scholarly journals Deciphering the role of trehalose in hindering antithrombin polymerization

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asma Naseem ◽  
Mohammad Sazzad Khan ◽  
Hashim Ali ◽  
Irshad Ahmad ◽  
Mohamad Aman Jairajpuri
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Guanidine Hydrochloride ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Normal Activity ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
Coagulation Cascade ◽  
Disulfonic Acid ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Polymer Formation

Abstract Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) family have a complex mechanism of inhibition that requires a large scale conformational change. Antithrombin (AT), a member of serpin superfamily serves as a key regulator of the blood coagulation cascade, deficiency of which leads to thrombosis. In recent years, a handful of studies have identified small compounds that retard serpin polymerization but abrogated the normal activity. Here, we screened small molecules to find potential leads that can reduce AT polymer formation. We identified simple sugar molecules that successfully blocked polymer formation without a significant loss of normal activity of AT under specific buffer and temperature conditions. Of these, trehalose proved to be most promising as it showed a marked decrease in the bead like polymeric structures of AT shown by electron microscopic analysis. A circular dichroism (CD) analysis indicated alteration in the secondary structure profile and an increased thermal stability of AT in the presence of trehalose. Guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl)-based unfolding studies of AT show the formation of a different intermediate in the presence of trehalose. A time-dependent fluorescence study using 1,1′-bi(4-anilino)naphthalene-5,5′-disulfonic acid (Bis-ANS) shows that trehalose affects the initial conformational change step in transition from native to polymer state through its binding to exposed hydrophobic residues on AT thus making AT less polymerogenic. In conclusion, trehalose holds promise by acting as an initial scaffold that can be modified to design similar compounds with polymer retarding propensity.

Pin-Point Transmission Electron Microscopic Analysis Applied to Off-Leakage Failures of a Bipolar Transistor in 0.5μm BiCMOS Devices

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Okihara ◽  
H. Tanaka ◽  
N. Hirashita ◽  
T. Nakamura ◽  
H. Okada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Bipolar Transistor ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Preparation Technique ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Tem Analysis ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Pin-point (specific area) planar transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis has been improved to study process-induced defects in recent very large scale integrated (VLSI) devices. The specimens are prepared by a combination of marking failure sites with focused ion beam (FTB) equipment and planar TEM specimen preparation technique. This method provides not only planar observation of localized failures with an accurate observation with high positioning accuracy but also wide range of observable area which is feasible to carry out some application techniques associated with TEM. In particular, it is found to be a powerful method to identify the nature of crystalline defects which cause the failures. This work presents the detailed procedure and demonstrates its successful applicability via studying a leaky bipolar transistor in 0.5μm BiCMOS devices (one failure of more than 4500 transistors). The results clarify the presence of stacking faults, formed during epitaxial growth, between collector and emitter regions in the specific transistor with resistive collector-emitter leakage current.

Preparatory Procedures for Electron Microscopic Analysis at the Molecular Level of Resolution

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-520
Author(s):  
F.J. Sjostrand
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Resolving Power ◽  
Cellular Structures ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
Thin Sectioning ◽  
Obvious Reason

In the 1940's and 1950's electron microscopy conferences were attended with everybody interested in learning about the latest technical developments for one very obvious reason. There was the electron microscope with its outstanding performance but nobody could make very much use of it because we were lacking proper techniques to prepare biological specimens. The development of the thin sectioning technique with its perfectioning in 1952 changed the situation and systematic analysis of the structure of cells could now be pursued. Since then electron microscopists have in general become satisfied with the level of resolution at which cellular structures can be analyzed when applying this technique. There has been little interest in trying to push the limit of resolution closer to that determined by the resolving power of the electron microscope.

Electron Microscopic Analysis of Myonecrosis Induced by a Pure Component Isolated From Rattlesnake Venom

1976 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 292-293
Author(s):  
Charlotte L. Ownby ◽  
David Cameron ◽  
Anthony T. Tu
Keyword(s):  
Gel Filtration ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Exchange Chromatography ◽  
Pure Component ◽  
Electron Microscopic Level ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Mouse Muscle ◽  
Major Health Problem ◽  
Rattlesnake Venom

In the United States the major health problem resulting from snakebite poisoning is local tissue damage, i.e. hemorrhage and myonecrosis. Since commercial antivenin does not usually prevent such damage to tissue, a more effective treatment of snakebite-induced myonecrosis is needed. To aid in the development of such a treatment the pathogenesis of myonecrosis induced by a pure component of rattlesnake venom was studied at the electron microscopic level.The pure component, a small (4,300 mol. wt.), basic (isoelectric point of 9.6) protein, was isolated from crude prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis) venom by gel filtration (Sephadex G-50) followed by cation exchange chromatography (Sephadex C-25), and shown to be pure by electrophoresis. Selection of the myotoxic component was based on light microscopic observations of injected mouse muscle.

Correlative video enhanced differential interference contrast light microscopy (VDIC)-LM), low-voltage high-resolution SEM (LV-HR-SEM), and high-voltage electron microscopy (HVEM) in the observation of gold-labelled surface antigens and the subjacent cytoskeletal matrix

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 904-905
Author(s):  
Ralph M. Albrecht ◽  
Scott R. Simmons ◽  
Marek Malecki
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Light Microscopy ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Cell Labelling ◽  
Video Technology ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Image Capture ◽  
High Voltage Electron Microscopy ◽  
Fluorescence Studies

The development of video-enhanced light microscopy (LM) as well as associated image processing and analysis have significantly broadened the scope of investigations which can be undertaken using (LM). Interference/polarization based microscopies can provide high resolution and higher levels of “detectability” especially in unstained living systems. Confocal light microscopy also holds the promise of further improvements in resolution, fluorescence studies, and 3 dimensional reconstruction. Video technology now provides, among other things, a means to detect differences in contrast difficult to detect with the human eye; furthermore, computerized image capture, processing, and analysis can be used to enhance features of interest, average images, subtract background, and provide a quantitative basis to studies of cells, cell features, cell labelling, and so forth. Improvements in video technology, image capture, and cost-effective computer image analysis/processing have contributed to the utility and potential of the various interference and confocal microscopic instrumentation.Electron microscopic technology has made advances as well. Microprocessor control and improved design have contributed to high resolution SEMs which have imaging capability at the molecular level and can operate at a range of accelerating voltages starting at 1KV. Improvements have also been seen in the HVEM and IVEM transmission instruments. As a whole, these advances in LM and EM microscopic technology provide the biologist with an array of information on structure, composition, and function which can be obtained from a single specimen. Corrrelative light microscopic analysis permits examination of living specimens and is critical where the “history” of a cell, cellular components, or labels needs to be known up to the time of chemical or physical fixation. Features such as cytoskeletal elements or gold label as small as 0.01 μm, well below the 0.2 μm limits of LM resolution, can be “detected” and their movement followed by VDIC-LM. Appropriate identification and preparation can then lead to the examination of surface detail and surface label with stereo LV-HR-SEM. Increasing the KV in the HR-SEM while viewing uncoated or thinly coated specimens can provide information from beneath the surface as well as increasing Z contrast so that positive identification of surface and subsurface colloidal gold or other heavy metal labelled/stained material is possible. Further examination of the same cells using stereo HVEM or IVEM provides information on internal ultrastructure and on the relationship of labelled material to cytoskeletal or organellar distribution, A wide variety of investigations can benefit from this correlative approach and a number of instrumentational configurations and preparative pathways can be tailored for the particular study. For a surprisingly small investment in time and technique, it is often possible to clear ambiguities or questions that arise when a finding is presented in the context of only one modality.

Characterization of seawater reverse osmosis fouled membranes from large scale commercial desalination plant

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chem Int
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Transmembrane Pressure ◽  
Hydraulic Permeability ◽  
Seawater Reverse Osmosis ◽  
A Chain

The objective of this work is to study the ageing state of a used reverse osmosis (RO) membrane taken in Algeria from the Benisaf Water Company seawater desalination unit. The study consists of an autopsy procedure used to perform a chain of analyses on a membrane sheet. Wear of the membrane is characterized by a degradation of its performance due to a significant increase in hydraulic permeability (25%) and pressure drop as well as a decrease in salt retention (10% to 30%). In most cases the effects of ageing are little or poorly known at the local level and global measurements such as (flux, transmembrane pressure, permeate flow, retention rate, etc.) do not allow characterization. Therefore, a used RO (reverse osmosis) membrane was selected at the site to perform the membrane autopsy tests. These tests make it possible to analyze and identify the cause as well as to understand the links between performance degradation observed at the macroscopic scale and at the scale at which ageing takes place. External and internal visual observations allow seeing the state of degradation. Microscopic analysis of the used membranes surface shows the importance of fouling. In addition, quantification and identification analyses determine a high fouling rate in the used membrane whose foulants is of inorganic and organic nature. Moreover, the analyses proved the presence of a biofilm composed of protein.

scholarly journals Mechanistic Study on Gold-Like Luster Development of Solution-Cast Oligo(3-methoxythiophene) Film

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 861
Author(s):  
Minako Kubo ◽  
Minako Tachiki ◽  
Terumasa Mitogawa ◽  
Kota Saito ◽  
Ryota Saito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Mechanistic Study ◽  
Free Electrons ◽  
Coating Films ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Regular Structures ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopic ◽  
Solution Cast ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Reflectance Measurements

Solution-cast coating films of perchlorate-doped oligo(3-methoxythiophene) exhibited a gold-like luster similar to that of metallic gold despite the involvement of no metals. However, the development mechanism of the luster remains ambiguous. To understand the mechanism, we performed scanning electron microscopic analysis, variable-angle spectral reflectance measurements, and ellipsometry measurements on ClO4−-doped oligo(3-methoxythiophene) cast film with a gold-like luster. The results revealed that the lustrous color of the film was not induced by the submicron-sized regular structures (structural color), nor by the high-density free electrons (reflective response based on Drude model), but by the large optical constants (refractive index and extinction coefficient) of the film, as speculated previously.

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