Search results for "elastin"

Interfacial Self-Assembly to Spatially Organize Graphene Oxide Into Hierarchical and Bioactive Structures

2020

Multicomponent self-assembly holds great promise for the generation of complex and functional biomaterials with hierarchical microstructure. Here, we describe the use of supramolecular co-assembly between an elastin-like recombinamer (ELR5) and a peptide amphiphile (PA) to organize graphene oxide (GO) flakes into bioactive structures across multiple scales. The process takes advantage of a reaction—diffusion mechanism to enable the incorporation and spatial organization of GO within multiple ELR5/PA layers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ImageJ software were used to demonstrate the hierarchical organization of GO flakes within the ELR5/PA lay…

Self-assembly of monodisperse oligonucleotide-elastin block copolymers into stars and compound micelles.

2010

Sedation in allergic rhinitis is caused by the condition and not by antihistamine treatment

1996

Sedation is regarded as a common side-effect of most H1-antihistamines. This view must be accepted, yet can hardly be assessed under treatment of allergic disorders. Since central sedative potency is hard to evaluate, different methods of measurement have been introduced in the four phases of clinical investigation. While tests of high complexity in early trials can detect true central effects, they seem to have the disadvantage of not taking into consideration the important interactions of drugs with the disorder. Therefore, we used a visual analog scale (VAS) as an instrument to demonstrate sedative effects in five clinical studies carried out between 1989 and 1994 with a total number of …

Chain Stiffness of Elastin-Like Polypeptides

2010

The hydrodynamic radii of a series of genetically engineered monodisperse elastin like polypeptides (ELP) was determined by dynamic light scattering in aqueous solution as function of molar mass. Utilizing the known theoretical expression for the hydrodynamic radius of wormlike chains, the Kuhn statistical segment length was determined to be lk = 2.1 nm, assuming that the length of the peptide repeat unit was b = 0.365 nm, a value derived for a coiled conformation of ELP. The resulting chain stiffness is significantly larger than previously reported by force-distance curve analysis (lk < 0.4 nm). The possible occurrence of superstructures, such as hairpins or helices, would reduce the conto…

Feature characterization of scarring and non-scarring types of alopecia by multiphoton microscopy (Conference Presentation)

2018

Treatment and management of alopecia are highly determined by an accurate diagnosis, which can be challenging due to the lack of methods to properly visualize hair follicles. Current standard diagnosis is based on dermoscopy for non-scarring alopecia and scalp biopsy for scarring types of alopecia. Dermoscopy can be inconclusive, while biopsy is a painful procedure. In this study, we used a clinical tomograph based on multiphoton microscopy (MPM) to non-invasively image the scalp of 5 healthy subjects and of 12 patients affected by non-scarring alopecia (androgenetic and areata) and scarring alopecia (frontal fibrosing). MPM is capable of non-invasive in vivo imaging of follicular structure…

Multispectral autoflourescence detection of skin neoplasia using steady-state techniques

2019

In the current study were used excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS) steady-state techniques in a broad spectral regions (excitation at 220-500 nm and emission at 280-850 nm) to achieve the whole set of endogenous fluorophores, existed in normal and neoplastic cutaneous tissues. Several types of benign, dysplastic and malignant types of skin lesions were investigated ex vivo using both EEM and SFS modalities, namely the basal cell papilloma and carcinoma, pigmented nevi, dysplastic nevi, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. Histological analysis was used as a “gold standard” for evaluation of clinical diagnosis of the lesions investig…

Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles.

2007

We report herein thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) in a linear AB diblock architecture with an N-terminal peptide ligand that self-assemble into spherical micelles when heated slightly above body temperature. A series of 10 ELP block copolymers (ELP(BC)'s ) with different molecular weights and hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic block ratios were genetically synthesized by recursive directional ligation. The self-assembly of these polymers from unimers into micelles was investigated by light scattering, fluorescence spectroscopy, and cryo-TEM. These ELP(BC)'s undergo two phase transitions as a function of solution temperature: a unimer-to-spherical micelle transition at an interm…

072 Collagen gene expression and tenascin pattern in normal, osteoarthritic, and rheumatoid connective tissues

1992

The extracellular matrix consists of four major components, namely collagens, elastin, proteoglyeans and glycoproteins. Collagens are important members of the ECM, forming a family of at least t 3 different structurally related proteins. Tenascin, synonymous with cytoactin, hexabrachion and J1, is a new member of matrix glycoproteins with a molecular mass of 1200 kD. It exhibits a "hexabrachion" structure with an ellipsoid central globule from which six arms of 75 nm in length diverge in a T-junction arrangement [1]. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) belongs to the group of connective tissue diseases. In contrast to abundant data about ECM-changes in systemic sclerodermia [2] the matrix alterations…

Multispectral fluorescence detection of pigmented cutaneous tumours

2020

We investigated pigmented skin tumour lesions in vivo and ex vivo, including benign and dysplastic nevi, as well as malignant lesions, such as pigmented basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and malignant melanoma (MM) lesions, to obtain a complex view about the feasibility of different excitation sources solely and/or in combination to induce fluorescence signal useful for diagnosis of various low-fluorescent cutaneous neoplasia. A specialized multispectral analysis of the data obtained was applied by using excitation in broad spectral range, covering ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared spectral range, that contribute considerably to: (1) fundamental determination of tumour tissues’ spectral prope…

Extracellular matrix fiber microarchitecture is region-specific in bicuspid aortic valve-associated ascending aortopathy

2016

Abstract Objective Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) in patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) commonly dilate asymmetrically compared with patients with tricuspid aortic valve (TAV). This discrepancy in aneurysm geometry led us to hypothesize that microarchitectural differences underlie the observed asymmetric dilatation pattern. The purpose of this study was to characterize the microarchitectural distinctions of the extracellular matrix of the 2 phenotypes with a focus on the proportion of radially oriented elastin and collagen fibers in different circumferential aortic regions. Methods Aortic tissue rings were obtained just distal to the sinotubular junction from patients with…