Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Transplacental exposure to the DNA alkylating agent N-methyl-N-nitrosourea on day 16 of gestation in CD-1 albino mice induces a degeneration of the retina, the severity of which depends upon the dosage level of the drug. A 1 mg kg-1 dose provokes a progressive retinal degeneration in the offspring which begins at about 4-6 weeks of age and is characterized by gradual thinning of the retinal layers. A 15 mg kg-1 dosage of MNU provokes severe retinal dysplasia characterized morphologically by rosettes in the outer nuclear layer and loss of rod outer segments (ROS). In the present biochemical experiments, retinal protein synthesis was examined in mice 2-, 4-, and 6 weeks of age exposed to 1 mg kg-1 MNU and 2- and 5 weeks of age exposed to 15 mg kg-1 MNU. Phospholipid synthesis was examined in mice 2-, 4-, 6- and 12 weeks of age exposed to 1 mg kg-1 MNU and at 2 weeks in mice exposed to 15 mg kg-1 MNU. Retinas were incubated for 2 hr at 37 degrees C in media supplemented with either [3H]leucine for protein synthesis studies or [3H]glycerol for phospholipid synthesis experiments. Aliquots of crude ROS and the retinal debris were taken for protein determination, scintillation counting, SDS-PAGE separation of labeled opsin, phosphorus determination and TLC separation of phospholipids. Results indicated that mice exposed to 1 mg kg-1 MNU did not differ significantly from age-matched controls in these measurements, whereas mice exposed to 15 mg kg-1 MNU were significantly different from controls. These results suggest that even as early as 2 weeks of age protein and lipid metabolism are adversely affected in mice exposed to the higher dose of the alkylating agent at a critical time in retinal development, but general protein and lipid synthesis is not affected in animals exposed to 1 mg kg-1 MNU at least up to 12 weeks of age. These studies suggest further investigation of more subtle derangement in the retinal function in animals exposed to low levels of MNU.
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PMID:Biochemical characterization of retinal protein and phospholipid synthesis in mice exposed transplacentally to N-methyl-N-nitrosourea. 319 72

When the inner cylinder of a fluid-filled Couette viscometer is rotated rapidly, a vortical flow pattern develops when a dimensionless value referred to as the critical Taylor number (Tc) is reached. We have determined its magnitude in our viscometer for three Newtonian fluids and for blood at 37 degrees C, using the inflection point of torque/RPM vs. RPM (sudden rise in apparent viscosity). Its position was identified by least squares line fitting. Because blood was studied, the viscosity used in Tc calculation was the apparent bob shear stress/shear rate ratio at the inflection marking vortical flow onset. For glycerol-water mixtures Tc was 41.8 +/- 0.3 (N = 11), for propylene glycol 42.0 +/- 0.2 (N = 14), for silicone oil 41.8 +/- 0.2 (N = 11). For healthy blood Tc was 40.7 +/- 0.9 (N = 140). This evidence against blood's increased resistance to flow instability was accompanied by a slower rate of rise in torque both above and below Tc compared to the three Newtonian fluids. Newtonian fluids and blood both developed wavy vortical flow at a rotation rate moderately higher than Tc. Blood resisted this unstable flow behavior more than the Newtonian fluids but it also experienced a slower rate of rise in torque with increasing rotation rate above the critical Taylor number. Shear-thinning is the simplest explanation for blood's mildly altered Taylor vortex behavior; blood's resistance to flow instability is otherwise not found to be sufficient to affect its flow stability in man.
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PMID:Blood's critical Taylor number and its flow behavior at supercritical Taylor numbers. 366 98

The viscoelastic properties of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solution were investigated using the dynamic oscillatory testing technique. With this technique, the effect of PEO molecular weight (MW), concentration, composition of mixed solvent systems consisting of propylene glycol, glycerol formal, and water, and the effect of NaCl salt on the viscoelastic properties of PEO solution were determined. Dynamic moduli (G1, G2), magnitude of complex viscosity (magnitude of eta*), and loss tangent (tan delta) were examined over a frequency range of 10(-3)-2.5 Hz at 30 degrees C. The results indicated that low MW PEOs show liquidlike behavior while high elasticity is exhibited by high MW PEOs due to entanglement formation. The complex viscosity, magnitude of eta*, exhibits shear thinning (power-law) characteristics under oscillatory measurements. The relationship between steady shear and complex viscosities follows the Cox-Merz rule over the shear rate and frequency region studied. Both the storage (G1) and loss (G2) modulus increase drastically as the proportion of water in the mixed solvent system increases. Similarly, both G1 and G2 are found to increase while the tan delta decreases with increasing concentration of PEOs. The addition of up to 2% w/w NaCl in an aqueous solution of 10% w/w 2 million MW PEO has no observed detrimental effect on the viscoelastic behavior.
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PMID:Viscoelastic properties of poly(ethylene oxide) solution. 788 67

Blood viscosity varies during the course of artificial heart implants and is affected by pathological conditions. To gauge the potential effect of changing viscosity on valve performance, leakage rates were measured across a closed Medtronic-Hall valve with water, water/glycerol and fresh whole bovine blood for aortic and pulmonary pressure ranges. As might be expected from the low Reynolds numbers (< 140), losses across the valve were found to be primarily viscous. For the two Newtonian fluids, leakage was slightly less than linearly proportional to pressure. This is comparable with empirical data for orifice flow, which predicts three fifths power dependence on pressure. For blood, however, the greater than linear dependence on pressure found suggests that the pseudoplasticity (shear-thinning behavior) of blood is important. These data provide evidence that the viscous and non-Newtonian properties of blood must be taken into account in modelling prosthetic valve performance and may affect the test methods and flow regulation strategies for prosthetic blood pumps.
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PMID:Influence of viscosity and pressure on prosthetic valve regurgitation. 831 39

Molecular dynamics computer simulations of the structure and functions of a simple membrane are performed in order to examine whether membranes provide an environment capable of promoting protobiological evolution. Our model membrane is composed of glycerol 1-monooleate. It is found that the bilayer surface fluctuates in time and space, occasionally creating thinning defects in the membrane. These defects are essential for passive transport of simple ions across membranes because they reduce the Born barrier to this process by approximately 40%. Negative ions are transferred across the bilayer more readily than positive ions due to favorable interactions with the electric field at the membrane-water interface. Passive transport of neutral molecules is, in general, more complex than predicted by the solubility-diffusion model. In particular, molecules which exhibit sufficient hydrophilicity and lipophilicity concentrate near membrane surfaces and experience "interfacial resistance" to transport. The membrane-water interface forms an environment suitable for heterogeneous catalysis. Several possible mechanisms leading to an increase of reaction rates at the interface are discussed. We conclude that vesicles have many properties that make them very good candidates for earliest protocells. Some potentially fruitful directions of experimental and theoretical research on this subject are proposed.
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PMID:Molecular dynamics studies of simple membrane-water interfaces: structure and functions in the beginnings of cellular life. 1153 72

We present results of molecular dynamics simulations of a glycerol 1-monooleate bilayer in water. The total length of analyzed trajectories is 5 ns. The calculated width of the bilayer agrees well with the experimentally measured value. The interior of the membrane is in a highly disordered fluid state. Atomic density profiles, orientational and conformational distribution functions, and order parameters indicate that disorder increases toward the center of the bilayer. Analysis of out-of-plane thermal fluctuations of the bilayer surfaces occurring at the time scale of the present calculations reveals that the distribution of modes agrees with predictions of the capillary wave model. Fluctuations of both bilayer surfaces are uncorrelated, yielding Gaussian distribution of instantaneous widths of the membrane. Fluctuations of the width produce transient thinning defects in the bilayer which occasionally span almost half of the membrane. The leading mechanism of these fluctuations is the orientational and conformational motion of head groups rather than vertical motion of the whole molecules. Water considerably penetrates the head group region of the bilayer but not its hydrocarbon core. The total net excess dipole moment of the interfacial water points toward the aqueous phase, but the water polarization profile is non-monotonic. Both water and head groups significantly contribute to the surface potential across the interface. The calculated sign of the surface potential is in agreement with that from experimental measurements, but the value is markedly overestimated. The structural and electrical properties of the water-bilayer system are discussed in relation to membrane functions, in particular transport of ions and nonelectrolytes across membranes.
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PMID:Molecular dynamics of a water-lipid bilayer interface. 1154 95

The mechanical and melt flow properties of two thermoplastic potato starch materials with different amylose contents were evaluated. The materials were prepared by mixing starch, glycerol, and water, mainly in the weight proportions of 10:3:4.5. Compression molding was used to produce sheets/films with a thickness in the range of 0.3-1 mm. After conditioning at 53% relative humidity (RH) and 23 C, the glycerol-plasticized sheets with a higher amylose content (HAP) were stronger and stiffer than the normal thermoplastic starch (NPS) with an amylose content typical for common potato starch. The tensile modulus at 53% RH was about 160 MPa for the high-amylose material and about 120 MPa for the plasticized NPS. The strain at break was about 50% for both materials. The stress at break was substantially higher for the HAP materials than for the NPS materials, 9.8 and 4.7 MPa, respectively. Capillary viscometry at 140 C showed that the high-amylose material had a higher melt viscosity and was more shear-thinning than the NPS. Dynamic mechanical measurements indicated a broad transition temperature range for both types of starch material. The main transition peaks for glycerol-plasticized starch were located at about room temperature with the transition for the HAP material being at a somewhat higher temperature than that of the NPS material with a lower amylose content. It was also noted that the processing conditions used during the compression molding markedly affected the mechanical properties of the starch material.
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PMID:Compression molding and tensile properties of thermoplastic potato starch materials. 1652 40

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have received considerable interest as a source of new antibiotics with the potential for treatment of multiple-drug resistant infections. An important class of AMPs is composed of linear, cationic peptides that form amphipathic alpha-helices. Among the most potent of these are the cecropins and synthetic peptides that are hybrids of cecropin and the bee venom peptide, mellitin. Both cecropins and cecropin-mellitin hybrids exist in solution as unstructured monomers, folding into predominantly alpha-helical structures upon membrane binding with their long helical axis parallel to the bilayer surface. Studies using model membranes have shown that these peptides intercalate into the lipid bilayer just below the level of the phospholipid glycerol backbone in a location that requires expansion of the outer leaflet of the bilayer, and evidence from a variety of experimental approaches indicates that expansion and thinning of the bilayer are common characteristics during the early stages of antimicrobial peptide-membrane interactions. Subsequent disruption of the membrane permeability barrier may occur by a variety of mechanisms, leading ultimately to loss of cytoplasmic membrane integrity and cell death.
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PMID:Peptide-membrane interactions and mechanisms of membrane destruction by amphipathic alpha-helical antimicrobial peptides. 1669 75

The dynamical behavior of a nanomeniscus is investigated with a oscillating nanoneedle recording information on the change of the shape and viscous contribution. At the air-glycerol interface, the dynamical properties exhibit a nonlinear behavior making the nanomeniscus evolution similar to a first-order phase transition. Also shown is the capability to record height images of the liquid interface with resolutions at nanometer scale. At the air-water interface, evaporation leads to more complex dynamical properties. The viscous damping first increases as a consequence of a thinning effect, then, when the contact angle reaches zero, the nanomeniscus is unable to sustain the dissipation.
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PMID:Wetting an oscillating nanoneedle to image an air-liquid interface at the nanometer scale: dynamical behavior of a nanomeniscus. 1709 90

We probe the mechanical response of two supercooled liquids, glycerol and ortho-terphenyl, by conducting rheological experiments at very weak stresses. We find a complex fluid behavior suggesting the gradual emergence of an extended, delicate solid-like network in both materials in the supercooled state-i.e., above the glass transition. This network stiffens as it ages, and very early in this process it already extends over macroscopic distances, conferring all well known features of soft glassy rheology (yield-stress, shear thinning, aging) to the supercooled liquids. Such viscoelastic behavior of supercooled molecular glass formers is difficult to observe because the large stresses in conventional rheology can easily shear-melt the solid-like structure. The work presented here, combined with evidence for long-lived heterogeneity from previous single-molecule studies [Zondervan R, Kulzer F, Berkhout GCG, Orrit M (2007) Local viscosity of supercooled glycerol near T(g) probed by rotational diffusion of ensembles and single dye molecules. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:12628-12633], has a profound impact on the understanding of the glass transition because it casts doubt on the widely accepted assumption of the preservation of ergodicity in the supercooled state.
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PMID:Soft glassy rheology of supercooled molecular liquids. 1836 47


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