Dual action of L-Lactate on the activity of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors: from potentiation to neuroprotection.

L-Lactate is a positive modulator of NMDAR-mediated signaling resulting in plasticity gene induction and memory consolidation. However, L-Lactate is also able to protect neurons against excito-toxic NMDAR activity, an indication of a mitigating action of L-Lactate on NMDA signaling. In this study, we provide experimental evidence that resolves this apparent paradox.

Kinetics of Antibody Binding to Membranes of Living Bacteria Measured by a Photonic Crystal-Based Biosensor.

Optical biosensors based on photonic crystal surface waves (PC SWs) offer a possibility to study binding interactions with living cells, overcoming the limitation of rather small evanescent field penetration depth into a sample medium that is characteristic for typical optical biosensors. Besides this, simultaneous excitation of - and -polarized surface waves with different penetration depths is realized here, permitting unambiguous separation of surface and volume contributions to the measured signal. PC-based biosensors do not require a bulk signal correction, compared to widely used surface plasmon resonance-based devices.