Search results for "HYDROGEN"
showing 10 items of 4254 documents
Heterodimer formation of wild-type and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-causing mutant Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase induces toxicity independent of protei…
2008
Recent studies provide evidence that wild-type Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1(hWT)) might be an important factor in mutant SOD1-mediated amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In order to investigate its functional role in the pathogenesis of ALS, we designed fusion proteins of two SOD1 monomers linked by a polypeptide. We demonstrated that wild-type-like mutants, but not SOD1(G85R) homodimers, as well as mutant heterodimers including SOD1(G85R)-SOD1(hWT) display dismutase activity. Mutant homodimers showed an increased aggregation compared with the corresponding heterodimers in cell cultures and transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans, although SOD1(G85R) heterodimers are more toxic in functiona…
Enzyme-Controlled Nanodevice for Acetylcholine-Triggered Cargo Delivery Based on Janus Au–Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles
2017
[EN] This work reports a new gated nanodevice for acetylcholine-triggered cargo delivery. We prepared and characterized Janus Au-mesoporous silica nanoparticles functionalized with acetylcholinesterase on the Au face and with supramolecular b-cyclodextrin: benzimidazole inclusion complexes as caps on the mesoporous silica face. The nanodevice is able to selectively deliver the cargo in the presence of acetylcholine via enzyme-mediated acetylcholine hydrolysis, locally lowering the pH and opening the supramolecular gate. Given the key role played by ACh and its relation with Parkinson's disease and other nervous system diseases, we believe that these findings could help design new therapeuti…
Influence of hydrogen-ion concentration on refractive index value in red blood cells of diabetes patients
2002
Since hyperglycaemia changes fluidity of erythrocyte cell membrane and impair cell deformability, our goal was to characterize light refractive properties of haemoglobin and red blood cells (RBC) in diabetes patients. Microscopic investigation was carried out on intact and in methanol fixed RBCs of diabetes patients with long-term hyperglycaemia (glycosylated haemoglobin > 7,5%). Interference microscopy was used for refractive index (RI) measurements at 18 different pH levels in range of 2 - 13. Results showed that the curves of RI in intact and fixed cells of diabetes patients and fixed cells for control group were of similar configuration, with one branch in alkaline portion, one branch i…
Estradiol decreases xanthine dehydrogenase enzyme activity and protein expression innon-tumorigenicand malignant human mammary epithelial cells
2009
The retinoic acid deficiency in breast tumour epithelial cells has been ascribed to an insufficient expression of either the enzyme(s) involved in its biosynthesis or the cellular retinol binding protein (CRBP) or both. In an attempt to define the mechanisms underpinning retinoic acid deficiency in these cell model systems, we have investigated the potential regulatory effect of oestrogen (17β-estradiol) on one key player in retinoic acid biosynthesis, the xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH). This enzyme is consistently expressed and very active in non-malignant human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), as opposed to tumour MDA-MB231 and MCF7 cells. In these latter two cell lines, as opposed to HMEC …
Effects of temperature, pH and sugar concentration on the growth parameters of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, S. kudriavzevii and their interspecific hybr…
2008
The effects of temperature, pH and sugar concentration (50% glucose + 50% fructose) on the growth parameters of Saccharomyces cerevisiae T73, S. kudriavzevii IFO 1802T and the hybrid strain S. cerevisiae × S. kudriavzevii W27 were studied by means of response surface methodology based in a central composite circumscribed design. Lag phase could not be properly modelled in the wine model system, where yeasts started the fermentation in few hours after inoculation. In the case of the maximum specific growth rate (μ max), the temperature was the most important variable for three yeasts, although the effects of sugar concentration (in T73 and W27) and pH (W27 and 1802) were also significan…
Dimethylsulfoxide as carrier in enzyme cytochemistry.
1971
Addition of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) to the incubation medium of succinate dehydrogenase in a concentration of 10% enhances the staining reaction in the hyphae of the fungus Cercosporella herpotrichoides after an incubation period of 15 min. Controls without DMSO remain unstained. DMSO causes a rapid penetration of the components of the medium through the mucilage that covers the hyphae.
Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane over NiO–CeO2 mixed oxides catalysts
2012
[EN] In this paper we present the synthesis, characterization and catalytic behaviour in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane of NiO-CeO2 mixed oxides. The addition of cerium oxide to NiO strongly modifies its catalytic performance, although the changes in the catalytic behaviour depend on the catalyst composition. The incorporation of low amounts of cerium oxide to NiO multiplies the productivity to ethylene in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane by a factor of ca. 7, which is the result of an increase in both catalytic activity and selectivity to ethylene. The enhanced activity has been related to the remarkable increase of the surface area of catalyst and the low crystal sizes of …
High efficiency of Pt2+ - CeO2 novel thin film catalyst as anode for proton exchange membrane fuel cells
2016
Abstract The elevated price of Pt limits the large-scale implementation of commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cells, which effectively convert chemical energy into electricity. In order to increase the cost-efficiency in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, we have designed a family of novel anode catalysts consisting of thin films of ceria with low Pt loadings sputtered on a nanostructured carbon support. Remarkably, only such small amounts of Pt are necessary for achieving power density values comparable to the reference commercial catalysts, which results in excellent specific activities of our samples. By combining photoelectron spectroscopy and catalytic performance analysis, we …
Enhanced quantum sieving of hydrogen isotopes via molecular rearrangement of the adsorbed phase in chabazite
2020
Coadsorption experiments reveal an unexpected increase of the D2/H2 selectivity with loading in pure silica chabazite at 47 K. This effect is correlated with the appearance of a step in the adsorption isotherms of H2 and D2. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations show that this phenomenon is related to a molecular rearrangement of the adsorbed phase induced by its strong confinement. In the case of a H2 and D2 mixture, this rearrangement favors the adsorption of D2 having a smaller size due to quantum effects.
Comparative computational analysis of different active site conformations and substrates in a chalcone isomerase catalyzed reaction.
2006
Chalcone isomerase catalyzes the transformation of chalcones to flavanones. We present a computational study of the rate-limiting chemical step, an intramolecular Michael addition of a 2'-oxyanion to the alpha,beta-double bound. By using quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical hybrid methods we traced the free-energy profiles associated with the reaction of two different substrates (chalcone and 6'-deoxychalcone) in two different conformations of the active site that are described in the different crystallographic structures available. We have obtained significant differences (about 4 kcal/mol) in the free-energy barriers calculated for the two active sites. According to our results, the ac…