Search results for "DROPLETS"
showing 10 items of 44 documents
HPMA-based block copolymers promote differential drug delivery kinetics for hydrophobic and amphiphilic molecules.
2015
Abstract We describe a method how polymeric nanoparticles stabilized with (2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA)-based block copolymers are used as drug delivery systems for a fast release of hydrophobic and a controlled release of an amphiphilic molecule. The versatile method of the miniemulsion solvent-evaporation technique was used to prepare polystyrene (PS) as well as poly-d/l-lactide (PDLLA) nanoparticles. Covalently bound or physically adsorbed fluorescent dyes labeled the particles’ core and their block copolymer corona. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) in combination with flow cytometry measurements were applied to demonstrate the burst release of a fluorescent hydrophobic…
Chemical characterization of gallium droplets grown by LP-MOCVD.
2006
International audience; This study is concerned with the chemical characterization of metallic gallium droplets, obtained on silicon (1 0 0) substrates with a single growth step, by the LP-MOCVD technique with TMGa like precursor. These structures are characterized by SIMS, XPS and TEM. The analyses results lead to a structure proposition for the droplets. The core is composed of metastable metallic gallium with a non-negligible carbon quantity probably coming from incomplete precursor decomposition. The outer part, composed of gallium oxide maintains the structure stability. Covering of the substrate by a thin gallium layer of gallium compounds is observed.
Myoglobin, expressed in brown adipose tissue of mice, regulates the content and activity of mitochondria and lipid droplets
2021
Abstract The identification of novel physiological regulators that stimulate energy expenditure through brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity in substrate catalysis is of utmost importance to understand and treat metabolic diseases. Myoglobin (MB), known to store or transport oxygen in heart and skeletal muscles, has recently been found to bind fatty acids with physiological constants in its oxygenated form (i.e., MBO2). Here, we investigated the in vivo effect of MB expression on BAT activity. In particular, we studied mitochondrial function and lipid metabolism as essential determinants of energy expenditure in this tissue. We show in a MB-null (MBko) mouse model that MB expression in BAT i…
Vortices in quantum droplets: Analogies between boson and fermion systems
2010
The main theme of this review is the many-body physics of vortices in quantum droplets of bosons or fermions, in the limit of small particle numbers. Systems of interest include cold atoms in traps as well as electrons confined in quantum dots. When set to rotate, these in principle very different quantum systems show remarkable analogies. The topics reviewed include the structure of the finite rotating many-body state, universality of vortex formation and localization of vortices in both bosonic and fermionic systems, and the emergence of particle-vortex composites in the quantum Hall regime. An overview of the computational many-body techniques sets focus on the configuration interaction …
Natural or synthetic nucleic acids encapsulated in a closed cavity of amphiphiles
2013
In this review some aspects of the interactions of organized structures of amphiphiles with natural or synthetic DNAs are briefly considered. In particular DNAs encapsulated in closed cavities of amphiphiles, specifically giant vesicles and water-in-oil droplets and reverse micelles, are dealt with. Two main applications of giant vesicles are reviewed in detail, namely their use as microreactors where reactions can be followed by optical microscopy on a single vesicle and in synthetic biology as protocell models or as potential semi-synthetic ‘‘living’’ cells. Water-in-oil droplets uses for rapid and relatively low-cost DNA amplification by PCR reaction are described as well as for in vitro…
Droplets pinned at chemically inhomogenous substrates: A simulation study of the two-dimensional Ising case
2016
As a simplified model of a liquid nanostripe adsorbed on a chemically structured substrate surface, a two-dimensional Ising system with two boundaries at which surface fields act is studied. At the upper boundary, the surface field is uniformly negative, while at the lower boundary (a distance L apart), the surface field is negative only outside a range of extension b, where a positive surface stabilizes a droplet of the phase with positive magnetization for temperatures T exceeding the critical temperature Tw of the wetting transition of this model. We investigate the local order parameter profiles across the droplet, both in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the substrate, vary…
The Elovl5 enzyme in breast cancer : regulation of cancer cell proliferation and metastasis
2021
Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in women. The 5-year relative survival rate is less than 30% for metastatic breast cancer and metastases account for more than 75% of breast cancer deaths. Fatty acid metabolism is altered in cancer and contributes to tumor progression and metastasis. Here, we were interested in Elongation of very long chain fatty acids protein 5 (Elovl5) which catalyzes the elongation of long-chain fatty acids. We observed that the tumors from patients with a breast cancer had a lower expression of Elovl5 than paired normal breast tissue. However, low expression of Elovl5 is associated with a worse prognosis in breast cancer p…
Tuneable multicoloured patterns from photonic cross-communication between cholesteric liquid crystal droplets
2014
Monodisperse droplets of planar-aligned cholesteric (N*) liquid crystal exhibit an intriguing capacity for photonic cross-communication, giving rise to colourful patterns that depend sensitively on the N* pitch, droplet positions and illuminated area. The phenomenon results from a combination of omnidirectional selective reflection of N* droplets—which thus act as spherically symmetric self-assembled photonic crystals—and total internal reflection at the continuous phase surface. We outline how the unique optical properties can be employed in numerous applications.
Acid Catalysis with Alkane/Water Microdroplets in Ionic Liquids
2021
Ionic liquids are composed of an organic cation and a highly delocalized perfluorinated anion, which remain tight to each other and neutral across the extended liquid framework. Here we show that n-alkanes in millimolar amounts enable a sufficient ion charge separation to release the innate acidity of the ionic liquid and catalyze the industrially relevant alkylation of phenol, after generating homogeneous, self-stabilized, and surfactant-free microdroplets (1–5 μm). This extremely mild and simple protocol circumvents any external additive or potential ionic liquid degradation and can be extended to water, which spontaneously generates microdroplets (ca. 3 μm) and catalyzes Brönsted rather …
Towards bioarrays of cellular-like compartments for monitoring few molecular binding events
2016
The aim of this work is to artificially reproduce scalable cellular-like compartments on a chip, thus realizing specialized small volume systems to study the behaviour of interacting biomolecules by few binding events. In particular, we show an unprecedented solution-based protein-binding assay based on arrays of oil-confined water droplets containing protein targets, labelled ligands and other compounds.