Search results for "porter"

Carbon nanotube – Protamine hybrid: Evaluation of DNA cell penetration

2016

International audience; Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) represent a class of nanomaterials with important potential for biomedical and biotechnological applications. CNT based vectorization is an emerging approach to the transport of nucleic acid through cell membrane but limited by detachment of DNA and degradation process. To increase DNA internalization, it was proved that cationic functionalized CNT was essential. In such a way, protamine efficiently used in several transfection processes is a cationic protein which was never associated to CNT.We propose here a novel nanovector based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) functionalized by protamine. Our results based on qPCR methods clearly…

Ionic Transport through Chemically Functionalized Hydrogen Peroxide-Sensitive Asymmetric Nanopores

2015

We describe the fabrication of a chemical-sensitive nanofluidic device based on asymmetric nanopores whose transport characteristics can be modulated upon exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). We show experimentally and theoretically that the current-voltage curves provide a suitable method to monitor the H2O2-mediated change in pore surface characteristics from the electronic readouts. We demonstrate also that the single pore characteristics can be scaled to the case of a multipore membrane whose electric outputs can be readily controlled. Because H2O2 is an agent significant for medical diagnostics, the results should be useful for sensing nanofluidic devices.

Temporal coherency between receptor expression, neural activity and AP-1-dependent transcription regulates Drosophila motoneuron dendrite development.

2013

Neural activity has profound effects on the development of dendritic structure. Mechanisms that link neural activity to nuclear gene expression include activity-regulated factors, such as CREB, Crest or Mef2, as well as activity-regulated immediate-early genes, such as fos and jun. This study investigates the role of the transcriptional regulator AP-1, a Fos-Jun heterodimer, in activity-dependent dendritic structure development. We combine genetic manipulation, imaging and quantitative dendritic architecture analysis in a Drosophila single neuron model, the individually identified motoneuron MN5. First, Dα7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and AP-1 are required for normal MN5 dend…

Regulation of Calcium Channel Activity by Lipid Domain Formation in Planar Lipid Bilayers

2003

The sarcoplasmic reticulum channel (ryanodine receptor) from cardiac myocytes was reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers consisting of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE) and 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) in varying ratios. The channel activity parameters, i.e., open probability and average open time and its resolved short and long components, were determined as a function of POPE mole fraction (X(PE)) at 22.4 degrees C. Interestingly, all of these parameters exhibited a narrow and pronounced peak at X(PE) approximately 0.80. Differential scanning calorimetric measurements on POPE/POPC liposomes with increasing X(PE) indicated that the lipid bilayer ente…

Effects of pH on ion transport in weak amphoteric membranes

1997

Abstract We have studied theoretically the effect of pH on the ion transport through amphoteric polymer membranes composed of weak polyelectrolytes where the charged groups are randomly distributed along the axial direction of the membrane. This system serves as a simplified model for the pH controlled ion transport and drug delivery through membranes of biological interest. The theoretical approach employed is based on the Nernst-Planck equations. The complete system of electrical charges formed by: (i) the pH dependent, amphoretic membrane fixed charge, and (ii) the four mobile charges (the salt ions and the hydrogen and hydroxide ions) have been taken into account without any additional …

pH and supporting electrolyte concentration effects on the passive transport of cationic and anionic drugs through fixed charge membranes

1999

Abstract The effects of pH and supporting electrolyte concentration on the passive transport of an ionized (cationic or anionic) drug through a thick fixed charge membrane have been theoretically studied. This system constitutes a simplified model for the pH controlled ion transport and drug delivery through membranes of biological and pharmaceutical interest. Calculations were carried out for different values of the membrane fixed charge, supporting electrolyte and drug concentrations covering a broad range of the conditions usually found in experiments. The theoretical approach employed is based on the Nernst–Planck flux equations, and all of the species present in the system (the neutral…

Ion selectivity and water dissociation in polymer bipolar membranes studied by membrane potential and current–voltage measurements

2000

Abstract A polymer bipolar ion-exchange membrane consists of a layered structure involving one cation and one anion ion-exchange layer joined together in series. In this study, the ionic selectivity and water dissociation rate of six commercial bipolar membranes was evaluated from the measurements of the membrane potential in a concentration cell and the current–voltage curve in a four-point measuring cell. Bipolar membrane technology requires polymer membranes presenting high ion selectivities and water dissociation rates, and in this paper we have addressed the basic physico-chemical phenomena involved, both theoretically and experimentally. We have shown that the effects of the bipolar j…

Model calculations of ion transport against its concentration gradient when the driving force is a pH difference across a charged membrane

1997

Model calculations of the steady-state ion transport against its external concentration gradient when the driving force of this transport is a pH difference across a charged membrane are presented. We have solved numerically the exact Nernst-Planck equations without any additional simplifying approximation, such as the Goldman constant field assumption within the membrane. The validity of this assumption for a broad range of pH values, and salt and membrane fixed charge concentrations was analyzed critically. The membrane characteristics studied are the ionic fluxes and the membrane potential. Special attention is paid to the physical mechanism which leads to the ion transport against the c…

1997

A bipolar membrane (BM) is a layered structure composed of one cation and one anion ion-exchange layers joined together in series. Polymer BMs offer promising applications for many industrial processes (e. g., the use of bipolar electrodialysis for environmentally clean technologies and the treatment of salt-water effluents) because of their unique electrochemical properties. The most important of these properties is the electric field enhanced (EFE) water dissociation which arises when an electric current is forced through the membrane. This phenomenon occurs at the bipolar junction of the BM, and its coupling with ion transport, though still poorly understood, is the basis of most of the …

Observable Quantities for Electrodiffusion Processes in Membranes

2008

Electrically driven ion transport processes in a membrane system are analyzed in terms of observable quantities, such as the apparent volume flow, the time dependence of the electrolyte concentration in one cell compartment, and the electrical potential difference between the electrodes. The relations between the fluxes and these observable quantities are rigorously deduced from balances for constituent mass and solution volume. These relations improve the results for the transport coefficients up to 25% with respect to those obtained using simplified expressions common in the literature. Given the practical importance of ionic transport numbers and the solvent transference number in the ph…