Biological Compounds (biological + compound)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


CE coupled to MALDI with novel covalently coated capillaries

ELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 4 2010
Stefan Bachmann
Abstract CE offers the advantage of flexibility and method development options. It excels in the area of separation of ions, chiral, polar and biological compounds (especially proteins and peptides). Masking the active sites on the inner surface of a bare fused silica capillary wall is often necessary for CE separations of basic compounds, proteins and peptides. The use of capillary surface coating is one of the approaches to prevent the adsorption phenomena and improve the repeatability of migration times and peak areas of these analytes. In this study, new capillary coatings consisting of (i) derivatized polystyrene nanoparticles and (ii) derivatized fullerenes were investigated for the analysis of peptides and protein digest by CE. The coated capillaries showed excellent run-to-run and batch-to-batch reproducibility (RSD of migration time ,0.5% for run-to-run and ,9.5% for batch-to-batch experiments). Furthermore, the capillaries offer high stability from pH 2.0 to 10.0. The actual potential of the coated capillaries was tested by combining CE with MALDI-MS for analysing complex samples, such as peptides, whereas the overall performance of the CE-MALDI-MS system was investigated by analysing a five-protein digest mixture. Subsequently, the peak list (peptide mass fingerprint) generated from the mass spectra of each fraction was entered into the Swiss-Prot database in order to search for matching tryptic fragments using the MASCOT software. The sequence coverage of analysed proteins was between 36 and 68%. The established technology benefits from the synergism of high separation efficiency and the structure selective identification via MS. [source]


Selective detection of superoxide anion radicals generated from macrophages by using a novel fluorescent probe

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 7 2007
Jing Jing Gao
Quantitation of superoxide radical (O,2,·) production at the site of radical generation remains challenging. A simple method to detect nanomolar to micromolar levels of superoxide radical in aqueous solution has been developed and optimized. This method is based on the efficient trapping of O2,· using a novel fluorescent probe (2-chloro-1,3-dibenzothiazolinecyclohexene), coupled with a spectra character-signaling increase event. A high-specificity and high-sensitivity fluorescent probe was synthesized in-house and used to image O2,· in living cells. Better selectivity for O2,· over competing cellular reactive oxygen species and some biological compounds illustrates the advantages of our method. Under optimal conditions, the linear calibration range for superoxide anion radicals was 5.03 × 10,9,3.33 × 10,6 m. The detection limit was 1.68 × 10,9 m. Fluorescence images of probe-stained macrophages stimulated with 4,-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate were obtained successfully using a confocal laser scanning microscope. [source]


Aqueous two-phase systems strategies for the recovery and characterization of biological products from plants

JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 9 2010
Oscar Aguilar
Abstract The increasing interest of the biopharmaceutical industry to exploit plants as economically viable production systems is demanding the development of new downstream strategies to maximize product recovery. Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) are a primary recovery technique that has shown great potential for the efficient extraction and purification of biological compounds. The present paper gives an overview of the efficient use of ATPS-based strategies for the isolation and partial purification of bioparticles from plant origin. Selected examples highlight the main advantages of this technique, i.e. scaling-up feasibility, process integration capability and biocompatibility. An overview of the recent approach of coupling ATPSs with traditional techniques to increase bioseparation process performance is discussed. A novel approach to characterization protein from plants combining ATPSs and two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) is introduced as a tool for process development. In the particular case of products from plant origin, early success has demonstrated the potential application of ATPS-based strategies to address the major disadvantages of the traditional recovery and purification techniques. This literature review discloses the relevant contribution of ATPSs to facilitate the establishment of bioprocesses in the growing field of high-value products from plants. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Modeling of protein and phenolic compound removal from aqueous solutions by electrocoagulation

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 1 2010
Goran Robi
Abstract Electrocoagulation is a technique basically applied in water and wastewater treatment, but which has a number of potential applications in polymer, protein, drug, and vaccine delivery. In this work, we correlate the current applied between the electrodes to the removal of phenolic compounds or protein from aqueous solutions, but the principle can also be applied to other biological compounds such as plant pigments and sugars. Simple and time-dependent models were developed based on the complex formation between these biological substances and the aluminium hydroxide gel phase. The models developed represent a good agreement with experimental data (R2 as high as 0.992). Besides construction of the models, the effect of pH on the efficiency of removal of proteins and phenolic compounds was evaluated. It was found that this parameter has significant effect on the efficiency of the electrocoagulation and the maximal removal efficiency for bovine serum albumin and phenolic compound catechin was observed at pH 8.0. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010 [source]