Lamellar bodies are specialized cellular organelles used for storage of surfactant by alveolar type II cells of the lung. We utilized monoclonal antibody (MAb) 3C9, which recognizes an integral lamellar body-limiting membrane protein of 180 kDa, to follow lamellar body trafficking. (125)I-labeled MAb 3C9 bound to the surface of type II cells and was internalized by the cells in a time- and conc...

A phenomenological modelling approach has been developed to describe the massive transformation and the formation of lamellar microstructures during cooling in binary g titanium aluminides. The modelling approach is based on a combination of nucleation and growth laws which take into account the specific mechanisms of each phase transformation. Nucleation of massive and lamellar g is described ...

Electron microscopy of multilamellar crystals of CA(2+)-ATPase currently offers the best opportunity for obtaining a high-resolution structure of this ATP-driven ion pump. Under certain conditions small, wormlike crystals are formed and provide views parallel to the lamellar plane, from which parameters of lamellar stacking can be directly measured. Assuming that molecular packing is the same, ...

The thermotropic phase behaviour and chain dynamics of the dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine/myristic acid (1:2, mol/mol) mixture at pH 4.0 have been studied with 31P-NMR and spin-label ESR. Broadline proton-dipolar decoupled 31P-NMR spectra show that the system undergoes a transition from a lamellar phase to a non-lamellar phase at 47 degrees C. The 31P-NMR spectrum collapses, from a lamellar pow...

Ferredoxin-stimulated photosynthetic oxygen reduction and concommitant decarboxylation of glyoxylate by chloroplast lamellar systems is inhibited by ascorbate but ferredoxin dependent NADP+-reduction is not. In the presence of low potential electron acceptors (AQ or MV) this influence of ascorbate on glyoxylate decarboxylation by chloroplast lamellar systems is no longer observed. Using the dia...

Formation of woven and lamellar bone in the adult skeleton can be induced through mechanical loading. Although much is known about the morphological appearance and structural properties of the newly formed bone, the molecular responses to loading are still not well understood. The objective of our study was to use a microarray to distinguish the molecular responses between woven and lamellar bo...

Lung surfactant reduces surface tension and maintains the stability of alveoli. How surfactant is released from alveolar epithelial type II cells is not fully understood. Vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) is the enzyme responsible for pumping H(+) into lamellar bodies and is required for the processing of surfactant proteins and the packaging of surfactant lipids. However, its role in lung surfactant ...

Based on the {S+, I-} pathway, the concentration of surfactant and surface charge density of silanolate groups control the phase transition from lamellar, to hexagonal through cubic form. The high surface charge density of silanolate groups was observed for the lamellar phase. With decrease of molar concentration of surfactant on the gel, the yield of...

Salt-induced fluid lamellar (L alpha) to inverted hexagonal (HII) phase transitions have been studied in diphosphatidylglycerols (cardiolipins) with different acyl chain compositions, using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Cardiolipins with four myristoyl chains, tetramyristoyl cardiolipin (TMCL), and with four oleoyl chains, tetraoleoyl cardiolipin (TOCL), were synthesized ch...

For the very first time, atomic force microscope images of lamellar phases were observed combined with a freeze fracture technique that does not involve the use of replicas. Samples are rapidly frozen, fractured, and scanned directly with atomic force microscopy, at liquid nitrogen temperature and in high vacuum. This procedure can be used to investigate micro-structured liquids. The lamellar p...