Search results for "Microscopy"
showing 10 items of 3390 documents
Negative staining across holes: application to fibril and tubular structures.
2007
The negative staining technique, when used with holey carbon support films, presents superior imaging conditions than is the case when samples are adsorbed to continuous carbon films. A demonstration of this negative staining approach is presented, using ammonium molybdate in combination with trehalose, applied to several fibrillar and tubular samples. Fibrils formed from the amyloid-beta peptide and the protease inhibitor pepstain A spread very well unsupported across holes and the different polymorphic fibril forms can be readily assessed. However, tubular forms of amyloid-beta have a tendency to be flattened, due to surface tension forces prior to and during specimen drying. Sub-fibril a…
Cholesterol facilitates interactions between α‐synuclein oligomers and charge‐neutral membranes
2015
AbstractOligomeric species formed during α-synuclein fibrillation are suggested to be membrane-disrupting agents, and have been associated with cytotoxicity in Parkinson’s disease. The majority of studies, however, have revealed that the effect of α-synuclein oligomers is only noticeable on systems composed of anionic lipids, while the more physiologically relevant zwitterionic lipids remain intact. We present experimental evidence for significant morphological changes in zwitterionic membranes containing cholesterol, induced by α-synuclein oligomers. Depending on the lipid composition, model membranes are either unperturbed, disrupt, or undergo dramatic morphological changes and segregate …
The Boson Peak of Amyloid Fibrils: Probing the Softness of Protein Aggregates by Inelastic Neutron Scattering
2014
Proteins and polypeptides are characterized by low-frequency vibrations in the terahertz regime responsible for the so-called "boson peak". The shape and position of this peak are related to the mechanical properties of peptide chains. Amyloid fibrils are ordered macromolecular assemblies, spontaneously formed in nature, characterized by unique biological and nanomechanical properties. In this work, we investigate the effects of the amyloid state and its polymorphism on the boson peak. We used inelastic neutron scattering to probe low-frequency vibrations of the glucagon polypeptide in the native state and in two different amyloid morphologies in both dry and hydrated sample states. The dat…
Carbon nanotube-protein carriers enhance size-dependent self-adjuvant antibody response to haptens
2013
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanomaterials with interesting emerging applications. Their properties make CNTs excellent candidates for use as new nanovehicles in drug delivery, immunization and diagnostics. In the current study, we assessed the immune-response-amplifying properties of CNTs to haptens by using azoxystrobin, the first developed strobilurin fungicide, asamodel analyte. Anazoxystrobin derivative bearingacarboxylated spacer arm (hapten AZc6) was covalently coupled to bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the resulting BSA-AZc6 conjugate was covalently linked to four functionalized CNTs of different shapes and sizes, varying in diameter and length. These four types of CNT-based construc…
Transmembrane electrochemistry of erythrocytes: Direct electrochemical test for detecting hemolysis in whole blood
2016
A rapid method for detecting hemolysis in whole blood based on a direct electrochemical assay either in venous blood and finger blood, respectively at glassy carbon and screen-printed graphite electrodes is described. The presence of hemolysis is detected from characteristic voltammetric signatures associated to Fe-heme units in healthy and hemolyzed erythrocytes. The voltammetric response of blood was also investigated using scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and involved transmembrane electrochemistry of erythrocytes superimposed to molecular electrochemistry of heme-containing proteins and heme fragments in the plasma. Voltammetric testing …
Structure and properties of GaNxOy films grown by nitridation of GaAs (100) substrates
2004
GaAs (100) substrates have been heat-treated in a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition reactor under flows of NH 3 and an oxygen organo-metallic precursor at temperatures between 650°C and 750°C. Yellowish films formed at the surface of all the samples. Gallium, nitrogen and oxygen were detected by EDX analysis of the films. The oxygen content was estimated in the range of at 5-10 at% depending on the heat-treatment temperature. X-ray diffraction and HRTEM results indicate that the structure of the films corresponds to the hexagonal wurtzite phase of GaN with an expanded unit cell. Raman spectra show hands corresponding to the Raman active GaN modes as well as disorder-activated broad ba…
Effect of the Mo atom flow on the molybdenum growth on TiO2 (110) surface
2004
Abstract Molybdenum has been deposited at room temperature on stoichiometric TiO 2 (1 1 0) surfaces with two deposition rates: 0.1 equivalent monolayer (eqML) and 1.5 eqML min −1 . X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies clearly reveal an effect of the deposition rate upon the growth mode and the interfacial reaction. Indeed, whereas a strong interfacial reaction between Mo and TiO 2 involves a Stranski–Krastanov growth mode with the formation of amorphous molybdenum oxide monolayers for the lowest deposition rate, no reaction can be observed for the highest deposition rate. Moreover in this latter case, the growth mode seems to be a 3D …
Defektanalyse von a-C- und CNx-Schichten mittels Röntgen-Photoemissions-Elektronenmikroskopie (X-PEEM)Characterization of stoichiometric defects in d…
2001
Amorphe Kohlenstoff- und Kohlenstoffnitridschichten werden vielseitig als Schutzschichten in der Industrie verwandt. Insbesondere werden in der Magnetfestplattenspeicherindustrie verschleisfeste sauerstoffundurchlassige Schutzschichten von wenigen Nanometern Dicke benotigt. Rontgen-Photoemissions-Elektronenmikroskopie (X-PEEM) stellt eine Analysetechnik zur Charakterisierung u.a. von Kohlenstoffschutzschichten dar, da sich Informationen uber die lokale Bindungsumgebung aus der Rontgenabsorptions-Nahkantenstruktur (XANES) gewinnen lassen. CVD-DLC- sowie a-C- und CNx-Schichten wurden analysiert. Fur die a-C-Schichten auf Si (100) wurde der Anteil sp2-hybridisierter Atome bestimmt und mit den …
Application of C1-Esterase Inhibitor During Reperfusion of Ischemic Myocardium
2001
Background—Complement activation during reperfusion of ischemic myocardium augments myocardial injury, and complement inhibition with C1-esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) at the time of reperfusion exerts marked cardioprotective effects in experimental studies. Application of C1-INH in newborns, however, was recently reported to have dangerous and even lethal side effects. This study addresses the essential role of dosage in studies using C1-INH.Methods and Results—Cardioprotection by C1-INH was examined in a pig model with 60 minutes of coronary occlusion followed by 120 minutes of reperfusion. C1-INH was administered intravenously 5 to 10 minutes before coronary reperfusion without heparin at a…
The influence of the anatase nanoparticles boundaries on the titania activity performance
2014
Metal oxides structures, formed by ordered self-assembling of crystalline nanoparticles aggregates, are attracting growing attention in fields such as catalysis or solar cells. The properties of these structures are influenced not only by their morphology and nanoparticles composition but also by the assembled particles boundaries. In order to determine the influence of these boundaries on the structures properties, the present investigation has been devoted to study the characteristics of anatase nanoparticles boundaries in titania aggregates prepared by TiCl4 hydrolysis at low temperature. Proton magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance and high resolution transmission electron mic…