Covalent Binding of BMP-2 on Surfaces Using a Self-assembled Monolayer Approach

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) is a growth factor embedded in the extracellular matrix of bone tissue. BMP-2 acts as trigger of mesenchymal cell differentiation into osteoblasts, thus stimulating healing and de novo bone formation. The clinical use of recombinant human BMP-2 (rhBMP-2) in conjunction with scaffolds has raised recent controversies, based on the mode of presentation and the amount to be delivered. The protocol presented here provides a simple and efficient way to deliver BMP-2 for in vitro studies on cells. We describe how to form a self-assembled monolayer consisting of a heterobifunctional linker, and show the subsequent binding step to obtain covalent immobilization of rhBMP-2. With this approach it is possible to achieve a sustained presentation of BMP-2 while maintaining the biological activity of the protein. In fact, the surface immobilization of BMP-2 allows targeted investigations by preventing unspecific adsorption, while reducing the amount of growth factor and, most notably, hindering uncontrolled release from the surface. Both short- and long-term signaling events triggered by BMP-2 are taking place when cells are exposed to surfaces presenting covalently immobilized rhBMP-2, making this approach suitable for in vitro studies on cell responses to BMP-2 stimulation.     

Determining the Ice-binding Planes of Antifreeze Proteins by Fluorescence-based Ice Plane Affinity

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are expressed in a variety of cold-hardy organisms to prevent or slow internal ice growth. AFPs bind to specific planes of ice through their ice-binding surfaces. Fluorescence-based ice plane affinity (FIPA) analysis is a modified technique used to determine the ice planes to which the AFPs bind. FIPA is based on the original ice-etching method for determining AFP-bound ice-planes. It produces clearer images in a shortened experimental time. In FIPA analysis, AFPs are fluorescently labeled with a chimeric tag or a covalent dye then slowly incorporated into a macroscopic single ice crystal, which has been preformed into a hemisphere and oriented to determine the a- and c-axes. The AFP-bound ice hemisphere is imaged under UV light to visualize AFP-bound planes using filters to block out nonspecific light. Fluorescent labeling of the AFPs allows real-time monitoring of AFP adsorption into ice. The labels have been found not to influence the planes to which AFPs bind. FIPA analysis also introduces the option to bind more than one differently tagged AFP on the same single ice crystal to help differentiate their binding planes. These applications of FIPA are helping to advance our understanding of how AFPs bind to ice to halt its growth and why many AFP-producing organisms express multiple AFP isoforms.     

CIRCADIAN RHYTHM OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC OXYGEN EVOLUTION IN KAPPAPHYCUS ALVAREZII (RHODOPHYTA): DEPENDENCE ON LIGHT QUANTITY AND QUALITY

The rate of oxygen evolution of the tropical red alga Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty was measured for 6 days in the laboratory using a computer-aided method for long-term recording. In cool white light, Kappaphycus exhibited a robust circadian rhythm of O₂ evolution in the irradiance range of 100 to 1000 μmol photons·m ^{− 2}·s ^{− 1}. With increasing irradiance, the period of the free-running rhythm, τ, decreased in blue and increased in red light but did not change significantly in green light. The accelerating or slowing action of blue or red light, respectively, points to two photoreceptors used in the light transduction pathway of the circadian oscillator controlling oxygen evolution or the light reactions of photosynthesis in Kappaphycus. No significant changes of τ were observed with increasing irradiance in cool white light, possibly due to the additive opposing responses caused by blue and red light.     

Isolation and characterization of pock-forming plasmids for Streptomyces griseus from soil actinomycetes

Thirty independent actinomycetes strains carrying plasmids were isolated from soil. These plasmids were purified as cccDNA by CsCl-EtBr equilibrium density-gradient centrifugation. Plasmids that induce "pocks", namely formation of circular zones of sporulation-inhibition, were selected by protoplast transformation of streptomycin-producing strain, Streptomyces griseus ATCC10137. Six pock-forming plasmids, pOA7, pOA11, pOA15, pOA23, pOA29 and pOA30, were obtained, and their cleavage maps, transformation frequencies, and copy numbers, as well as their stability, are described.     

Feeding postures of suspension-feeding larval black flies: the conflicting demands of drag and food acquisition

Summary We tested whether larval black flies actively control the positioning of their feeding appendages (labral fans), and if so, whether their posture represents a balance between the conflicting demands of drag and feeding. We compared the postures of live larvae with the postures of larvae killed by heat-shock in three different flow regimes in a laboratory experiment; we assumed that the postures of heat-killed larvae approximated a passive response to drag. The average height of the labral fans above the bed declined significantly in faster flows, and was significantly greater in live than dead larvae. There was also a significant interaction effect, since the difference between the fan heights of live and dead larvae was greater in slower flows. Two mechanisms may contribute to this result. Larvae in slower flows have to increase their fan heights more than larvae living in faster flows to achieve comparable increases in velocity and thus particle flux. In addition, muscular strength may limit the feeding postures larvae can assume. The fan heights of live larvae also varied depending on the concentration of food particles: larvae exposed to low food concentrations held their fans higher above the bed than did larvae exposed to high food concentrations in the same flow regime. This change in posture is due neither to an uneven particle concentration in the boundary layer nor to added drag from particles trapped in the labral fans. Collectively, our results indicate that these suspension feeders actively control their feeding posture, and suggest that these varying postures represent a dynamic balance between the conflicting needs of minimizing drag and maximizing feeding.     

海河流域典型河口生态环境需水量

在分析河口生态环境需水量类型及特征的基础上 ,采用水文学、生物学及水力学方法计算了海河流域中海河口、滦河口及漳卫新河口生态系统水循环、生物循环消耗水量及生物栖息地需水量。考虑不同生态功能需水量间的兼容性 ,得到各河口生态环境需水年度总量 ,以保持河口径流时间分布自然性为基础 ,确定了生态环境需水量年内时间分配。结果表明 ,即使不考虑污染物的排放 ,近年来海河口、漳卫新河口实际径流量已无法满足最低等级生态环境需水量 5 .97和 4 .96亿 m3的要求。相应河口生态系统已发生了不可自然恢复的退化。滦河口径流年度总量基本满足生态环境要求 ,其生态保护重点在于保持生态环境需水量年内时间变化的自然状况。通过比较不同河口间生态环境需水量结果 ,认为河口生态环境需水量空间差异性主要源于河口间气候和径流量的不同 ,时间差异性则受到河口地区年内季节间气候变化幅度的影响。保证污染物达标排放基础上 ,保持河口生态系统蒸发消耗、水体盐度需水量及相应年内时间变化的自然性应成为海河流域河口生态环境保护及恢复工作中的基础     

磁流体肿瘤热疗技术的研究进展

热疗在近年来已经成为肿瘤治疗最为重要的手段之一,但存在一定的局限性。磁流体热疗技术作为新兴发展起来的热疗手段,克服了常规热疗的缺陷,可以辅助治疗,甚至发展成独立治疗手段。本文综述了国内外近年来有关磁流体热疗基础研究及试验领域的最近进展,首先对磁流体特性、常见磁流体材料和交变磁场装置等方面进行了介绍,最后介绍了磁流体肿瘤热疗技术在体外试验、动物试验和临床研究方面的进展状况。虽然磁流体热疗逐步进入临床阶段,但仍存在不足,需要进一步的完善提高治疗效果。     

Postproduction Processing of Electrospun Fibres for Tissue Engineering

Electrospinning is a commonly used and versatile method to produce scaffolds (often biodegradable) for 3D tissue engineering.^{1, 2, 3} Many tissues in vivo undergo biaxial distension to varying extents such as skin, bladder, pelvic floor and even the hard palate as children grow. In producing scaffolds for these purposes there is a need to develop scaffolds of appropriate biomechanical properties (whether achieved without or with cells) and which are sterile for clinical use. The focus of this paper is not how to establish basic electrospinning parameters (as there is extensive literature on electrospinning) but on how to modify spun scaffolds post production to make them fit for tissue engineering purposes - here thickness, mechanical properties and sterilisation (required for clinical use) are considered and we also describe how cells can be cultured on scaffolds and subjected to biaxial strain to condition them for specific applications.Electrospinning tends to produce thin sheets; as the electrospinning collector becomes coated with insulating fibres it becomes a poor conductor such that fibres no longer deposit on it. Hence we describe approaches to produce thicker structures by heat or vapour annealing increasing the strength of scaffolds but not necessarily the elasticity. Sequential spinning of scaffolds of different polymers to achieve complex scaffolds is also described. Sterilisation methodologies can adversely affect strength and elasticity of scaffolds. We compare three methods for their effects on the biomechanical properties on electrospun scaffolds of poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA).Imaging of cells on scaffolds and assessment of production of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins by cells on scaffolds is described. Culturing cells on scaffolds in vitro can improve scaffold strength and elasticity but the tissue engineering literature shows that cells often fail to produce appropriate ECM when cultured under static conditions. There are few commercial systems available that allow one to culture cells on scaffolds under dynamic conditioning regimes - one example is the Bose Electroforce 3100 which can be used to exert a conditioning programme on cells in scaffolds held using mechanical grips within a media filled chamber.⁴ An approach to a budget cell culture bioreactor for controlled distortion in 2 dimensions is described. We show that cells can be induced to produce elastin under these conditions. Finally assessment of the biomechanical properties of processed scaffolds cultured with or without cells is described.     

Polymer microarrays for high throughput discovery of biomaterials

The discovery of novel biomaterials that are optimized for a specific biological application is readily achieved using polymer microarrays, which allows a combinatorial library of materials to be screened in a parallel, high throughput format (1). Herein is described the formation and characterization of a polymer microarray using an on-chip photopolymerization technique (2). This involves mixing monomers at varied ratios to produce a library of monomer solutions, transferring the solution to a glass slide format using a robotic printing device and curing with UV irradiation. This format is readily amenable to many biological assays, including stem cell attachment and proliferation, cell sorting and low bacterial adhesion, allowing the ready identification of 'hit' materials that fulfill a specific biological criterion (3-5). Furthermore, the use of high throughput surface characterization (HTSC) allows the biological performance to be correlated with physio-chemical properties, hence elucidating the biological-material interaction (6). HTSC makes use of water contact angle (WCA) measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). In particular, ToF-SIMS provides a chemically rich analysis of the sample that can be used to correlate the cell response with a molecular moiety. In some cases, the biological performance can be predicted from the ToF-SIMS spectra, demonstrating the chemical dependence of a biological-material interaction, and informing the development of hit materials (5,3).     

不同能量供需下雌性棕色田鼠胃运动的变化

用PowerLab/8sp生理信号采集分析系统记录哺乳雌鼠、禁食1d和3d雌鼠及正常对照雌鼠胃内压、胃收缩幅值及收缩频率,以研究在不同能量需求与供应状态下,棕色田鼠(Lasiopodomys mandarinus)胃运动的适应性变化。结果显示,禁食组和哺乳期雌鼠的胃内压及胃收缩幅值均显著高于正常对照雌鼠组(P0.05),禁食组胃内压、胃收缩幅值较哺乳组有所下降,且禁食3d组胃内压明显下降(P0.05)。说明在不同生理状态下,能量需求与供应不同,消化道活动发生适应性变化,且消化道生理功能变化与能量胁迫程度相关。