Various natural and synthetic substances classified as polyanionics have been implicated in antagonizing phagosome-lysosome fusion in cultured macrophages. The phenomenon has been judged by comparing the transfer of selected markers from secondary lysosomes to phagosomes in control and in "polyanion" cells. Our earlier studies showed that use of one of the markers, the membrane-permeating acrid...

Biodegradable and bioactive polymers are gaining considerable attention in the field of biomedical research to achieve therapeutic effects, drug-targeting and as drug carriers. Two acidic amino acid (glutamic and aspartic acids) monomer units were converted into polyanionic long chain polypeptidespoly-glutamic acid (PGA) and poly-aspartic acids (PAA). The synthesized derivatives were characteri...

The use of activable cell-penetrating peptides (ACPPs) as molecular imaging probes is a promising new approach for the visualization of enzymes. The cell-penetrating function of a polycationic cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) is efficiently blocked by intramolecular electrostatic interactions with a polyanionic peptide. Proteolysis of a proteinase-sensitive substrate present between the CPP and p...

Branched polypeptides with polylysine backbone are promising candidates for selective delivery of drugs, epitopes. or reporter molecules. We reported earlier that polylysine-based polypeptides with polyanionic character were internalized by murine bone marrow derived macrophages via class A scavenger receptor. In the present studies, our investigations were extended to seven polypeptides with d...

Cellulose was modified by polystyrene (PS) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) via free radical and living radical polymerization, and then cellulose was used as the matrix in the preparation of polymer/clay nanocomposite, through a solution intercalation method. For this purpose, first, the graft polymerization of styrene (St) onto cellulose fibers was performed by using suspension polymerization and ...

An in vitro experiment was conducted to determine the effect of supplemental non-fiber carbohydrate(NFC) on the disappearance kinetics of cellulose (Ce) by mixed ruminal microorganisms. Non-supplementedor NFC supplemented cellulose (467 mg NFC/g cellulose as sucrose (CeSu) or starch (CeSt) or a 1:1 mixtureof sucrose + starch (CeSuSt)) were incubated for 24, 48, and 96 h at 39°C. After each incu...

To examine the electrostatic effects of fixed negative charges on the glomerular capillary wall, polydisperse [(3)H]DEAE dextran, a polycationic form of dextran, was infused into 10 Munich-Wistar rats. Fractional clearances of DEAE ranging in radius from 18 to 44A were determined in these rats, together with direct measurements of the forces and flows governing the glomerular filtration rate of...

The present study was carried out to determine if sensitization of Gram-negative bacteria to the polyanionic antibiotic daptomycin by cationic molecules can be explained on the basis of decreased cell surface charge in order to better understand intrinsic resistance. Turbidimetric assessments of batch cultural growth kinetics revealed the outer membrane permeabilizer polymyxin B nonapeptide sen...

Cellulose is one of the most abundant biological polymers on Earth, and is synthesized by the cellulose synthase complex in cell membranes. Although many cellulose synthase genes have been identified over the past 25 years, functional studies of cellulose synthase using recombinant proteins have rarely been conducted. In this study, we conducted a functional analysis of cellulose synthase with ...