Biomedical subjects

Marc De Ley

Publications and source records attributed to Marc De Ley.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Pressure- and temperature-induced unfolding and aggregation of recombinant human interferon-gamma: a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy study.

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the secondary structure of recombinant human interferon-gamma (rhIFN-gamma) and its biologically inactive truncated form rhIFN-Delta C15 has been studied using Fourier-transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy. In situ observation of the pressure-induced changes using the diamond anvil cell shows that the alpha-helical structure is mainly transformed into disordered structure at high pressure. Increasing pressure also induces the formation of a gel. Addition of 0.5 M MgCl(2) significantly reduces the pressure stability. Releasing the pressure below 300 MPa results in the formation of intermolecular antiparallel beta-sheets, which is seldom observed. This suggests that the intermolecular beta-sheet of rhIFN-gamma is stabilized by electrostatic interactions that are disrupted at high pressure. For comparison we also studied the effect of temperature. Temperature-induced changes reflect extensive transformation of alpha-helical structure into intermolecular antiparallel beta-sheet, as is usually observed for most proteins.

Hot Temperature↗

PubMed2002

Recent developments in quantification methods for metallothionein.

The metallothioneins (MT), a family of proteins with relatively low molecular weight (6-7 kDa), are characterised by the intrinsic presence of 20 cysteinyl groups in their structure, which confers unique metal binding properties to the molecule. Since MT are involved in biological roles, quantification of MT remains an important task. To date, a large number of determination methods have been developed. In this paper recent developments, from 1995 to the present, in methodology employed in quantification studies of total MT and MT polymorphism are described. Different fields were taken into consideration, such as (i) separation techniques and hyphenated systems, (ii) electrochemical methods, (iii) immunological methods and (iv) quantification of MT mRNA. The data presented are based on our own and published results. A brief overview of the use of metallothionein as a biomarker is included as a relevant example of the importance of MT quantification. Finally, general problems associated with determination and evaluation of obtained results within the above four topics are mentioned.

Animals↗