付里叶变换红外光谱法研究水在稳定多肽构象中的作用

在０—１００％相对湿度（ＲＨ）范围内用竹里叶变换红外光谱研究了水合对聚赖氨酸溴化氢结合物构象的影响。随相对湿度ＲＨ增加,水合分为：无规卷曲、β－折叠和α－螺旋三个稳定的阶段．多肽的水合行为远比报导的复杂,在三个阶段中都不是纯单一结构组分,在任何一个ＲＨ下都存在３－４个吸收组分。在ＲＨ＞４４％以上β特征吸收发生复杂变化,表明β－结构的类型可能发生变化。实验表明,水是肽链柔性的增塑剂,运动性和构象的催化剂。     

多聚赖氨酸改性壳聚糖对神经细胞的作用

壳聚糖是一种具有优良的生物相容性的生物可降解材料。研究几种与壳聚糖相关的材料对神经细胞生长的促进作用。实验方法以在材料上培养神经细胞为主。选用胎鼠大脑皮层神经元和神经胶质瘤细胞9L。另外 ,本实验还使用ELISA法测量细胞外基质粘附分子在材料上的吸附量 ,并测量各材料的接触角以研究细胞在材料上的吸附和铺展。结果发现壳聚糖对神经细胞的生长有良好的促进作用 ,而壳聚糖表面涂敷多聚赖氨酸和壳聚糖与多聚赖氨酸混合材料是比壳聚糖更好的促神经细胞生长的生物材料 ,都是很有应用前景的神经修复材料。     

A chemotaxonomic appraisal of the distribution of lipomannans within the genus Micrococcus

Abstract Bactericidal effects of polylysine on different bacterial species were measured. Marked differences in sensitivity were observed. Based on the concentration of polylysine required to reduce cell viability by 50%, Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis were found to be the most sensitive and Escherichia coli the most resistant. In addition, two Gram-positive organisms, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus salivarius exhibited significant differences in sensitivity which suggests that the relationship between sensitivity towards polylysine and bacterial cell type is not necessarily a function of the overall cell envelope structure. The high sensitivity of mycobacteria suggests the possible use of polylysine. or a conjugate of polylysine and another agent in anti-mycobacterial drug design.     

An adhesion-based method for plasma membrane isolation: Evaluating cholesterol extraction from cells and their membranes

A method to isolate large quantities of directly accessible plasma membrane from attached cells is presented. The method is based on the adhesion of cells to an adsorbed layer of polylysine on glass plates, followed by hypotonic lysis with ice-cold distilled water and subsequent washing steps. Optimal conditions for coating glass plates and time for cell attachment were established. No additional chemical or mechanical treatments were used. Contamination of the isolated plasma membrane by cell organelles was less than 5%. The method uses inexpensive, commercially available polylysine and reusable glass plates. Plasma membrane preparations can be made in 15 min. Using this method, we determined that methyl-β-cyclodextrin differentially extracts cholesterol from fibroblast cells and their plasma membranes and that these differences are temperature dependent. Determination of the cholesterol/phospholipid ratio from intact cells does not reflect methyl-β-cyclodextrin plasma membrane extraction properties.     

In vivo and in vitro phosphorylation of Candida albicans 20S proteasome

In this paper we demonstrate that the Candida albicans 20S proteasome is in vivo phosphorylated and is a good in vitro substrate (S(0.5) 14nM) of homologous protein kinase CK2 (CK2). We identify alpha6/C2, alpha3/C9, and alpha5/Pup2 proteasome subunits as the main in vivo phosphorylated and in vitro CK2-phosphorylatable proteasome components. In vitro phosphorylation by homologous CK2 holoenzyme occurs only in the presence of polylysine, a characteristic that distinguishes the yeast proteasomes from mammalian proteasomes which are phosphorylated by CK2 in the absence of polycations. The major in vivo phosphate acceptor is the alpha3/C9 subunit, being phosphorylated in serine, both in vivo and in vitro. The phosphopeptides generated by endoproteinase Glu-C digestion from in vivo labeled alpha3/C9 subunit, from in vitro phosphorylation by homologous CK2 holoenzyme, and from the recombinant alpha3/C9 subunit phosphorylated by recombinant human CK2-alpha subunit are identical, suggesting that CK2 is likely responsible for in vivo phosphorylation of this subunit. Direct mutational analysis shows that serine 248 is the residue of the alpha3/C9 subunit phosphorylated by CK2. The in vitro stoichiometry of phosphorylation of the alpha6/C2 and alpha3/C9 proteasome subunits by CK2 can be estimated as 0.7-0.8 and 0.4-0.5 mol of phosphate per mole of subunit, respectively. These results are consistent with the relative abundance of the unphosphorylated and phosphorylated isoforms of these subunits present in the purified 20S proteasome preparation. Our demonstration of phosphorylation of C. albicans proteasome suggests that phosphorylation might be a general mechanism of regulation of proteasome activity.     

Influence of polylysine on adhesion of fibroblasts to glass substrates visualized by total internal reflection microscopy

The cell adhesion topography of mouse fibroblasts growing on glass substrates has been investigated. In order to compare cell adhesion on covered and uncovered glass, substrates were partly exposed to a solution with 0.1 mg/ml polylysine (300 kDa) for 15 min before incubation with cell suspension. After cultivation for 1, 3, 6, and 24 h their adhesion was visualised by total internal reflection microscopy. In the presence of polylysine, cells incubated for 1 h were strongly attracted to the substrate, leading to a typical cell adhesion topography characterised by round concavities under the ventral cell membrane with an approximate diameter of 1 μm. The cavity-surrounding rims were tightly bound to the glass surface. During further cell cultivation, the topography changed into a well-organised adhesion pattern with focal contact areas on the periphery of the cells. In contrast to the polylysine-mediated adhesion, cells growing on untreated surfaces did not exhibit the cavity-like topography at any stage of cultivation, but a more point spread adhesion with a dense clustering of contact-forming areas.     

Complexation of phosphocholine liposomes with polylysine. Stabilization by surface coverage versus aggregation

Complexation between linear poly-l-lysine (PLL) and negatively charged phosphocholine unilamellar liposomes has been investigated by means of dynamic light scattering, microelectrophoresis, and differential scanning calorimetry. It is found that complexation results in charge inversion (vesicle coating/stabilization) or vesicle aggregation depending on various experimental conditions. Complexation in dependence on PLL concentration and molecular mass, lipid phase state, rate and order of liposome and PLL mixing and time evolution of complexes are investigated and discussed. Aggregation profiles are determined and size distribution of the aggregates formed is studied, leading to the possibility of aggregation control. The time evolution of vesicle aggregation shows particle enlargement consisting in particle growth up to the irreversible formation of thermodynamically stable aggregates of about 2 μm in diameter. The formation of stable aggregates is in agreement with theoretical predictions of colloid particles aggregation by an interplay of long range electrostatic repulsion and short range attraction. Differential scanning calorimetry reveals that physical adsorption occurs exclusively on the vesicle surface and the lipidic organization is not significantly disturbed. The present study describes multivariable aspects of the complexation process between liposomes and polyions which results in the formation of a new class of still poorly defined colloids. These results allow establishing and optimization of a procedure for fabrication of polycation-stabilized vesicles to be used for various applications such as drug delivery.     

Electron microscopic visualization of restriction sites on DNA molecules.

DNA molecules were adsorbed to a polylysine-treated carbon film and digested directly on the film by restriction enzymes. After washing the film with 1 M NaCl, 0.4% Kodak Photo-Flo and 9% formamide, each cleavage site introduced was visualized as a gap under the electron microscope. By measuring the gapped positions on linear DNA molecules induced by other enzymes, a single EcoRI site on a lambda dv1 molecule and three HinHI sites on an fd1RF molecule were mapped at the positions expected from the cleavage maps, respectively. This electron-microscopic procedure may be useful for the construction of a cleavage map.     

Evaluation on the use of reactive dye-modified polylysine as the biomarker in immunochromatographic test application

An improved dye immunochromatographic test (DICT) using polylysine (PL) as conjugate spacer loading dye molecules to enhance chromophor color intensity with the potential of a simultaneous multicolored assay has been developed. To construct this new effective chromophor, a dyeing process coupling a reactive dye, Procion Blue MX-7RX (PB7RX), with PL of different molecular weights was performed. The optimal conjugate condition between PB7RX and PL was studied. It showed that under the optimized dyeing conditions, a PL molecular weight of 189.4 kDa and a molar ratio (mol dye/mol amine group in PL) of 1.5 were obtained. The resulting dyed PL chromophor, used as both a spacer and a color intensifier, was further labeled to a model antibody, anti-human serum albumin (anti-HSA), to build a PB7RX–PL–anti-HSA (PPA) conjugate. The PPA obtained in this way generated the highest color intensity of 19,455 assayed by immunochromatographic test strip under densitometer scanning. A competitive DICT for determination of HSA was carried out. A linear range between 0 and 18.77 μg/ml with a detection limit of 0.49 μg/ml was observed. A test for using dyed PL chromophors as biomarkers was also performed to demonstrate the feasibility of a multianalyte immunoassay.     

Capillary electrophoresis analysis of poly(ethylene glycol) and ligand-modified polylysine gene delivery vectors

Cationic polymers including polylysine (PLL) and polyethylenimine are being widely tested as gene delivery vectors in various gene therapy applications. In many cases, the polymers were further modified by hydrophilic polymer grafting or ligand conjugation, which had been shown to greatly affect the vector stability, delivery efficiency and specificity. The characterization of modified polycation is particularly critical for quality control and vector development. Here several different separation modes using capillary electrophoresis for the analytical characterization of the modified polymers are described. PLL molecules were grafted with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain or conjugated with epidermal growth factor and analyzed under various analytical conditions. Poly(N,N'-dimethylacrylamide)-coated capillary was used to analyze the modified PLL to reduce the interaction between the samples and the capillary wall. PLLs containing different numbers of conjugated ligands were well separated with the coating method but, for PLL-g-PEG, the separation was poor under the same conditions. A method using low buffer pH and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose additive was developed. These methods are useful to characterize various polycations and important for the quality control and application of potential gene delivery vectors.