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Biomedical subjects

M Prats

Publications and source records attributed to M Prats.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Lateral proton conduction at a lipid/water interface. Effect of lipid nature and ionic content of the aqueous phase.

Fast lateral proton conduction was observed along the lipid/water interface using a fluorescence technique. This conduction can be detected for a large number of lipids, both phospholipids and glycolipids. The efficiency of the proton transfer is dependent on the molecular packing of the host lipid at a given surface pressure. The proton conduction which is present in the liquid expanded state is abolished by the transition to the liquid condensed state. The proton transfer is affected slightly by the ionic content of the aqueous subphase except in the case of calcium which can inhibit the conduction along phosphatidylglyceroethanolamine. We suggest that the transfer of the protons occurs along a bidimensional hydrogen-bond network formed from the polar head groups, their water molecules of hydration and the water molecules which are intercalated between the lipid molecules.

Anions↗
PubMed1985

Lateral proton conduction at a lipid/water interface. Its modulation by physical parameters. Experimental and mathematical approaches.

Fast lateral proton conduction along the lipid/water interface has recently been experimentally demonstrated in our laboratory [Teissié, J., Prats, M., Soucaille, P. & Tocanne, J.F. (1985) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, in the press]. The present study gives a more precise description of the way various physical parameters can affect this process. The dependence of the distance covered by the proton on time is demonstrated to be quadratic. Increasing the speed of stirring in the injection compartment or the amount of injected acid or the contact between the monolayer and the acidic subphase increased the efficiency of the proton transfer. Raising the strength of the buffer in the bulk phase inhibited proton conduction. Results from experiments where the transfer of protons from the bulk phase to the interface was modified, suggested the occurrence of an 'energy barrier' limiting the access of protons from the bulk phase to the lipid polar head region.

Computers↗
PubMed1985

Evidence for conduction of protons along the interface between water and a polar lipid monolayer.

Movements of H+ along the polar heads of phospholipids spread in monolayers were compared to movements of H+ in the aqueous subphase. The probe for detecting H+ movement along the monolayer was a pH-sensitive fluorescein chromophore covalently bound to the head group of phosphatidylethanolamine. The behavior of this probe was not affected by the electrical properties of the lipid/water interface. Lateral diffusion of H+ along the phospholipid/water interface was then studied by acid-jump experiments in which advantage was taken of the large size of the monolayer. H+ was injected a few centimeters away from the probe observation area. The time needed for H+ diffusion to the probe was monitored by the change in the fluorescence signal, fluorescein being nonfluorescent in an acid medium. Diffusion of H+ in the bulk phase was monitored by the fluorescence change of water-soluble fluorescein isothiocyanate. Diffusion along the lipid monolayer was found to be 20 times faster than in the bulk water phase and required a structured monolayer in order to occur, as revealed by variation of the molecular area occupied by the lipid molecules. The molecular basis of rapid H+ transfer along the lipid monolayer may be the existence of a hydrogen-bond network along the polar heads, capable of supporting a rapid "hop and turn" of H+.

Diffusion↗
PubMed1980

[Importance of the parameters of temperature and natural light on stability of 2 types of L(+) lactate:cytochrome oxidoreductases (cytochromes b2) extracted from Hansenula anomala yeast].

In this communication, we present the effect of two parameters, temperature and daylight-at high ionic strength-on the stability of H-flavocytochrome b2 solutions prepared using [H-flavocytochrome b2 (S) or not [H-flavocytochrome b2 (n) n-butanol during extraction. These two enzyme preparations presented the same behaviour towards these two parameters: in the dark, temperature was critical; in daylight, an opposite effect was observed for this parameter: the stability of samples was smaller at 0 degrees C. However, the evolution of life of the classical kinetic parameters (Km and Vm) of the enzymatic reaction is presented for three samples of H-flavocytochrome b2 (n) or (s) exposed to daylight at 20 +/- 0,1 degrees C.

Ascomycota↗
PubMed1980

[Parameters influencing inactivation-dissociation/reactivation-association phenomena induced by variations of ionic strength of L (+)lactate: cytochrome c oxidoreductase (cytochrome b2) extract of the yeast Hansenula anomala].

H-flavocytochrome b2, a tetramer enzyme, is inactivated, at low ionic strength and can be reactivated, increasing the ionic strength of the medium. The inactivation-reactivation process was structurally manifested by a dissociation-association phenomenon between subunits. It was clearly shown that the inactivation-dissociation process appeared independent of enzyme concentration whereas the reactivation-association phenomenon was enzyme concentration dependent. However, proteins protect H-flavocytochrome b2 from inactivation-dissociation, only when electrostatic interactions are possible between the two proteins: Horse heart cytochrome c was a good protector whereas serum albumin had no protector effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

[Association of VCR-5FU-CYCLO-PDN in the treatment of disseminated carcinoma of the breast (author's transl)].

A group of 32 patients with disseminated breast cancer were submitted to polychemotherapy following Cooper's protocol. Vincristine, cyclophosphamide, 5-fluorouracil, and prednisone were administered. The fifth drug used by Cooper, methotrexate, was not included in the therapy program because of difficulties in obtaining it. Both the objective and subjective results were similar to those of other authors using similar drug associations, while toxicity was moderate. Although this treatment is effective to some degree, the authors feel that further research should be carried out on more potent drugs, or in different combinations, in order to get a more definite chemotherapeutic effect in patients with breast cancer.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1977

Proteolysis of L-(+)-lactate cytochrome c oxidoreductase (cytochrome b2) extracted from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Hansenula anomala yeasts.

The L-(+)-Lactate:cytochrome c oxidoreductase or cytochrome b2 from the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Hansenula anomala were partially hydrolysed in various concentrations of trypsin. Conditions were found which allowed the isolation from the Hansenula enzyme of a 140 000 +/- 10 000-dalton flavoprotein. The prosthetic flavin groups were still reducible by substrate (spectroscopic evidence) but the flavoprotein was unable to form a complex with cytochrome c, the physiological acceptor in the enzymatic reaction. No such flavoprotein units could be found during proteolysis of the Saccharomyces enzyme. The heme prosthetic group of the Hansenula enzyme remained bound to a 15 500 +/- 1000-dalton protein unit which was larger than, but very similar to, the well known 'cytochrome b2 core' of the Saccharomyces enzyme. Moreover, the degradation of different enzyme samples by contaminated proteases allowed the isolation of a particular form of Hansenula enzyme: each tetramer had, on the mean, four bound flavins and only two heme groups. These molecules completely retained their ability to form a complex with cytochrome c.

Ascomycota↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Study of the ability of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of human plasma to differentiate between controls and breast cancer patients.

Water-suppressed proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of plasma had been proposed as a technique for detecting malignant tumors although its general diagnostic value is widely contested. To assess its diagnostic value in screening for breast cancer, we collected and analyzed 108 plasma samples from healthy women and women with breast disorders, mainly adenocarcinomas. No significant differences were found between controls and patients when average methylene-methyl linewidths were compared. Significant differences, however, were observed when methylene linewidths were compared. Unfortunately, the marked overlapping of both groups greatly reduced the possible diagnostic value of the technique. Among the various biochemical parameters analyzed for each plasma sample--triglyceride, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol concentration, altered levels of carcinoembryonic antigen, phosphohexose isomerase, 5'-nucleotidase and phosphatase alkaline in patient samples, and estrogen and progesterone receptors of tumors--only triglyceride concentrations presented a clear inverse linear correlation with methylene linewidths.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

MCA in patients with breast cancer: correlation with CEA and CA15-3.

MCA serum levels were determined in 27 healthy subjects, 136 with benign pathology (42 breast) and in 289 patients with cancer (247 active). The last group includes 223 patients with breast cancer (96 without metastases, 89 with metastases and 38 no-evidence of disease). CEA and CA15-3 serum levels were determined in all the patients with breast diseases. The mean levels of MCA were 4.7 + 2.4 U/ml in the control group, considering less than 11 U/ml as normal. MCA values were abnormal in 15.4% of patients with benign pathology, mainly in those with liver cirrhosis (8/20) and lung diseases (4/20). In the majority of these cases, the rise was only moderate, lower than 15 U/ml in 97.5% of patients. In malignant diseases, important increments were found in breast cancer (19.8% Mo, 77.5% M1) and ovarian cancer stages III-IV (44.4%). When we compared MCA serum levels with CA15-3 and CEA in breast pathology, a similar specificity was observed: 92.3%, 92.3% and 100% in cases with benign pathology and 92.1%, 94.7%, and 97.4% in NED patients, respectively. MCA and CA15-3 sensitivity was similar in breast cancer without metastases (19.8%) and lower for CEA (16.7%). In patients with breast cancer without metastases, we found a relation between positivity of these tumor markers and prognostic factors (tumor size, nodal involvement). The disease free interval in patients with locoregional breast cancer was shorter in cases with abnormal presurgical levels of some of the tumor markers, but only the difference from MCA was significant (p less than 0.02).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Antigens, Neoplasm↗