Structural changes in thylakoid membranes of chilling-resistant and sensitive plants after heating and glycerol dehydration as revealed by 31P NMR and electron microscopy

1994 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Semenova ◽  
I. Vasilenko ◽  
V. Borovyagin
Author(s):  
Ann M. Thomas ◽  
Virginia Shemeley

Those samples which swell rapidly when exposed to water are, at best, difficult to section for transmission electron microscopy. Some materials literally burst out of the embedding block with the first pass by the knife, and even the most rapid cutting cycle produces sections of limited value. Many ion exchange resins swell in water; some undergo irreversible structural changes when dried. We developed our embedding procedure to handle this type of sample, but it should be applicable to many materials that present similar sectioning difficulties.The purpose of our embedding procedure is to build up a cross-linking network throughout the sample, while it is in a water swollen state. Our procedure was suggested to us by the work of Rosenberg, where he mentioned the formation of a tridimensional structure by the polymerization of the GMA biproduct, triglycol dimethacrylate.


Author(s):  
Gregory J. Czarnota

Chromatin structure at the fundamental level of the nucleosome is important in vital cellular processes. Recent biochemical and genetic analyses show that nucleosome structure and structural changes are very active participants in gene expression, facilitating or inhibiting transcription and reflecting the physiological state of the cell. Structural states and transitions for this macromolecular complex, composed of DNA wound about a heterotypic octamer of variously modified histone proteins, have been measured by physico-chemical techniques and by enzyme-accessibility and are recognized to occur with various post-translational modifications, gene activation, transformation and with ionic-environment. In spite of studies which indicate various forms of nucleosome structure, all current x-ray and neutron diffraction studies have consistently resulted in only one structure, suggestive of a static conformation. In contrast, two-dimensional electron microscopy studies and three-dimensional reconstruction techniques have yielded different structures. These fundamental differences between EM and other ultrastructural studies have created a long standing quandary, which I have addressed and resolved using spectroscopic electron microscopy and statistical analyses of nucleosome images in a study of nucleosome structure with ionic environment.


Author(s):  
P. Moine ◽  
G. M. Michal ◽  
R. Sinclair

Premartensitic effects in near equiatomic TiNi have been pointed out by several authors(1-5). These include anomalous contrast in electron microscopy images (mottling, striations, etc. ),diffraction effects(diffuse streaks, extra reflections, etc.), a resistivity peak above Ms (temperature at which a perceptible amount of martensite is formed without applied stress). However the structural changes occuring in this temperature range are not well understood. The purpose of this study is to clarify these phenomena.


1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (08) ◽  
pp. 277-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Veklich ◽  
Jean-Philippe Collet ◽  
Charles Francis ◽  
John W. Weisel

IntroductionMuch is known about the fibrinolytic system that converts fibrin-bound plasminogen to the active protease, plasmin, using plasminogen activators, such as tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Plasmin then cleaves fibrin at specific sites and generates soluble fragments, many of which have been characterized, providing the basis for a molecular model of the polypeptide chain degradation.1-3 Soluble degradation products of fibrin have also been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, yielding a model for their structure.4 Moreover, high resolution, three-dimensional structures of certain fibrinogen fragments has provided a wealth of information that may be useful in understanding how various proteins bind to fibrin and the overall process of fibrinolysis (Doolittle, this volume).5,6 Both the rate of fibrinolysis and the structures of soluble derivatives are determined in part by the fibrin network structure itself. Furthermore, the activation of plasminogen by t-PA is accelerated by the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin, and this reaction is also affected by the structure of the fibrin. For example, clots made of thin fibers have a decreased rate of conversion of plasminogen to plasmin by t-PA, and they generally are lysed more slowly than clots composed of thick fibers.7-9 Under other conditions, however, clots made of thin fibers may be lysed more rapidly.10 In addition, fibrin clots composed of abnormally thin fibers formed from certain dysfibrinogens display decreased plasminogen binding and a lower rate of fibrinolysis.11-13 Therefore, our increasing knowledge of various dysfibrinogenemias will aid our understanding of mechanisms of fibrinolysis (Matsuda, this volume).14,15 To account for these diverse observations and more fully understand the molecular basis of fibrinolysis, more knowledge of the physical changes in the fibrin matrix that precede solubilization is required. In this report, we summarize recent experiments utilizing transmission and scanning electron microscopy and confocal light microscopy to provide information about the structural changes occurring in polymerized fibrin during fibrinolysis. Many of the results of these experiments were unexpected and suggest some aspects of potential molecular mechanisms of fibrinolysis, which will also be described here.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dahiana Andrea Avila Salazar ◽  
Peter Bellstedt ◽  
Atsuhiro Miura ◽  
Yuki Oi ◽  
Toshihiro Kasuga ◽  
...  

Phosphate glass dissolution can be tailored via compositional and subsequent structural changes, which is of interest for biomedical applications such as therapeutic ion delivery. Here, solid-state 31P nuclear magnetic resonance...


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 6805
Author(s):  
Mihaela-Cristina Bunea ◽  
Victor-Constantin Diculescu ◽  
Monica Enculescu ◽  
Horia Iovu ◽  
Teodor Adrian Enache

The electrochemical behavior and the interaction of the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine (AZA) with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) were investigated using voltammetric techniques, mass spectrometry (MS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The redox mechanism of AZA on glassy carbon (GC) was investigated using cyclic and differential pulse (DP) voltammetry. It was proven that the electroactive center of AZA is the nitro group and its reduction mechanism is a diffusion-controlled process, which occurs in consecutive steps with formation of electroactive products and involves the transfer of electrons and protons. A redox mechanism was proposed and the interaction of AZA with DNA was also investigated. Morphological characterization of the DNA film on the electrode surface before and after interaction with AZA was performed using scanning electron microscopy. An electrochemical DNA biosensor was employed to study the interactions between AZA and DNA with different concentrations, incubation times, and applied potential values. It was shown that the reduction of AZA molecules bound to the DNA layer induces structural changes of the DNA double strands and oxidative damage, which were recognized through the occurrence of the 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine oxidation peak. Mass spectrometry investigation of the DNA film before and after interaction with AZA also demonstrated the formation of AZA adducts with purine bases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutsumi Yokota ◽  
Soichiro Kakuta ◽  
Takahiro Shiga ◽  
Kei-ichi Ishikawa ◽  
Hideyuki Okano ◽  
...  

AbstractMitochondrial structural changes are associated with the regulation of mitochondrial function, apoptosis, and neurodegenerative diseases. PRKN is known to be involved with various mechanisms of mitochondrial quality control including mitochondrial structural changes. Parkinson’s disease (PD) with PRKN mutations is characterized by the preferential degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, which has been suggested to result from the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. However, ultrastructural changes of mitochondria specifically in dopaminergic neurons derived from iPSC have rarely been analyzed. The main reason for this would be that the dopaminergic neurons cannot be distinguished directly among a mixture of iPSC-derived differentiated cells under electron microscopy. To selectively label dopaminergic neurons and analyze mitochondrial morphology at the ultrastructural level, we generated control and PRKN-mutated patient tyrosine hydroxylase reporter (TH-GFP) induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines. Correlative light-electron microscopy analysis and live cell imaging of GFP-expressing dopaminergic neurons indicated that iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons had smaller and less functional mitochondria than those in non-dopaminergic neurons. Furthermore, the formation of spheroid-shaped mitochondria, which was induced in control dopaminergic neurons by a mitochondrial uncoupler, was inhibited in the PRKN-mutated dopaminergic neurons. These results indicate that our established TH-GFP iPSC lines are useful for characterizing mitochondrial morphology, such as spheroid-shaped mitochondria, in dopaminergic neurons among a mixture of various cell types. Our in vitro model would provide insights into the vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons and the processes leading to the preferential loss of dopaminergic neurons in patients with PRKN mutations.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1778 (4) ◽  
pp. 997-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sashka B. Krumova ◽  
Cor Dijkema ◽  
Pieter de Waard ◽  
Henk Van As ◽  
Győző Garab ◽  
...  

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 398
Author(s):  
Wen-Yue Wang ◽  
Zhao Qin ◽  
Hua-Min Liu ◽  
Xue-De Wang ◽  
Jing-Hao Gao ◽  
...  

Subcritical water treatment has received considerable attention due to its cost effectiveness and environmentally friendly properties. In this investigation, Chinese quince fruits were submitted to subcritical water treatment (130, 150, and 170 °C), and the influence of treatments on the structure of milled wood lignin (MWL) was evaluated. Structural properties of these lignin samples (UL, L130, L150, and L170) were investigated by high-performance anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC), FT-IR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), TGA, pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), 2D-Heteronculear Single Quantum Coherence (HSQC) -NMR, and 31P-NMR. The carbohydrate analysis showed that xylose in the samples increased significantly with higher temperature, and according to molecular weight and thermal analysis, the MWLs of the pretreated residues have higher thermal stability with increased molecular weight. The spectra of 2D-NMR and 31P-NMR demonstrated that the chemical linkages in the MWLs were mainly β-O-4′ ether bonds, β-5′ and β-β′, and the units were principally G- S- H- type with small amounts of ferulic acids; these results are consistent with the results of Py-GC/MS analysis. It is believed that understanding the structural changes in MWL caused by subcritical water treatment will contribute to understanding the mechanism of subcritical water extraction, which in turn will provide a theoretical basis for developing the technology of subcritical water extraction.


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