Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R B Frankel.
Magnetotactic bacteria from freshwater and marine sediments orient and navigate along geomagnetic field lines. Their magnetotactic response is based on intracellular, single magnetic domains of ferrimagnetic magnetite, which impart a permanent magnetic dipole moment to the cell.
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The magnetic properties of intact and freeze-dried blood cells of the tunicate Ascidia nigra and of model vanadium(III) and (IV) compounds as polycrystalline solids and in aqueous solution have been measured up to 50 kOe with a SQUID susceptometer. Corrections for the samples' diamagnetism were extracted from the temperature dependence of the data without any further assumptions. For vanadium(IV), measured values of the magnetic moment at different values of the applied magnetic field over the temperature range 2-100 K obey a Brillouin function with spin 1/2. For vanadium(III), the magnetic moment data did not obey a Brillouin function and were analyzed in terms of a spin Hamiltonian with S = 1. Measurements on both whole and freeze-dried blood samples give consistent results with vanadium(III) the predominant species. These results are discussed in terms of the mechanisms of vanadium accumulation and the use of vanadium oxidation states as criteria of ascidian taxonomy.
Both mammalian and bacterial ferritin undergo rapid reaction with small-molecule reductants, in the absence of Fe2+ chelators, to form ferritins with reduced (Fe2+) mineral cores. Large, low-potential reductants (flavoproteins and ferredoxins) similarly react anaerobically with both ferritin types to quantitatively produce Fe2+ in the ferritin cores. The oxidation of Fe2+ ferritin by large protein oxidants [cytochrome c and Cu(II) proteins] also occurs readily, yielding reduced heme and Cu(I) proteins and ferritins with Fe3+ in their cores. These latter oxidants also convert enthetically added Fe2+, bound in mammalian or bacterial apo- or holoferritin, to the corresponding Fe3+ state in the core of each ferritin type. Because the protein reductants and oxidants are much larger than the channels leading into the mineral core attached to the ferritin interior, we conclude that redox reactions involving the Fe2+/Fe3+ components of the ferritin core can occur without direct interaction of the redox reagent at the mineral core surface. Our results also suggest that the oxo, hydroxy species of the core, composed essentially of Fe(O)OH, arise exclusively from solvent deprotonation. The long-distance ferritin-protein electron transfer observed in this study may occur by electron tunneling.
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Mammalian ferritin from horse spleen undergoes an electrochemical or chemical reduction reaction in which each iron atom present is reduced by one electron (2300 electrons per ferritin molecule containing 2300 Fe3+ ions). Midpoint potentials of -190 mV, -310 mV, and -416 mV were determined at pH 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0. This variation of potential with pH indicates that approximately 2 H+ are transferred to the core for each Fe3+ reduced to Fe2+. Mössbauer measurements of partially reduced ferritin give spectra that consist of a ferric quadrupole doublet with a superposed ferrous quadrupole doublet. The relative intensities of these doublets are consistent with the electrochemically determined degree of reduction.
Diffusive motions of the magnetosomes (enveloped Fe3O4 particles) in the magnetotactic bacterium Aquaspirillum magnetotacticum result in a very broad-line Mössbauer spectrum (T approximately 100 mm/s) above freezing temperatures. The line width increases with increasing temperature. The data are analyzed using a bounded diffusion model to yield the rotational and translational motions of the magnetosomes as well as the effective viscosity of the material surrounding the magnetosomes. The results are [theta 2] l/2 less than 1.5 degrees and [x2] 1/2 less than 8.4 A for the rotational and translational motions, respectively, implying that the particles are fixed in whole cells. The effective viscosity is 10 cP at 295 K and increases with decreasing temperature. Additional Fe3+ material in the cell is shown to be associated with the magnetosomes. Fe2+ material in the cell appears to be associated with the cell envelope.
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A birefringence technique is used to determine the average magnetic moments of magnetotactic bacteria in culture. Differences in are noted between live and dead bacteria, as well as between normal density and high density samples of live bacteria.
Dermal granules containing hydrous ferric oxide cores from Molpadia intermedia were studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy from 1.5 to 300 K and in magnetic fields up to 80 kOersted at 4.2 K. A magnetic phase transition to an antiferromagnetically ordered state is observed at 10 K. The results are compared with the magnetic behavior of micellar cores of ferritin from eukaryotes and iron-storage materials from prokaryotes.
Effects of DC magnetic fields, up to 125,000 G, on the survival of the ciliated protozoan Spirostomum ambiguum exposed to the toxic substance 2,2'-dipyridyldisulfide are reported. The magentic field diminishes the ability of the organism to survive the drug, and lengthens the extension phase of the contraction cycle. It is proposed that the magnetic field alters the regulation of intracellular (Ca2+) transients.
An identification of the nature and an estimation of the particle size distribution of the iron deposits on thalassemic heart tissue is carried out by variable temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy. Comparison of Mössbauer spectra obtained for the thalassemic heart tissue (I) with those of normal heart tissue (II) and of horse spleen ferritin (III) identifies the iron deposits to be small, superparamagnetic particles of ferritin and/or hemosiderin, two closely related iron storage proteins containing an iron core of (FeOOH)8(FeO x OPO3H2). The dependence of the superparamagnetic relaxation time, tau, of magnetically ordered fine particles on their volume V via the magnetic anisotropy constant K of the material and the condition tau > tauL, the Larmor precession time of the nuclear magnetic moment of 57Fe about an effective magnetic field, for observation of hyperfine structure are used in analyzing the Mössbauer data to yield the particle size distribution. Particle diameters are estimated to be 74 +/- 12 A.
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To complete the set of synthetic analogs of the three recognized types of active sites in iron-sulfur redox proteins, the compound (Et4N)[Fe((SCH2)2C6H4)2], derived from o-xylyl-alpha,alpha'-dithiol, has been prepared and its structure has been determined by x-ray diffraction. The bischelate anion contains a near-tetrahedral Fe(III)-S4 coordination unit with small rhombic distortions and all Fe-S bond distances in the range 2.252-2.279 A. Its electronic properties have been partially characterized by measurement of electronic absorption, paramagnetic resonance, Mössbauer spectra, and magnetic susceptibility. The analog, as the protein, exhibits the Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox couple. These results substantiate designation of [Fe((SCH2)2C6H4)2]- as a synthetic analog of the Fe(III)(S-Cys)4 center in oxidized rubredoxin proteins. Comparison of the analog structure with that of the Clostridium pasteurianum rubredoxin active site shows that the former is substantially less distorted from idealized tetrahedral symmetry, and is considered to represent an essentially unconstrained structural model of the latter. Provided the grossly distorted tetrahedral stereochemistry of the protein site persists through final structural refinement, the analog-protein structural comparison supports an entatic state description of oxidized rubredoxin.
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