The effects of cations on the yield stress of ovalbumin monolayers

Blank, Martin; Lee, Beatrice B; Britten, John S.

doi:10.1016/0021-9797(73)90400-1

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is well known that when an aqueous solution of a protein (e.g., of concentration 1 mg/ml) is carefully applied to the surface of an aqueous salt solution, the protein molecules tend to unfold (Davies, 1954;Yamashita and Bull, 1967;Joos, 1968;Kretzschmar, 1969;Mitchell et al, 1971;Birdi, 1972Birdi, , 1973aBlank et al, 1973;Watterson et al, 1974;Joos, 1975;Yamashita, 1977;Chattoraj and Birdi, 1984). The charged polymers will be interacting with counterions.…”

Section: Protein Monolayers At Liquid Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Assembly Monolayer Structures of Lipids and Macromolecules at Interfaces

Birdi¹

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PREFACEThe information that science can extract from molecules that are essential for the processes of life can lead to better understanding of those processes. In natural selection during evolution (both prebiotic and biotic), physicochemical forces have been featured. A specific class of molecules, the amphiphiles, in aqueous environments exhibit self-assembly properties at liquid and solid interfaces. Such properties when combined with other forces require a special analysis. Of the self-assembly properties of amphiphiles, one is the formation of monomolecular films at both liquid-air and solid-air interfaces. During the last few decades, much has been reported in the literature on the formation of insoluble self-assembly monolayer (SAM) films of lipids and macromolecules (synthetic polymers and biopolymers) on the surface of water or at oil-water interfaces.The phenomenon of monolayer self-assembly has attracted considerable attention as a means of controlling molecular structures at interfaces. Studies of monomolecular films have been found to provide much physicochemical information on a molecular scale, which is useful for understanding many industrial and biological phenomena. For instance, the information obtained from lipid monolayer studies has been useful in determining the forces that stabilize various SAM structures found in lipid bilayers, vesicles, biological cell membranes, virus-cell fusion, emulsions, foams and films, and other self-assemblies. Current texts generally devote a single chapter to the characteristics of spread monolayers on liquids, and a researcher may have to look up a few hundred references to determine the procedures needed to investigate or analyze a particular phenomenon. Furthermore, there is an urgent need at this time for a text that discusses the state of the art regarding the surface phenomena exhibited by lipids and biopolymers, as they are relevant to a wide variety of surface and interfacial processes. During the last decade, the study of SAMs on solid surfaces has been aided greatly by developments in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).The purpose of this book is to bring the reader up to date with the most recent experimental and the theoretical developments in relation to SAMs at liquid and solid surfaces. It is my intention to lead the researcher through the vast literature in such a way that he or she will be able to pursue particular investigation with suitable guidance. Such investigations may be industrial (emulsions, foams, dispersions, enhanced oil recovery, nonlinear optics) or biological [lipid-phase transitions, vesicles (drug targeting); bilayers, membranes, ion transport through membranes, sensors] in nature. The treatment in different parts of the text is based on the fundamental concepts of classical thermodynamics of surfaces (interfaces), i.e., the Gibbs adsorption theory. A large amount of experimental data from the literature has been included and critically examined from a vii viii PREFACE theoretical viewpoint...

show abstract

Section: Protein Monolayers At Liquid Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Assembly Monolayer Structures of Lipids and Macromolecules at Interfaces

Birdi¹

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Adsorption of albumin on rabbit sperm membranes

1976

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When mammalian sperm cells are exposed to solutions of albumin there are changes in the membranes of some species that resemble those that normally occur in the uterus prior to fertilization. We have shown that albumin molecules absorb on to the membranes of ejaculated rabbit sperm cells, and that the equilibrium binding constant, K, (1) varies inversely with the albumin concentration, (2) is independent of the sperm cell concentration in the range of 10(6)--10(7) per ml, (3) is independent of the time of exposure of the sperm cells to the albumin solution, and (4) decreases in the presence of Ca++ and Mg++ ions. An unusual aspect of the adsorption is that if the albumin concentration is given the symbol [A], K[A] is a constant in our measurements. This means that for virtually the entire range of [A] studied, the sperm cells bind albumin so that half of the available surface is coated and half remains uncoated. This situation is rather remarkable and it suggests a role that adsorption could play in the physical processes preceding fertilization. In purely physical systems, the optimum for the bridging and flocculation of particles that are coated with adsorbed macromolecular films occurs when half of the available surface is covered. The sperm cell appears to provide the optimal situation for interacting with itself or with another surface.

show abstract