In order to develop targeted pharmaceutical carriers additionally capable of responding certain local stimuli, such as decreased pH values in tumors or infarcts, targeted long-circulating PEGylated liposomes and PEG-phosphatidylethanolamine (PEG-PE)-based micelles have been prepared with several functions. First, they are capable of targeting a specific cell or organ by attaching the monoclonal antimyosin antibody 2G4 to their surface via pNP-PEG-PE moieties. Second, these liposomes and micelles were additionally modified with biotin or TAT peptide (TATp) moieties attached to the surface of the nanocarrier by using biotin-PE or TATp-PE or TATp-short PEG-PE derivatives. PEG-PE used for liposome surface modification or for micelle preparation was made degradable by inserting the pH-sensitive hydrazone bond between PEG and PE (PEG-Hz-PE). Under normal pH values, biotin and TATp functions on the surface of nanocarriers were "shielded" by long protecting PEG chains (pH-degradable PEG 2000 -PE or PEG 5000 -PE) or by even longer pNP-PEG-PE moieties used to attach antibodies to the nanocarrier (non-pH-degradable PEG 3400 -PE or PEG 5000 -PE). At pH 7.5-8.0, both liposomes and micelles demonstrated high specific binding with 2G4 antibody substrate, myosin, but very limited binding on an avidin column (biotin-containing nanocarriers) or internalization by NIH/3T3 or U-87 cells (TATp-containing nanocarriers). However, upon brief incubation (15-to-30 min) at lower pH values (pH 5.0-6.0) nanocarriers lost their protective PEG shell because of acidic hydrolysis of PEG-Hz-PE and acquired the ability to become strongly retained on avidin-column (biotin-containing nanocarriers) or effectively internalized by cells via TATp moieties (TATp-containing nanocarriers). We consider this result as the first step in the development of multifunctional stimuli-sensitive pharmaceutical nanocarriers.

The sequencing of the moss Physcomitrella patens genome has facilitated studies of the plant proteome. To develop a proteome reference map based on the genome sequence, we conducted 2D electrophoreses of proteins extracted from moss protoplasts, protonemata, and gametophores grown under standard conditions on Petri dishes. On silver-stained gels, depending on the developmental stage of the moss, we resolved from 500 to 600 protein spots that were then excised and digested by trypsin, and 212 proteins were identified by PMF-MALDI-TOF. To enhance the proteome coverage, we performed 1D SDS-PAGE with subsequent separation of tryptic peptides derived from digested gel band slices by LC-ESI-MS/MS. The proposed approach allowed us to identify 186 proteins had not been determined by 2D PMF-MALDI-TOF. Proteins identified by both methods were categorized using a system of clusterization of orthologous genes as metabolism (26%), cellular processes and signaling (16%), and information storage and processing (7%). Proteome analysis by differential gel electrophoresis revealed moderate differences between filamentous protonemata and leafy shoots. Surprisingly, protoplasts isolated from protonema filaments displayed significant differences in protein composition compared with both protonemata and gametophores.