No abstract

The interactions of a number of commercially available dextran preparations with the lectin Concanavalin A (ConA) have been investigated. Dextrans over the molecular mass range 6 × 10³-2 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹ were initially characterised in terms of their branching and hence terminal ligand density, using NMR. This showed a range of branching ratios between 3% and 5%, but no clear correlation with molecular mass. The bio-specific interaction of these materials with ConA was investigated using microcalorimetry. The data obtained were interpreted using a number of possible binding models reflecting the known structure of both dextran and the lectin. The results of this analysis suggest that the interaction is most appropriately described in terms of a two-site model. This offers the best compromise for the observed relationship between data and model predictions and the number of parameters used based on the chi-squared values obtained from a nonlinear least-squares fitting procedure. A two-site model is also supported by analysis of the respective sizes of the dextrans and the ConA tetramer. Using this model, the relationship between association constants, binding energy and molecular mass was determined.

Infrared and impedance spectroscopies were used to investigate the effects of hydration, iontophoresis and chemical enhancer (N-acetyl-L-cysteine) treatment on the healthy human nail.Although significant shifts to higher wavenumbers were observed for the symmetric and asymmetric -CH 2 stretching vibrations, the fact that these changes were essentially the same for the three treatments suggested that they were principally due to hydration alone. Spectral changes associated with amide bonds from nail protein were particularly evident post-treatment with Nacetyl-L-cysteine. The alternating current conductivity and permittivity of the nail, particularly at low frequencies, increased with hydration. Iontophoresis increased the low frequency ac conductivity of the nail but had less effect on the nail capacitance/permittivity. Further, the effects seemed to return gradually to baseline after termination of current passage. Treatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine produced a greater perturbation, leading to increased low-frequency conductivity and a shift of the frequency-dependent conductivity region to a higher frequency. Overall, the effects of iontophoresis on both the IR and impedance spectroscopic profiles of the nail were attributable simply to increased hydration and similar to those observed after skin iontophoresis. In contrast, both spectroscopy techniques indicated that N-acetyl-L-cysteine disrupted nail structure in line with the enhancer's known effect on keratin.

Dextran solutions intended for use as plasma extenders have been observed to form insoluble precipitates. Earlier studies of precipitation have shown that in solutions of 50% and 60% w/w of dextran molecular mass 6000 g mol(-1) beaded precipitates are formed over a two-week period. This study considers dextran precipitation over a wider molecular mass range and the kinetics, of formation, morphology and potential utility of these precipitates is investigated. Results show precipitation occurs over the dextran molecular mass range 6000-17,000 g mol(-1), with lower molecular mass material showing more rapid precipitation. As bead formation is accompanied by an increase in turbidity, formation kinetics were quantified spectrophotometrically confirming that precipitation rates were inversely proportional to molecular mass. The utility of these precipitates for drug delivery applications was assessed using bovine serum albumin as a protein drug analogue. The results showed that the inclusion of protein did not prevent bead formation and that entrapped protein was subsequently released from dextran beads in a time dependant manner. This suggests that dextran beads of this type may find application in the drug delivery area, as they combine the advantages of mild entrapment conditions with the use of an unmodified clinically approved polymer.