OBJECTIVE We have developed an ultrapurified low endotoxin alginate (UPLE alginate), which can drastically reduce endotoxin levels. Our purposes were to examine the effects of UPLE alginate administration on osteoarthritis (OA) progression and to determine the adequate molecular weight of the UPLE alginate for therapeutic effects. DESIGN To induce knee OA, 35 Japanese White rabbits underwent ...

Department of Applied Physics, University of Fukui, Bunkyo 3-9-1, Fukui, 910-8507 Japan Abstract Sodium alginate solution, being viscous hydrocolloid, was examined voltammetrically in the context of viscous effects by use of a ferrocenyl compound as a redox probe. Voltammograms were almost independent of concentrations of sodium alginate even in a solid-like state. Diffusion coefficients of the...

Alginate lyases show great potential for industrial and medicinal applications, especially as an attractive biocatalyst for the production of oligosaccharides with special bioactivities. A novel alginate lyase, AlyH1, from the marine bacterium Vibrio furnissii H1, which has been newly isolated from rotten seaweed, was purified and characterized. The purified enzyme showed the specific activity ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the pharmacological effects of calcium alginate on carbon tetrachloride (CCL4)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The study included two experiments. In the first experiment the animals were given daily CCL4 through gavage for 7 days and then 10, 50, or 250 mg/kg b.w. of calcium alginate for 21 days. The increased bilirubin level, enhanced alanine and a...

Alginate is a family of natural polysaccharides, widely used in industry and medicine for many applications, with its non toxic nature, gentle sol/gel transition procedure and low cost, alginate inferior biomechanical properties have limited its utility especially in tissue engineering. Additionally, ionically cross-linked alginate hydrogels generally lose most of their initial mechanical and s...

The string of bacteria, Vibrio. sp. QD-5 utilizing alginate, was separated from rotten kelp. The results of genome sequencing showed that the strain QD-5 contained four alginate lyase genes.One of the alginate genes Aly-IV was cloned and linked to the plasmid pET-22b (+). The heterologous expressed alginate lyase aly-IVwas characterized,which possessed the theoretical molecular mass of 62 kDa, ...

The alginate-based hydrogel was prepared as a pH-sensitive drug delivery system. To enhance the drug loading capacity, activated carbon was introduced as a drug absorbent. The iron oxide was incorporated into the alginate matrix for the magnetic transferring to the target organ. The activated carbon and iron-oxide were dispersed uniformly in the alginate hydrogel. The drug release from the algi...

Composite particles with multifunctions have been extensively utilized for various applications. Bubble particles can be applied for ultrasound-mediated imaging, drug delivery, absorbers, cell culture, etc. This study proposes a one-step strategy to obtain Pt nanoparticles loaded in alginate bubbles. A needle-based droplet formation was used to generate uniform alginate particles about 2 mm in ...

UNLABELLED Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains of non-cystic fibrosis (non-CF) origin do not produce significant amounts of extracellular alginate and are nonmucoid. In CF, such isolates can become mucoid through mutation of one of the genes (mucA, mucB, mucC, or mucD) that produce regulatory factors that sequester AlgU, required for increased expression of alginate genes. Mutation of the muc genes ...

Patients with nonerosive reflux disease exhibit impaired esophageal mucosal integrity, which may underlie enhanced reflux perception. In vitro topical application of an alginate solution can protect mucosal biopsies against acid-induced changes in transepithelial electrical resistance (TER). We aimed to confirm this finding in a second model using 3D cell cultures and to assess prolonged protec...