Francis Perrin, son of the famous physicist Jean Perrin, then published a series of definitive papers which derived
Abstract. Zinc oxide ͑ZnO-nano͒ and titanium dioxide nanoparticles ͑20 to 30 nm͒ are widely used in several topical skin care products, such as sunscreens. However, relatively few studies have addressed the subdermal absorption of these nanoparticles in vivo. We report on investigation of the distribution of topically applied ZnO in excised and in vivo human skin, using multiphoton microscopy ͑MPM͒ imaging with a combination of scanning electron microscopy ͑SEM͒ and an energy-dispersive x-ray ͑EDX͒ technique to determine the level of penetration of nanoparticles into the sub-dermal layers of the skin. The good visualization of ZnO in skin achieved appeared to result from two factors. First, the ZnO principal photoluminescence at 385 nm is in the "quiet" spectral band of skin autofluorescence dominated by the endogenous skin fluorophores, i.e., NAD͓P͔H and FAD. Second, the two-photon action cross section of ZnO-nano ͓ ZnO ͑TPEF͒ ϳ 0.26 GM; diameter, 18 nm͔ is high: ϳ500-fold of that inferred from its bulk third-order nonlinear susceptibility ͓Im ZnO ͑3͒ ͔, and is favorably compared to that of NAD͓P͔H and FAD. The overall outcome from MPM, SEM, and EDX studies was that, in humans in vivo, ZnO nanoparticles stayed in the stratum corneum ͑SC͒ and accumulated into skin folds and/or hair follicle roots of human skin. Given the lack of penetration of these nanoparticles past the SC and that the outermost layers of SC have a good turnover rate, these data suggest that the form of ZnO-nano studied here is unlikely to result in safety concerns.
The phasor method of treating fluorescence lifetime data provides a facile and convenient approach to characterize lifetime heterogeneity and to detect the presence of excited state reactions, such as solvent relaxation and Förster Resonance Energy Transfer. The method utilizes a plot of M sin(Φ) versus M cos(Φ), where M is the modulation ratio and Φ is the phase angle taken from frequency domain fluorometry. A principle advantage of the phasor method is that it provides a model-less approach to time-resolved data, amenable to visual inspection. Although the phasor approach has been recently applied to Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy it has not been extensively utilized for cuvette studies. In the present study we explore the applications of the method to in vitro samples. The phasors of binary and ternary mixtures of fluorescent dyes demonstrates the utility of the method for investigating complex mixtures. Data from excited state reactions, such as dipolar relaxation in membrane and protein systems and also energy transfer from the tryptophan residue to the chromophore in EGFP, are also presented.
Mutations in the dynamin 2 gene have been identified in patients with autosomal dominant forms of centronuclear myopathy (CNM). Dynamin 2 is a ubiquitously expressed ϳ100-kDa GTPase that assembles around the necks of vesiculating membranes and promotes their constriction and scission. It has also been implicated in regulation of the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. At present, the cellular functions of dynamin 2 that are affected by CNM-linked mutations are not well defined, and the effects of these mutations on the physical and enzymatic properties of dynamin have been not examined. Here, we report the expression, purification, and characterization of four CNMassociated dynamin mutants. All four mutants display higher than wild-type GTPase activities, and more importantly, the mutants form high order oligomers that are significantly more resistant than wild-type dynamin 2 to disassembly by guanine nucleotides or high ionic strength. These observations suggest that the corresponding wild-type residues serve to prevent excessive or prolonged dynamin assembly on cellular membranes or inappropriate self-assembly in the cytoplasm. To our knowledge, this report contains the first identification of point mutations that enhance the stability of dynamin polymers without impairing their ability to bind and/or hydrolyze GTP. We envision that the formation of abnormally large and stable complexes of these dynamin mutants in vivo contributes to their role in CNM pathogenesis. Autosomal dominant CNM2 is a congenital disorder that commonly results in muscle weakness and wasting, ptosis, and ophthalmoplegia (reviewed in Ref. 1). As the name implies, the most evident histopathological feature is the presence of a large number of muscle fibers of centrally (rather than peripherally) located nuclei. Other characteristics include a relative increase in the number of type I fibers, hypertrophy of these fibers, and the presence of sarcoplasmic strands distributed radially around the central nuclei. In 2005, Bitoun et al. (2) reported the identification of four mutations in the DNM2 (dynamin 2) gene in patients with autosomal dominant CNM, and an additional seven mutations have since been identified (3, 4). DNM2 is a ubiquitously expressed ϳ100-kDa GTPase that assembles into helical polymers around the necks of vesiculating membranes, thereby providing force for their constriction and scission (reviewed in Refs. 5-8). In addition to its well characterized roles in endocytosis and Golgi budding, DNM2 is also implicated in regulation of the actin (9, 10) and microtubule (11, 12) cytoskeletons. The DNM2 molecule consists of five functional domains: an N-terminal catalytic domain; a so-called "middle domain" implicated in dynamin-dynamin interactions; a PH domain involved in phosphoinositide binding; a GTPase effector domain, which interacts with the catalytic domain and stimulates its GTPase activity; and a C-terminal proline/arginine-rich domain, which mediates interactions of dynamin with other proteins. Most of the currently kn...
Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy is an indispensable tool in the chemical, physical and biological sciences for the study of fast kinetic processes in the subpicosecond to microsecond time scale. This review focuses on the development and modern implementation of the frequency domain approach to time-resolved fluorescence. Both intensity decay (lifetime) and anisotropy decay (dynamic polarization) will be considered and their application to intrinsic protein fluorescence will be highlighted. In particular we shall discuss the photophysics of the aromatic amino acids, tryptophan, tyrosine and phenylalanine, which are responsible for intrinsic protein fluorescence. This discussion will be illustrated with examples of frequency domain studies on several protein systems.
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