In the present work, we analyzed how external factors can modulate the efficiency of epigallocatechin‑3‑O‑gallate (EGCG) inhibition of a membrane-bound isoform of the acetylcholinesterase. Increasing the ionic strength but not the osmolarity of the bulk medium proved to be an important factor. In addition, we verified a clear correlation between the inhibitory activity with the order degree of the membranes by using cholesterol-partially depleted red blood cell ghosts. These two factors i.e. high salt concentration in the bulk medium and less viscous membranes, allow a deeper insertion of the EGCG into the lipid bilayer, thus leading to a greater inhibition of AChE. As a corollary, we propose that any treatment or process that leads to a slight decrease in cholesterol content in the membranes can efficiently enhance the inhibitory activity of EGCG, which can have important consequences in all the pathologies where the inhibition of AChE is recommended.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2018.08.002 | DOI Listing |
J Vis Exp
December 2024
1State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry; Comprehensive Experimental Center in Yellow River Delta of Chinese Academy of Forestry; Tianjin Institute of Forestry Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry;
Cryptobiosis is a state where organisms lose nearly all their internal water and enter anhydrobiosis under extreme environmental stress. The dispersal third-stage juveniles (pre-dauer juveniles, ) of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus can enter cryptobiosis through dehydration and revive upon rehydration when environmental conditions improve. Osmotic regulation is crucial for their survival in this process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoft Matter
January 2025
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Microrheology has become an indispensable tool for measuring the dynamics of macromolecular systems. Yet, its ability to characterize polymer dynamics across spatiotemporal scales, which vary among polymers and concentration regimes, is limited by the selection of probe morphologies and sizes. Here, we introduce semiflexible M13 phage as a powerful microrheological probe able to circumvent these constraints to robustly capture the dynamics of polymeric solutions across decades of concentrations, sizes, and ionic conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDes Monomers Polym
January 2025
Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V, Dresden, Germany.
Enhancing both ionic conductivity and mechanical robustness remains a major challenge in designing solid-state electrolytes for lithium batteries. This work presents a novel approach in designing mechanically robust and highly conductive solid-state electrolytes, which involves ionic liquid-based cross-linked polymer networks incorporating polymeric ionic liquids (PILs). First, linear PILs with different side groups were synthesized for optimizing the structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.
Palm leaf manuscripts, crafted from specially treated palm leaves, are invaluable historical documents. However, they degrade and tend to become brittle over time. To date, plant essential oils and glycerin are the used materials to improve the flexibility of palm leaf manuscripts, but the effective duration of these materials is short due to their volatility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQ Rev Biophys
January 2025
Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy.
Yeast frataxin (Yfh1) is a small natural protein from yeast that has the unusual property of undergoing cold denaturation at temperatures above the freezing point of water when under conditions of low ionic strength. This peculiarity, together with remarkable resilience, allows the determination, for the whole protein as well as for individual residues, of the stability curve, that is the temperature dependence of the free energy difference between the unfolded and folded forms. The ease of measuring stability curves without the need to add denaturants or introduce destabilizing mutations makes this protein an ideal 'tool' for investigating the influence of many environmental factors on protein stability.
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