Search results for "Fluorescence anisotropy"
showing 10 items of 16 documents
Elicitins trap and transfer sterols from micelles, liposomes and plant plasma membranes
1999
Using elicitins, proteins secreted by some phytopathogenic Oomycetes (Phytophthora) known to be able to transfer sterols between phospholipid vesicles, the transfer of sterols between micelles, liposomes and biological membranes was studied. Firstly, a simple fluorometric method to screen the sterol-carrier capacity of proteins, avoiding the preparation of sterolcontaining phospholipidic vesicles, is proposed. The transfer of sterols between DHE micelles (donor) and stigmasterol or cholesterol micelles (acceptor) was directly measured, as the increase in DHE fluorescence signal. The results obtained with this rapid and easy method lead to the same conclusions as those previously reported, u…
Cytosolic Ca2+Content and Membrane Fluidity of Platelets and Polymorphonuclear Leucocytes in Diabetes Mellitus
1995
Considering the role played by platelets and leucocytes in diabetic disease and keeping in mind the strong correlation between functional and metabolic aspects that characterizes this clinical condition, we evaluated, in two groups of diabetics, respectively the platelet and polymorphonuclear (PMN) cytosolic Ca2+ content (employing the fluorescent probe Fura 2-AM) and membrane fluidity (using the fluorescent probe TMA-DPH and considering the fluorescence polarization degree, inversely related to the membrane fluidity). From the obtained results, it is evident that the platelet cytosolic Ca2+ content does not distinguish normals from diabetics of type 1 and 2; the platelet membrane fluidity …
The effect of temperature on the internal dynamics of dansylated POPAM dendrimers
2011
The internal and rotational dynamics of the dansylated poly(propylene amine) dendrimers (POPAM) have been studied by time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The hydrodynamic volumes of the dendrimer generations from G1 to G4 were estimated by fluorescence anisotropy data. Experiments and simulations suggest that the volume and the shape of the dendrimers are temperature dependent. At low temperatures the dendrimer structure becomes more spacious and rigid and back-folding of the individual branches is slowed down. For the G3 and G4 generations the temperature effects are much stronger than for the smaller G1 and G2 generations, where back-fold…
Investigations of Chl a aggregates cross-linked by dioxane in 3-methylpentane
1997
In this work, dioxane-bound aggregates of chlorophyll a are prepared in 3-methylpentane. The properties of the aggregates are studied by using steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies. The Q -region absorption spectrum of the y chlorophyll a-dioxane aggregate shows four clearly resolvable narrow bands with comparable intensities. The band maxima are located at 683, 689, 698 and 702 nm. The emission spectrum consists of two emission bands centred at 699 and 702 nm suggesting the presence of two types of aggregates. High degree of fluorescence polarization is detected yielding the angles between the absorption transition moments with respect to the 702 nm emission transition moment. The …
Orientational order of Langmuir–Blodgett films as determined by fluorescence anisotropy
1989
The orientational order parameters 〈P2〉 and 〈P4〉, of cadmium stearate Langmuir–Blodgett multilayers have been calculated from steady state fluorescence anisotropy experiments. It has been shown that it is valid to model the polarization components using the assumptions that the fluorescent probes are axially symmetric, the film is azimuthally symmetric within the plane, and that the rotational motion is slow enough to be neglected. Although the data do not preclude a dependence of anisotropy on thickness, within the sample‐to‐sample variations, there is no significant effect of thickness on orientational order. The order parameters for newly deposited films are 〈P2〉=0.33 and 〈P4〉=0.02. The …
Acyl-Chain Mismatch Driven Superlattice Arrangements in DPPC/DLPC/Cholesterol Bilayers
2010
Fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy and cholesterol oxidase activity were employed to investigate the effect of phosphatidylcholine (PC) acyl chain length mismatch on the lateral organizations of lipids in liquid-ordered dipalmitoyl-PC/dilauroyl-PC/cholesterol (DPPC/DLPC/CHOL) bilayers. Plots of steady-state fluorescence emission anisotropy of diphenylhexatriene (DPH) labeled PC (DPH-PC) embedded in the DPPC/DLPC/CHOL bilayers revealed significant peaks at several DPPC mole fractions (Y(DPPC)) when the cholesterol mole fraction (X(CHOL)) was fixed to particular values. Analogously, the DPH-PC anisotropy peaked at several critical X(CHOL)'s when Y(DPPC) was fixed. Acyl chain C-H and C hor…
Effect of a hyperlipidic diet on lipid composition, fluidity, and (Na+-K+)ATPase activity of rat erythrocyte membranes.
1989
Feeding rats a hyperlipidic diet in which animals were offered daily a variety of high-energy food resulted in a significant increase of serum free fatty acids and a decrease of phospholipids with respect to controls. On the contrary, there were no significant differences in erythrocyte membrane total lipid composition between the two groups. Erythrocyte membranes showed a significant decrease in saturated fatty acid content and a significant increase in (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acid content; (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids significantly decreased. Membrane fluidity, investigated by fluorescence polarization of diphenylhexatriene, significantly increased in the erythrocyte membranes of…
Internal dynamics and energy transfer in dansylated POPAM dendrimers and their eosin complexes.
2010
Internal dynamics of dansylated poly(propyleneamine) dendrimers (POPAM, G1-G4) in solution and excitation energy transfer from dansyls to eosin in POPAM-eosin complexes have been studied by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Combining the results from fluorescence anisotropy and the MD simulation studies suggests three time domains for the internal dynamics of the G3 and G4 generations, about 60 ps for motions of the outer-sphere dansyls, 500-1000 ps for restricted motions of back-folded dansyls, and 1500-2600 ps for the overall rotation. For the smaller generations, the contribution from the restricted motions was not entirely evident. Eosin bi…
Effect of ethanol on membrane fluidity of protoplasts fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae andKloeckera apiculata grown with or without ethanol, measured by …
1994
Direct measurements of membrane fluidity by fluorescence anisotropy of protoplasts fromKloeckera apiculata andSaccharomyces cerevisiae, a low and a high ethanol tolerant strain respectively, are presented. The comparison of the behaviour of the two strains grown with or without ethanol enabled us to demonstrate the existing relationship between ethanol tolerance and membrane fluidity.
GFP-mut2 Proteins in Trehalose-Water Matrixes: Spatially Heterogeneous Protein-Water-Sugar Structures
2007
We report investigations on the properties of nanoenvironments around single-GFP-mut2 proteins in trehalose-water matrixes. Single-GFPmut2 molecules embedded in thin trehalose-water films were characterized in terms of their fluorescence brightness, bleaching dynamics, excited state lifetime, and fluorescence polarization. For each property, sets of approximately 100-150 single molecules have been investigated as a function of trehalose content and hydration. Three distinct and interconverting families of proteins have been found which differ widely in terms of bleaching dynamics, brightness, and fluorescence polarization, whose relative populations sizably depend on sample hydration. The r…