scholarly journals DIFFUSION POTENTIALS IN MODELS AND IN LIVING CELLS

1943 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. V. Osterhout
Keyword(s):  
Living Cell ◽  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Extended Form ◽  
Electrical Potentials ◽  
Ionic Mobilities ◽  
Diffusion Potentials

The behavior of guaiacol resembles that of certain protoplasmic surfaces to such an extent that it can be advantageously used in models designed to imitate certain aspects of protoplasmic behavior. In these models the electrical potentials appear to consist of diffusion potentials and this may be true of certain living cells. In dealing with models we determine ionic mobilities and use these to predict potentials. In studying living cells we measure potentials and from these calculate ionic mobilities. The question arises, how far is this method justified. To test this we have treated guaiacol like a living cell, measuring potentials and from these estimating ionic mobilities. The results Justify the use of this method. This is of interest because the method is most useful in studying protoplasmic activity. In its extended form it enables us to follow changes in mobilities and in partition coefficients due to applied reagents and to metabolism.

scholarly journals KINETICS OF PENETRATION

1934 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. V. Osterhout ◽  
S. E. Kamerling ◽  
W. M. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Partition Coefficient ◽  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Molecular Form ◽  
External Solution ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Protoplasmic Surface ◽  
Weak Electrolytes ◽  
Ionic Mobilities ◽  
Aqueous Layer ◽  
Kinetics Of

In some living cells the order of penetration of certain cations corresponds to that of their mobilities in water. This has led to the idea that electrolytes pass chiefly as ions through the protoplasmic surface in which the order of ionic mobilities is supposed to correspond to that found in water. If this correspondence could be demonstrated it would not prove that electrolytes pass chiefly as ions through the protoplasmic surface for such a correspondence could exist if the movement were mostly in molecular form. This is clearly shown in the models here described. In these the protoplasmic surface is represented by a non-aqueous layer interposed between two aqueous phases, one representing the external solution, the other the cell sap. The order of penetration through the non-aqueous layer is Cs > Rb > K > Na > Li. This will be recognized as the order of ionic mobilities in water. Nevertheless the movement is mostly in molecular form in the nonaqueous layer (which is used in the model to represent the protoplasmic surface) since the salts are very weak electrolytes in this layer. The chief reason for this order of penetration lies in the fact that the partition coefficients exhibit the same order, that of cesium being greatest and that of lithium smallest. The partition coefficients largely control the rate of entrance since they determine the concentration gradient in the non-aqueous layer which in turn controls the process of penetration. The relative molecular mobilities (diffusion constants) in the non-aqueous layer do not differ greatly. The ionic mobilities are not known (except for K+ and Na+) but they are of negligible importance, since the movement in the non-aqueous layer is largely in molecular form. They may follow the same order as in water, in accordance with Walden's rule. Ammonium appears to enter faster than its partition coefficient would lead us to expect, which may be due to rapid penetration of NH3. This recalls the apparent rapid penetration of ammonium in living cells which has also been explained as due to the rapid penetration of NH3. Both observation and calculation indicate that the rate of penetration is not directly proportional to the partition coefficient but increases somewhat less rapidly. Many of these considerations doubtless apply to living cells.

scholarly journals Nanoarchitectonics on living cells

RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (31) ◽  
pp. 18898-18914
Author(s):  
Katsuhiko Ariga ◽  
Rawil Fakhrullin
Keyword(s):  
Living Cell ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Material Surfaces ◽  
As If

We can introduce functional structures with various components on a living cell as if architectures were constructed on material surfaces.

Graphene-Semiconductor Tubular Needles for Operations of Living Cells

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-96
Author(s):  
Aleksandr V. Kopylov ◽  
Viktor Ya. Prinz
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Biological Material ◽  
Living Cell ◽  
Cylindrical Shells ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Graphene Structures

The possibility of application of the novel class of tubular needles for piercing cells and injecting biological material inside the cell is considered. Stability calculations of tubular (multiwall) needles were made. Calculations were made for the needles with walls formed from hybrid graphene-semiconductor or graphene structures and spires shaped as trapeziform open cylindrical shells. The possibility of mass fabrication of such needles and chips for AFM significantly broadens the range of available operations on the surface and inside the living cell and opens prospects of effective high-precision manipulations with individual cells.

Computational Foundations of the Anticipatory Artificial Autopoietic Cellular Automata

2021 ◽  
pp. 289-307
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Dubois ◽  
Stig C. Holmberg
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Living Cell ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Asymmetric Membrane

A survey of the Varela automata of autopoiesis is presented. The computation of the Varela program, with initial conditions given by a living cell, is not able to self-maintain the membrane of the living cell. In this chapter, the concept of anticipatory artificial autopoiesis (AAA) is introduced. In this chapter, the authors present a new algorithm of the anticipatory artificial autopoiesis, which extend the Varela automata. The main enhancement consists in defining an asymmetric membrane of the artificial lining cell. The simulations show the anticipatory generation of artificial living cells starting with any initial conditions. The new concept of anticipatory artificial autopoiesis is related to artificial life (Alife) and artificial intelligence (AI). This is a breakthrough in the computational foundation of autopoiesis.

scholarly journals Nanorheology of living cells measured by AFM-based force–distance curves

Nanoscale ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 9133-9143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo D. Garcia ◽  
Carlos R. Guerrero ◽  
Ricardo Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Living Cell ◽  
Viscoelastic Properties ◽  
Living Cells

Method to measure the viscoelastic properties of a living cell by AFM-based force–distance curves.

scholarly journals Notes

1933 ◽  
Vol 112 (779) ◽  
pp. 477-479
Keyword(s):  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Living Cell ◽  
Biological Theory ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Hen’S Egg ◽  
Chemical Complex ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Many

Recent work on the osmotic pressure of the hen’s egg has introduced a sense of uncertainty as to the value of the many comparisons which have been made between osmotic pressures of the blood, body fluids, and surrounding media. The uncertainty pertains not to theory but to a simple matter of fact and, as this involves that most fundamental datum for biological theory—viz., the state of the water in the living cell—there is urgent need to have it cleared up. The fact in dispute is the freezing point of the yolk and white of the bird’s egg. Atkins in 1909 by measurements, obviously made with the greatest care, found “no difference between the freezing point of white and yolk of the same egg and a mixture of white and yolk gave the same depression.” Atkins (1909) used the ordinary Beckmann technique and so, too, did Straub (1929) twenty years later, but with a surprisingly different result for he found a constant difference between white and yolk of the hen’s egg amounting on the average to —0·15° C. A. V. Hill (1930) confirmed Straub’s (1929) finding by a different method. He compared the fall in temperature caused by evaporation with that of water and from the difference calculated the osmotic pressure. Howard (1932) using the Beckmann method again found no difference in the freezing point of white and yolk. In these measurements the yolk was puddled by stirring so that at sometime or another the structure was broken down. Yolk is not only a chemical complex but it is alive, gross mechanical disturbance might, therefore, have the effect it usually has on living cells and cause chemical breakdown with consequent fall of the freezing point. Hale’s experiments were designed to explore this possibility by observing directly the freezing point of intact yolk and white.

scholarly journals THE KINETICS OF PENETRATION

1933 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. V. Osterhout
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Salt ◽  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Constant Ratio ◽  
Ionic Activity ◽  
Activity Product ◽  
Exponential Decrease ◽  
Monomolecular Reactions ◽  
Aqueous Layer ◽  
Kinetics Of

An organic potassium salt, KG, passes from an aqueous phase, A, through a non-aqueous layer, B, into a watery solution, C. In C it reacts with CO2 to form KHCO3. The ionic activity product (K) (G) in C is thus kept at such a low level that KG continues to diffuse into C after the concentration of potassium becomes greater in C than in A. Hence potassium accumulates in C, the osmotic pressure rises, and water goes in. A steady state is eventually reached in which potassium and water enter C in a constant ratio. The rate of entrance of potassium (with no water penetrating into C) may fall off in a manner approximately exponential. But water enters and may produce an exponential decrease in concentration. This suggests that the kinetics may be treated like that of two consecutive monomolecular reactions. Calculations made on this basis agree very well with the observed values. The rate of penetration appears to be proportional to the concentration gradient of KG in the non-aqueous layer and in consequence depends upon the partition coefficients which determine this gradient. Exchange of ions (passing as such through the non-aqueous layer) does not seem to play an important rôle in the entrance of potassium. The kinetics of the model may be similar to that of living cells.

scholarly journals SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC STUDIES OF PENETRATION

1929 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Methylene Blue ◽  
Living Cell ◽  
Absorption Maximum ◽  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Methylene Blue Solution ◽  
Artificial System ◽  
Azure B ◽  
Blue Solution ◽  
Aqueous Layer ◽  
Pass Through

The rate of diffusion through the non-aqueous layer of the protoplasm depends largely on the partition coefficients mentioned above. Since these cannot be determined we have employed an artificial system in which chloroform is used in place of the non-aqueous layer of the protoplasm. The partition coefficients may be roughly determined by shaking up the aqueous solutions with chloroform and analyzing with the spectrophotometer (which is necessary with methylene blue because we are dealing with mixtures). This will show what dyes may be expected to pass through the protoplasm into the vacuole in case it behaves like the artificial system. From these results we may conclude that the artificial system and the living cell act almost alike toward methylene blue and azure B, which supports the notion of non-aqueous layers in the protoplasm. There is a close resemblance between Valonia and the artificial system in their behavior toward these dyes at pH 9.5. In the case of Nitella, on the other hand, with methylene blue solution at pH 9.2 the sap in the artificial system takes up relatively more azure B (absorption maximum at 650 mµ) than the vacuole of the living cell (655 mµ). But both take up azure B much more rapidly than methylene blue. A comparison cannot be made between the behavior of the artificial system and that of the living cell at pH 5.5 since in the latter case there arises a question of injury to cells before enough dye is collected in the sap for analysis.

PIT-1 Protein Localization at Different Optical Sections in a Single Living Cell Using FRET Microscopy and Green Fluorescent Proteins

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 133-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammasi Periasamy ◽  
Richard N. Day
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Living Cell ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Fluorescent Proteins ◽  
Protein Localization ◽  
Resonance Energy ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Prl Gene

The pituitary specific transcription factor Pit-1 is required for transcriptional activity of the prolactin (PRL) gene. The Pit-1 protein is a member of the POU homeodomain transcription factors that is expressed in several different anterior pituitary cell types, where it functions as an important determinant of pituitary-specific gene expression. The Pit-1 protein generally interacts with DNA elements in the PRL gene promoter as a dimer, and has been demonstrated to associate with other transcription factors. The objective of our research is to define the critical molecular events involved in transcriptional regulation of the PRL gene in living cells. Methods that allow monitoring of the intimate interactions between protein partners in living cells provide an unparalleled perspective on these biological processes. Using the jellyfish green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a tag, we applied the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique to visualize where and when the Pit-1 protein interacts in the living cell. FRET is a quantum mechanical effect that occurs between donor (D) and acceptor (A) fluorophores provided: (i) the emission energy of D is coincident with the energy required to excite A, and (ii) the distance that separating the two fluorophores is 10-100 Å. Mutant forms of GFP that fluoresce either green or blue (BFP) have excitation and emission spectra that are suitable for FRET imaging.

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