Optimizing lime pretreatment of rice straw for biolipid production using oleaginous microorganisms.

This work focuses on the lime pretreatment of rice straw, agricultural waste in northeast Vietnam, for microbial lipid (bio-lipid) production. A response surface methodology approach was performed to optimize parameters for the pretreatment process. These parameters are the concentration of Ca(OH), hydrolysis temperature, and maintained time; the effect is considered bio-lipid production yield.

Fitting the elementary rate constants of the P-gp transporter network in the hMDR1-MDCK confluent cell monolayer using a particle swarm algorithm.

P-glycoprotein, a human multidrug resistance transporter, has been extensively studied due to its importance to human health and disease. In order to understand transport kinetics via P-gp, confluent cell monolayers overexpressing P-gp are widely used. The purpose of this study is to obtain the mass action elementary rate constants for P-gp's transport and to functionally characterize members of P-gp's network, i.

The steady-state Michaelis-Menten analysis of P-glycoprotein mediated transport through a confluent cell monolayer cannot predict the correct Michaelis constant Km.

Purpose: Typically, the kinetics of membrane transport is analyzed using the steady-state Michaelis-Menten (or Eadie-Hofstee or Hanes) equations. This approach has been successful when the substrate is picked up from the aqueous phase, like a water-soluble enzyme, for which the Michaelis-Menten steady-state analysis was developed. For membrane transporters whose substrate resides in the lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane, like P-glycoprotein (P-gp), there has been no validation of the accuracy of the steady-state analysis because the elementary rate constants for transport were not known.

The elementary mass action rate constants of P-gp transport for a confluent monolayer of MDCKII-hMDR1 cells.

The human multi-drug resistance membrane transporter, P-glycoprotein, or P-gp, has been extensively studied due to its importance to human health and disease. Thus far, the kinetic analysis of P-gp transport has been limited to steady-state Michaelis-Menten approaches or to compartmental models, neither of which can prove molecular mechanisms. Determination of the elementary kinetic rate constants of transport will be essential to understanding how P-gp works.

Exact kinetic analysis of passive transport across a polarized confluent MDCK cell monolayer modeled as a single barrier.

Knowledge of the passive permeability coefficient for new drugs is useful for estimating the fraction absorbed across the gastrointestinal tract. The commonly used approximate formula for the passive permeability coefficient is based on the initial rate of permeation across cell monolayers, requires measurement during the linear phase of permeation, and is not applicable when there is significant back flux of compound or mass balance problem. To develop a rigorous equation that can be used at any time point, i.