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Biomedical subjects

H Akutsu

Publications and source records attributed to H Akutsu.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Longterm favorable effect of oxygen administration on a patient with primary pulmonary hypertension.

A 17-year-old girl with primary pulmonary hypertension was treated with longterm administration of oxygen. Oxygen was delivered only at night for eight hours daily. Her clinical status has been improved for more than 17 months. Cardiac catheterization revealed almost 50 percent reduction of pulmonary vascular resistance. This is the first known report of successful treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension with oxygen administration.

Adolescent↗

Phase transitions of phospholipid bilayers from an unsaturated fatty acid auxotroph of Escherichia coli.

Total phospholipids were extracted from cells of temperature sensitive unsaturated fatty acid auxotrophs of Escherichia coli (K-12 UFAts) grown at 28degrees C (PL28), and at 42degrees C in the presence of 2% KCl as an osmotic stabilizer (PL42 (KCl)). From the analysis of fatty acids, it was shown that the content of unsaturated fatty acids of PL42 (KCl) is only 9% of the total fatty acids, while that of PL28 is 54%. The thermal phase transitions of the bilayers prepared from the phospholipid fractions were studied by proton magnetic resonance. The line widths of the methylene signals and the sums of the methylene and methyl signal intensities were plotted against reciprocal values of absolute temperature 1/T or temperature itself. From the plots phase transitions were detected at about 19degrees C for PL28 and at 43degrees C for PL42 (KCl). In spite of its complex composition of fatty acids a highly cooperative transition was observed in the case of PL42 (KCl). It was also suggested that the phospholipids bilayers in the biomembranes of this strain at the growth temperature (42 degrees C) are in the state where the gel and liquid crystalline phases coexist.

Cell Membrane↗

Conformational difference in the polar groups of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine in aqueous phase.

Proton and phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance was used to investigate conformations of o-phosphorylcholine(OPC), o-phosphorylethanolamine(OPE) and L-alpha-glycerophosphorylethanolamine in aqueous solution, and the conformations of dipalmitoyl-3-sn-phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine from E. coli in methanol and chloroform solutions. It has been shown that in every case the O-C-C-N system prefers a gauche conformations, but in the choline moiety the dihedral angle around the C-C bond is distorted from the usual gauche angle, 60 degrees, to a larger one. The dihedral angle of OPC is shown to be more variable than that of OPE. This may be due to the curvature of its potential curve, i.e. asymmetrical curvature around the gauche minima. This property of the phosphatidylcholine molecule may be partly responsible for the flexibility of the phosphatidylcholine bilayer. The coupling is dominant in the P-O-C-C systems of the 5 compounds examined. The results also indicated that the two hydrocarbon chains in phosphatidylcholine or phosphatidylethanolamine are apt to take nearly parallel orientation in methanol solution. This characteristic is favourable for the formation of the bilayer structure.

Calcium↗

Conformational analysis of phosphatidylethanol-amine in multilayers by infrared dichroism.

Built-up films of L-alpha-dipalmitoyl phosphatidylethanolamine were prepared. Infrared dichroism was measured for the sample and analysed by a new method. This method has been developed for the determination of the directions of transition moments in a film sample, in which there is an axis of symmetry of perpendicular to the film plane. The directions of transition moments were determined for the six vibrations assigned to the CH2 antisymmetric stretching, CH2 symmetric stretching, CH2 scissoring, C=O stretching, PO2- antisymmetric stretching, and C-C-N+ antisymmetric stretching modes. The results indicate that hydrocarbon chains are inclined at about 75 degrees to the film plane and the polar groups orient parallel to the plane in the builtup film. A structural model of the phosphatidylethanolamine in the built-up film is proposed.

Membranes↗

Infrared and Raman spectra of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine and related compounds.

Infrared and Raman spectra of phosphatidylethanolamine from Escherichia coli, L-alpha-glycero-phosphorylethanolamine and 0-phosphorylethanolamine were obtained. Most of the bands were assigned to each vibrational mode based on the N deuteration effect, comparison of the intensity in the infrared and Raman spectra and the depolarization degree measurement in the Raman spectra. The spectra of phosphatidylethanolamine can be interpreted by assuming that the molecule takes the dipolar ionic structure both in non-polar solvent and in solid.

Escherichia coli↗