a three-cell type in vitro model of blood-brain barrier.
2005
We previously found that RBE4.B brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) form a layer with blood‐brain barrier (BBB) properties if co‐cultured with neurons for at least one week. As astrocytes are known to modulate BBB functions, we further set a culture system that included RBE4.B BCECs, neurons and astrocytes. In order to test formation of BBB, we measured the amount of (3)H‐sucrose able to cross the BCEC layer in this three‐cell type model of BBB. Herein we report that both neurons and astrocytes induce a decrease in the permeability of the BCEC layer to sucrose. These effects are synergic as if BCECs are cultured with both neurons and astrocytes for 5 days, permeability to sucrose decr…
Capture of extracellular zinc ions by astrocytes.
2006
Synaptic zinc ions released during synaptic transmission interact with pre- and postsynaptic neuroreceptors, thus modulating neurotransmission. It is likely that they have to be efficiently cleared from the extracellular milieu to assure subsequent synaptic events. Both neurons and glia are assumed to participate in this clearance by mechanisms that are not fully understood. In this study, electron microscopic zinc cytochemistry has shown zinc-electrondense particles associated with hippocampal astrocytic membranes frequently found accumulated in stacked lamellae. In cultured astrocytes, the use of zinc fluorochromes and endocytic markers allowed the simultaneous imaging of the capture of e…
Dehydration and crystallization of trehalose and sucrose glasses containing carbonmonoxy-myoglobin
1999
We report a study wherein we contemporarily measured 1) the dehydration process of trehalose or sucrose glasses embedding carbonmonoxy-myoglobin (MbCO) and 2) the evolution of the A substates in saccharide-coated MbCO. Our results indicate that microcrystallization processes, sizeably different in the two saccharides, take place during dehydration; moreover, the microcrystalline structure is maintained unless the dry samples are equilibrated with a humidity >/=75% (>/=60%) at 25 degrees C for the trehalose (sucrose) sample. The evolution of the parameters that characterize the A substates of MbCO indicates that 1) the effects of water withdrawal are analogous in samples dried in the presenc…
Light-driven proton transport of bacteriorhodopsin incorporated into long-term stable liposomes of a polymerizable sulfolipid
1983
Abstract The chromoprotein bacteriorhodopsin from Halobacterium halobium has been incorporated into liposomes made of a fully synthetic, polymerizable lipid. Bacteriorhodopsin is found to be active in these polymer liposomes. The advantage in the use of such polymer systems concerning long-term stability in comparison with liposomes made of natural lipid is demonstrated.