An amorphous silicon photodiode microfluidic chip to detect nanomolar quantities of HIV-1 virion infectivity factor.

A hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photosensor was explored for the quantitative detection of a HIV-1 virion infectivity factor (Vif) at a detection limit in the single nanomolar range. The a-Si:H photosensor was coupled with a microfluidic channel that was functionalized with a recombinant single chain variable fragment antibody. The biosensor selectively recognizes HIV-1 Vif from human cell extracts.

Acoustic detection of cell adhesion to a coated quartz crystal microbalance - implications for studying the biocompatibility of polymers.

Biocompatibility of polymers is an important parameter for the successful application of polymers in tissue engineering. In this work, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) devices were used to follow the adhesion of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts to QCM surfaces modified with fibronectin (FN) and poly-D-lysine (PDL). The variations in sensor resonant frequency (Δf) and motional resistance (ΔR), monitored as the sensor signal, revealed that cell adhesion was favored in the PDL-coated QCMs.

Vanadate induces necrotic death in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes through mitochondrial membrane depolarization.

Besides the well-known inotropic effects of vanadium in cardiac muscle, previous studies have shown that vanadate can stimulate cell growth or induce cell death. In this work, we studied the toxicity to neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (cardiomyocytes) of two vanadate solutions containing different oligovanadates distribution, decavanadate (containing decameric vanadate, V 10) and metavanadate (containing monomeric vanadate and also di-, tetra-, and pentavanadate). Incubation for 24 h with decavanadate or metavanadate induced necrotic cell death of cardiomyocytes, without significant caspase-3 activation.

Mitochondria as a target for decavanadate toxicity in Sparus aurata heart.

In a previous in vivo study we have reported that vanadium distribution, antioxidant enzymes activity and lipid peroxidation in Sparus aurata heart are strongly dependent on the oligomeric vanadate species being administered. Moreover, it was suggested that vanadium is accumulated in mitochondria, in particular when V10 was intravenously injected. In this work we have done a comparative study of the effects of V10 and monomeric vanadate (V1) on cardiac mitochondria from S.