Lipids Project

Brand-Herrmann SM, Kuznetsova T, Wiechert A et al (2005) European Project on Genes in Hypertension Investigators. Alcohol intake modulates the genetic association between HDL cholesterol and the PPARgamma2 Pro 12Ala polymorphism. J Lipid Res 46 913-919... 

An important extension of lipid-solute interaction components [20] to membrane partitioning is provided by solute molecular structure. Spacing between polar and nonpolar regions (Fig. 8) within a solute molecule may result in significant distortion of the KpDm product across the membrane polar headgroup/lipid core interface [21], Such interactions may be responsible for deviations from projected transport predictions based on simple partitioning theory translating to deviations from predicted absorption kinetics [1],... 

We thank Dr. M. Hirano at Toray Research Center, Kamakura for providing us with the purified PS II. We also thank Dr. H. Minamikawa for the synthesis of Maln(Phyt)2 and Dr. K. Kawasaki for the FFEM experiments. This work was performed as a part of a R D project of AIST (subject Physical properties of membrane protein/lipid assemblies) and of International Joint Research Program FY 2001-2002 supported by NEDO. 

For example, some compounds will dissolve in water and others in fat (called a lipid). One of their 20 questions was, "Does the poisoning agent dissolve in water or fat To get an answer, they shook one mussel sample with a mixture of water and another mussel sample with a mixture of fat and injected the water and fat parts into different mice.The part of the mussel that dissolved in the water still caused the mice to scratch themselves, but the part that dissolved in fat didn t. So they knew they were looking for a chemical that dissolves in water. They divided the mussel over and over using many different methods, including chromatography, which is similar to the project at the end of this chapter. Finally, after four days of continuous work, the scientists had separated out of the mixture a pure substance that was the toxic compound.They compared all of its properties to compounds they already knew about and found a match a neurotoxic compound called "domoic acid. ... 

Nerve cells (neurons) are easily excitable cells that produce electrical signals and can react to such signals as well. Their structure is markedly different from that of other types of cell. Numerous branching processes project from their cell body (soma). Neurons are able to receive signals via dendrites and to pass them on via axons. The axons, which can be up to 1 m long, are usually surrounded by Schwann cells, which cover them with a lipid-rich myelin sheath to improve their electrical insulation. 

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can provide valuable information on particle size, shape, and structure, as well as on the presence of different types of colloidal structures within the dispersion. As a complication, however, all electron microscopic techniques applicable for solid lipid nanoparticles require more or less sophisticated specimen preparation procedures that may lead to artifacts. Considerable experience is often necessary to distinguish these artifacts from real structures and to decide whether the structures observed are representative of the sample. Moreover, most TEM techniques can give only a two-dimensional projection of the three-dimensional objects under investigation. Because it may be difficult to conclude the shape of the original object from electron micrographs, additional information derived from complementary characterization methods is often very helpful for the interpretation of electron microscopic data. 

This arrangement projects hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces above and below the plane of the dendron in a display that mimics the two-dimensional structure of lipid clusters. Accordingly, the amphiphile can efficiently spread out along the surface like a spider web. The II-A isotherms revealed that these molecules form stable monolayers with collapse pressures in the range of 40-60 mN/m. The addition... 

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