Biomedical subjects

R Hans Tromp

Publications and source records attributed to R Hans Tromp.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Arrested segregative phase separation in capillary tubes.

Phase separation in a capillary tube with one of the phases fully wetting the capillary wall is arrested when the typical size of the phase domains reaches the value of the diameter of the tube. The arrested state consists of an alternating sequence of concave-capped and convex-capped cylindrical domains, called "plugs," "bridges," or "lenses," of wetting and nonwetting phase, respectively. A description of this arrested plug state for an aqueous mixture of two polymer solutions is the subject of this work. A phase separating system consisting of two incompatible polymers dissolved in water was studied. The phase volume ratio was close to unity. The initial state from which plugs evolve is characterized by droplets of wetting phase in a continuous nonwetting phase. Experiments show the formation of plugs by a pathway that differs from the theoretically well-described instabilities in the thickness of a fluid thread inside a confined fluid cylinder. Plugs appear to form after the wetting layer (the confined fluid cylinder) has become unstable after merging of droplet with the wetting layer. The relative density of the phases could be set by the addition of salt, enabling density matching. As a consequence, the capillary length can in principle be made infinitely large and the Bond number (which represents the force of gravity relative to the capillary force) zero, without considerably changing the interfacial tension. Using the possibility of density matching, the relations among capillary length and capillary diameter on the one hand, and the presence of plugs and their average size on the other were studied. It was found that stable plugs are present when the capillary radius does not exceed a certain value, which is probably smaller than the capillary length. However, the average plug size is independent of capillary length. At constant capillary length, average plug size was found to scale with the capillary diameter to a power 1.3, significantly higher than the expected value of 1. Plug sizes had a polydispersity between 1.1 and 1.2 for all capillary radii for which this number could be reliably determined, suggesting a universal plug size distribution. Within plug sequences, size correlations were found between plugs with one to three plugs in between. This suggests the presence of an additional length scale.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Effects of confined geometry on phase-separated dextran/gelatine mixtures exposed to shear.

The effect of shear on aqueous phase-separated dextran/fish gelatine mixtures with a total concentration of 5 and 10% was studied in a confined geometry. It was measured as a function of composition, strain rate and gap size. This was done by using both small-angle light scattering and a shear cell combined with a confocal laser scanning microscope. At a total polymer concentration of 5%, small-angle light scattering results showed that up to 100 s(-1) the deformation of the domains increases with the strain rate. At strain rates less than 100 s(-1), the response of the system to strain is dominated by strain rate-dependent deformation. At a higher strain rate there might be balance between break-up and re-coalescence. At a total concentration of 10%, small effects of the gap size were found. In confined geometry, the coalescence rate was faster than expected from viscous hydrodynamic growth. The microscope images showed that the gelatine-enriched phase forms a wetting layer on the surface of the glass wall. The degree of wetting appears to increase with increasing the strain rate up to 60 s(-1) and decreases again at higher strain rates.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

The structure of kappa/iota-hybrid carrageenans II. Coil-helix transition as a function of chain composition.

This paper describes the effect of the kappa/iota-ratio on the physical properties of kappa/iota-hybrid carrageenans (synonyms: kappa-2, kappa-2, weak kappa, weak gelling kappa). To this end, a series of kappa/iota-hybrid carrageenans ranging from almost homopolymeric kappa-carrageenan (98 mol-% kappa-units) to almost homopolymeric-carrageenan (99 mol-% iota-units) have been extracted from selected species of marine red algae (Rhodophyta). The kappa/iota-ratio of these kappa/iota-hybrids was determined by NMR spectroscopy. Their rheological properties were determined by small deformation oscillatory rheology. The gel strength (storage modulus, G') of the kappa/iota-hybrids decreases with decreasing kappa-content. On the other hand, the gelation temperature of the kappa-rich kappa/iota-hybrids is independent of their composition. This allows one to control the gel strength independent of the gelation or melting temperature. The conformational order-disorder transition of the kappa/iota-hybrids was studied using optical rotation and high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry. High-sensitivity DSC showed that the total transition enthalpy of the kappa/iota-hybrids goes through a minimum at 60 mol-% kappa-units, whereas for the mixture of kappa- and iota-carrageenan, the total transition enthalpy is a linear function of the composition. With respect to the ordering capability, the kappa/iota-hybrid carrageenans seem to behave as random block copolymers with length sequence distributions truncated from the side of the small lengths. Intrinsic thermodynamic properties (e.g., transition temperature and enthalpy) of kappa- and iota-sequences in these copolymers are close to those of their parent homopolymers. The critical sequence length for kappa-sequences is 2-fold of that for iota-sequences.

Carrageenan↗

PubMed2004

Diffusivity of whey protein and gum arabic in their coacervates.

Structural properties of whey protein (WP)/gum arabic (GA) coacervates were investigated by measuring the diffusivity of WP and GA in their coacervate phase as a function of pH by means of three different complementary techniques. The combination of these measurements revealed new insights into the structure of coacervates. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measured the self-diffusion coefficient of the GA in the coacervate phase prepared at various pH values. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) was measured using a confocal scanning laser microscope. The WP and GA were covalently labeled with two different dyes. The time of fluorescence recovery, related to the inverse of the diffusion coefficient, was evaluated from the measurements, and the diffusivity of the WP and GA on a long time scale could be individually estimated at each pH value. Diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) combined with transmission measurement was carried out in the coacervate phase, and the diffusion coefficient, corresponding to the averaged diffusion of all particles that scattered in the system, was calculated as a function of pH. Independently of the technique used, the results showed that the diffusion of the WP and GA within the coacervate phase was reduced as compared to a diluted biopolymer mixture. NMR, DWS, and FRAP measurements gave similar results, indicating that the biopolymers moved the slowest in the coacervate matrix at pH 4.0-4.2. It is assumed that the diffusion of the WP and GA is reduced because of a higher electrostatic interaction between the biopolymers. Furthermore, FRAP results showed that in the coacervate phase WP molecules diffused 10 times faster than GA molecules. This result is very relevant because it shows that WP and GA move independently in the liquid coacervate phase. Finally, DWS measurements revealed that the coacervate phase rearranged with time, as evidenced by a decrease of the diffusion coefficient and a loss of the turbidity of the sample. A more homogeneous transparent coacervate phase was obtained after a few days/weeks. Faster rearrangement was obtained at pH 3.0 and 3.5 than at higher pH values.

Diffusion↗

PubMed2002

Coil-helix transition of iota-carrageenan as a function of chain regularity.

A series of iota-carrageenans containing different amounts of nu-carrageenan (0-23 monomer %) have been prepared from neutrally extracted carrageenan of Eucheuma denticulatum. nu-Carrageenan is the biochemical precursor of iota-carrageenan. The conformational order-disorder transition and rheological properties of these carrageenans were studied using optical rotation, rheometry, size exclusion chromatography coupled to multiangle laser light scattering, and high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry. The helix forming capacity of iota-carrageenan turns out to decrease monotonously with increasing amount of nu-units. In contrast, the rheological properties of iota-carrageenan are remarkably enhanced by the presence of a small amount of nu-units, yielding a maximum twofold increase in G' at 3% nu-units. It is concluded that the structure-forming capacity of iota-carrageenan, containing a small amount of nu-carrageenan, is significantly higher than that of pure iota-carrageenan. This phenomenon is explained in terms of the balance between the helical content and the number of cross-links between chains, taking into consideration the fact that nu-units introduce "kinks" in the chain conformation enabling neighboring chains to connect. Increasing amounts of nu-units increase the number of cross-links in the network, resulting in increased gel strength. On the other hand, a reduced length of the helical strands weakens the cross-links between the different chains and, consequently, the gel.

Carbohydrate Conformation↗