Both naturally occurring and synthetic phosphatidic acid (PtdOH) molecules show the phenomenon of spontaneous vesiculation on jump in pH value. This method involves a transient increase in pH of smectic PtdOH dispersions to values between 10 and 12. Such a pH increase induces spontaneous vesiculation with the formation of small unilamellar vesicles of diameter less than 50 nm as shown by 31P NM...

pH gradient protein separations are widely used techniques in the field of protein analytics, of which isoelectric focusing is the most well known application. The chromatographic variant, based on the formation of pH gradients in ion exchange columns is only rarely applied due to the difficulties to form controllable, linear pH gradients over a broad pH range. This work describes a method for ...

Ion exchange is a very useful technique to separate protein mixtures under mild conditions, most commonly by applying a shallow gradient of increasing salt concentration as eluent. pH gradient elution is used much less frequently, except in specialist applications such as chromatofocusing, and can require complex buffer systems. However, today’s modern quaternary HPLC systems are ideally suited...

The highly motile human pathogen Helicobacter pylori lives deep in the gastric mucus layer. To identify which chemical gradient guides the bacteria within the mucus layer, combinations of luminal perfusion, dialysis, and ventilation were used to modify or invert transmucus gradients in anaesthetized Helicobacter-infected mice and Mongolian gerbils. Neither changes in lumen or arterial pH nor in...

5-Hydroxytryptamine is accumulated by resealed chromaffin-granule 'ghosts' if a pH gradient (acid inside) is imposed across their membranes by preincubating them at low pH. This uptake, like that driven by MgATP, is reserpine- and uncoupler-sensitive. This strongly suggests that catecholamines are taken up by intact granules in response to a pH gradient. In line with this, it is shown that 5-hy...

A new set-up was constructed for capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) involving a sampling capillary as a bypass fixed to the separation capillary. Sample solutions were subjected to a previously established pH gradient from the sample capillary. Besides performing conventional CIEF, the separation of ampholytic compounds with isoelectric points (p/s) beyond the pH gradient was carried out on ...

Glycylglycine (Gly-Gly) transport across rabbit small intestinal brush border membrane vesicles was studied in the presence and absence of a Na+ gradient or a pH gradient. The transport was found to be entirely independent of Na+ but significantly stimulated by lowering extravesicular pH (pHo). The maximum stimulation was seen at pHo 5.5, where the uptake rate was about 2-times higher than the ...

We report a method for the rapid and reversible generation of microscale pH gradients using a spatially varied electric field. A linear gradient in electrochemical potential is produced on an electrode surface consisting of a platinum catalyst layer on indium-tin oxide-coated glass by the application of two different potential values at spatially distinct surface locations. The resulting potent...

In pancreatic β-cells, ATP acts as a signaling molecule initiating plasma membrane electrical activity linked to Ca influx, which triggers insulin exocytosis. The mitochondrial Ca uniporter (MCU) mediates Ca uptake into the organelle, where energy metabolism is further stimulated for sustained second phase insulin secretion. Here, we have studied the contribution of the MCU to the regulation of...

gradient for activation, both the wt and the pH-shifted G338S variant exhibit highly symmetrical transport activity with bell shaped pH dependencies, but the optimal pH was shifted 1.8 pH units to the acidic range in the variant. In both strains the pH dependence was associated with a systematic increase of the Km for Na + at acidic pH. Under symmetrical Na + concentration with a pH gradient fo...