Small-angle neutron-scattering studies of the transition between water and ice in a restricted geometry.
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Casein micelles become mutually attractive when an exocellular polysaccharide produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris NIZO B40 (hereafter called EPS) is added to skim milk. The attraction can be explained as a depletion interaction between the casein micelles induced by the nonadsorbing EPS. We used three scattering techniques (small-angle neutron scattering, turbidity measurements, and dynamic light scattering) to measure the attraction. In order to connect the theory of depletion interaction with experiment, we calculated structure factors of hard spheres interacting by a depletion pair potential. Theoretical predictions and all the experiments showed that casein micelles became more attractive upon increasing the EPS concentration.
Micelles of the diblock copolymer poly(butadiene)-poly(ethyleneoxide) (B40-b-EO62) and mixed micelles of this polymer with the cationic surfactant dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C12TAB) were investigated using static and dynamic light scattering and small-angle neutron scattering. It is shown that the surfactant induces a major structural change from large mainly rodlike aggregates to smaller spherical mixed micelles. The rodlike assemblies found in the absence of surfactant have a contour length L of ca. 500 nm and a diameter d approximately 30 nm. The spherical mixed micelles obtained upon addition of C12TAB possess a hydrodynamic radius of 15 nm and still contain several polymer molecules. The results of the scattering experiments are consistent with observations of the aggregates by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy.
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We report on the phase behavior and scattering properties of colloidal complexes made from block copolymers and surfactants. The copolymer is poly(sodium acrylate)-b-poly(acrylamide), hereafter abbreviated as PANa-PAM, with molecular weight 5000 g/mol for the first block and 30000 g/mol for the second. In aqueous solutions and neutral pH, poly(sodium acrylate) is a weak polyelectrolyte, whereas poly(acrylamide) is neutral and in good-solvent conditions. The surfactant is dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and is of opposite charge with respect to the polyelectrolyte block. Combining dynamical light scattering and small-angle neutron scattering, we show that in aqueous solutions PANa-PAM diblocks and DTAB associate into colloidal complexes. For surfactant-to-polymer charge ratios Z lower than a threshold (Z(C) approximately 0.3), the complexes are single surfactant micelles decorated by few copolymers. Above the threshold, the colloidal complexes reveal an original core-shell microstructure. We have found that the core of typical radius 100-200 A is constituted from densely packed surfactant micelles connected by the polyelectrolyte blocks. The outer part of the colloidal complex is a corona and is made from the neutral poly(acrylamide) chains. Typical hydrodynamic sizes for the whole aggregate are around 1000 A. The aggregation numbers expressed in terms of numbers of micelles and copolymers per complex are determined and found to be comprised between 100-400, depending on the charge ratio Z and on the total concentration. We have also shown that the sizes of the complexes depend on the exact procedure of the sample preparation. We propose that the driving mechanism for the complex formation is similar to that involved in the phase separation of homopolyelectrolyte/surfactant systems. With copolymers, the presence of the neutral blocks prevents the macroscopic phase separation from occurring.
Scatter of a two-dimensional Gaussian beam of a rectangular cross section by individual particles suspended in a fluid in a cylindrical channel is modeled by using a full-wave approach. First, the internal and scattered fields associated with the cylindrical channel and the two-dimensional Gaussian beam are computed. The spatial variations of the computed electromagnetic field inside the channel indicate that particles and cells of sizes relevant to flow cytometry are subjected to essentially plane-wave illumination, and hence Lorenz-Mie theory is applicable for spherical particles. Further, it is assumed that the perturbation of the electromagnetic field in the channel that is due to the presence of a particle is negligible, allowing us to ignore the interactive scatter of the particle and the channel (they are electromagnetically uncoupled). This approximation is valid when the particle intercepts a small fraction of the total energy inside the channel and when the particle or cell has a low relative refractive index. Measurements of scatter from the channel agree with the analytical model and are used to determine the location of detectors to measure scatter from particles in the channel. Experimental results of accumulated scatter from single latex spheres flowing in the channel show good agreement with computed results, thereby validating the internal field and uncoupled scatter models.
Measurements of small-angle x-ray scattering have been made on films prepared from fine and coarse (i.e., formed at high and low, respectively, pH and ionic strength) clots of bovine fibrin by osmotic shrinkage or compression in one dimension. Intensity profiles were obtained with pinhole geometry on films stretched up to a stretch ratio of 1.43. In unstretched coarse films, repeat spacings were seen at about 245, 120, and 77-80 A. These peaks can probably be identified with the first, second, and third orders of the well-known fibrin repeat of 225 A. In unstretched fine films, only the 77-80 A spacing was seen. In this case, the first two orders may be weak because the half-staggered arrangement of monomer units giving rise to the 225 A reflection is not reinforced by lateral aggregation of protofibrils; the third order may be strong since the molecular subdomains appear to divide the repeat roughly into thirds. After stretching, the 77-80 A spacing persisted in the meridional direction but almost disappeared in the equatorial. Experiments on unstretched films prepared with ancrod substituted for thrombin gave similar results.
The shape of non-fractionated Escherichia coli transfer RNA molecules in solution was investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering during the years 1960-1962 at the Centre de Recherche sur les Macromolécules in Strasbourg. The innermost region of the scattering curve yielded the average molecular weight (Mr) and the radius of gyration (Rg) of the particles, whereas the experimental data at large angles could be approximated at best by the scattering curve of a kinked rod-shaped molecule. The simplest model that was compatible with Mr, Rg, and the mass per unit length of the rod was a boomerang-shaped particle made of two double helical stems connected by a sharp kink. This model that eventually proved similar to the high-resolution L-shaped structure, was presented in my Ph.D. dissertation (J. Witz, Etude de la structure de quelques polynucléotides en solution par diffusion centrale des rayons X, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Strasbourg, France, 1964) but has never been published in detail. It is the purpose of this note to recall this story.
Twenty-eight human breast tumour specimens were studied with small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), and 10 of those were imaged by the diffraction enhanced x-ray imaging (DEI) technique. The sample diameter was 20 mm and the thickness 1 mm. Two examples of ductal carcinoma are illustrated by histology images, DEI, and maps of the collagen d-spacing and scattered intensity in the Porod regime, which characterize the SAXS patterns from collagen-rich regions of the samples. Histo-pathology reveals the cancer-invaded regions, and the maps of the SAXS parameters show that in these regions the scattering signal differs significantly from scattering by the surrounding tissue, indicating a degradation of the collagen structure in the invaded regions. The DEI images show the borders between collagen and adipose tissue and provide a co-ordinate system for tissue mapping by SAXS. In addition, degradation of the collagen structure in an invaded region is revealed by fading contrast of the DEI refraction image. The 28 samples include fresh, defrosted tissue and formalin-fixed tissue. The d-values with their standard deviations are given. In the fresh samples there is a systematic 0.76% increase of the d-value in the invaded regions, averaged over 11 samples. Only intra-sample comparisons are made for the formalin-fixed samples, and with a long fixation time, the difference in the d-value stabilizes at about 0.7%. The correspondence between the DEI images, the SAXS maps and the histo-pathology suggests that definitive information on tumour growth and malignancy is obtained by combining these x-ray methods.
The collagen diffraction patterns of human aortas under uniaxial tensile test conditions have been investigated by synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering. Using a recently designed tensile testing device the orientation and d-spacing of the collagen fibers in the adventitial layer have been measured in situ with the macroscopic force and sample stretching under physiological conditions. The results show a direct relation between the orientation and extension of the collagen fibers on the nanoscopic level and the macroscopic stress and strain. This is attributed first to a straightening, second to a reorientation of the collagen fibers, and third to an uptake of the increasing loads by the collagen fibers.
Interaction of Ecodam methylase (E.C. 2.1.1) with synthetic oligonucleotide substrates of various primary structure was studied by the small angle X-ray scattering method. Complex formation between the enzyme and substrates occurs after addition of double-stranded oligonucleotides to the methylase. In the presence of 1 M NaC1 (when the enzyme is inactive) addition of the synthetic substrates does not result in complex formation. Comparison of the experimental scattering parameters with the calculated ones has been made. The best coincidence of these data is obtained for the model which proposed Ecodam methylase dimer formation in the course of its interaction with the substrates.
To test the applicability of two energy-minimized, three-dimensional structures of the bovine casein submicelle, theoretical small-angle X-ray scattering curves in the presence and absence of water were compared to experimental data. The published method simulates molecular dynamics of proteins in solution by employing adjustable Debye-Waller temperature factors (B factors) for the protein, for the solvent, and for protein-bound water. The programs were first tested upon bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor beginning with its known X-ray crystal structure. To approximate the degree of protein hydration previously determined by NMR relaxation experiments (0.01 g water/g protein), 120 water molecules were docked into the large void of the kappa-casein portion of the structure for both the symmetric and asymmetric casein submicelle models. To approximate hydrodynamic hydration (0.244 g water/g protein), 2703 water molecules were added to each of the above structures using the "droplet" algorithm in the Sybyl molecular modeling package. All structures were then energy-minimized and their solvation energies calculated. Theoretical small-angle X-ray scattering curves were calculated for all unhydrated and hydrated structures and compared with experimentally determined scattering profiles for submicellar casein. Best results were achieved with the 120-bound-water structure for both the symmetric and asymmetric submicelle models. Comparison of results for the protein submicelle models with those for the theoretical and literature values of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor demonstrates the applicability of the methodology.