It is well-established that native plasma membranes are characterized by an asymmetric distribution of charged (anionic) lipids across the membrane. To clarify how the asymmetry can affect membrane electrostatics, we have performed extensive atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations of asymmetric lipid membranes composed of zwitterionic (phosphatidylcholine (PC) or phosphatidylethanolamine (P...

The pericapillary permeability of the ciliary processes to intravenously injected native (anionic) ferritin, neutral ferritin, and two cationic ferritin derivatives was studied in normal rats by electron microscopy. Anionic and neutral ferritin were largely confined to the circulatory compartment. Those particles that entered the pericapillary region of the ciliary processes were randomly scatt...

Lung surfactant monolayer formation and maintenance requires substantial reorganization of phospholipid assemblies containing up to 10% anionic lipid. Nuclear magnetic resonance was used to study chain order and slow reorientation in bilayer mixtures of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and an anionic phospholipid, dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG), with one or both lipids chain-perdeu...

1. The bactericidal action of a number of anionic and cationic synthetic detergents on four Gram-positive and three Gram-negative bacteria has been investigated. 2. Cationic detergents, as a group, were found to exhibit marked bactericidal effects on Gram-positive microorganisms and somewhat less pronounced action on Gram-negative organisms. 3. The anionic detergents were germicidal only agains...

The immunovariant N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mutations Pococurante (Poc) and Lackadaisical were found to alter MyD88, creating striking receptor-selective effects. Poc, in particular, prevented sensing of all MyD88-dependent Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands except diacyl lipopeptides. Furthermore, Poc-site and classical BB loop mutations caused equivalent phenotypes when engrafted into any T...

The low immunogenicity exhibited by most soluble proteins is generally due to the absence of molecular signatures that are recognized by the immune system as dangerous. In this study, we show that electrostatic binding of synthetic branched cationic or anionic lipopeptides that contain the TLR-2 agonist Pam(2)Cys markedly enhance a protein's immunogenicity. Binding of a charged lipopeptide to o...

The constant demand for new, effective therapeutic agents has triggered intensive research in the field of diverse antimicrobials of natural origin. These compounds are synthesized by all forms of life and have important biomedical and biotechnological properties, and are thus widely considered a potential solution to the growing problem of resistance to conventional antibiotics, fungal infecti...

anionic dbs surfactant can be photodegraded in a tio2 dispersion and h2o2 solution under an hg-lamp (15 w) uv illumination or solar exposure. degradation process has been monitored through cleavage of aromatic moiety. degradation of the detergent was small when the photolysis was carried out in the absence of tio2 and h2o2 and it was negligible in the absence of light. most of the curves repres...