Review of the Palaearctic species of Ismaridae Thomson, 1858 (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea)

This is an open access article, available to all readers online, published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. The attached file is the published version of the article

Amination of enzymes to improve biocatalyst performance: coupling genetic modification and physicochemical tools

Improvement of the features of an enzyme is in many instances a pre-requisite for the industrial implementation of these exceedingly interesting biocatalysts. To reach this goal, the researcher may utilize different tools. For example, amination of the enzyme surface produces an alteration of the isoelectric point of the protein along with its chemical reactivity (primary amino groups are the most widely used to obtain the reaction of the enzyme with surfaces, chemical modifiers, etc.) and even its “in vivo” behavior. This review will show some examples of chemical (mainly modifying the carboxylic groups using the carbodiimide route), physical (using polycationic polymers like polyethyleneimine) and genetic amination of the enzyme surface. Special emphasis will be put on cases where the amination is performed to improve subsequent protein modifications. Thus, amination has been used to increase the intensity of the enzyme/support multipoint covalent attachment, to improve the interaction with cation exchanger supports or polymers, or to promote the formation of crosslinkings (both intra-molecular and in the production of crosslinked enzyme aggregates). In other cases, amination has been used to directly modulate the enzyme properties (both in immobilized or free form). Amination of the enzyme surface may also pursue other goals not related to biocatalysis. For example, it has been used to improve the raising of antibodies against different compounds (both increasing the number of haptamers per enzyme and the immunogenicity of the composite) or the ability to penetrate cell membranes. Thus, amination may be a very powerful tool to improve the use of enzymes and proteins in many different areas and a great expansion of its usage may be expected in the near future.This work has been supported by grant CTQ2013-41507-R from Spanish MINECO, grant no. 1102-489-25428 from COLCIENCIAS and Universidad Industrial de Santander (VIE-UIS Research Program) and CNPq and FAPERGS (Brazil). A. Berenguer-Murcia thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion for a Ramon y Cajal fellowship (RyC-2009–03813)

Assemblage lipides/particules de polymère – conception et applications biomédicales

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Interests of chitosan nanoparticles conically cross-linked with tripolyphosphate for biomedical applications

International audienceThe process of ionic gelation is one of the easiest ways to develop chitosan nanoparticles reported so far in the literature. Its success is mainly due to its one-shot synthesis, and to the mild environment required to produce the nanoparticles. The nanoparticle formation all along this process has been therefore thoroughly studied to lead to particles with a nanometric size, a narrow size distribution, and a spherical shape that are ideal for biomedical uses. The purpose of this review is to compile the biomedical applications that have been considered in the literature for these chitosan nanoparticles prepared by ionic gelation using tripolyphosphate as ionic agent. Their intrinsic biological properties such as non-toxicity, antimicrobial activity, mucoadhesivity and haemocompatibility are firstly discussed and compared to those of chitosan solutions. Then, the different bioactive species (drugs and biomacromolecules) incorporated in these chitosan nanoparticles, their maximal incorporation efficiency, their loading capacity, and their principal associated biomedical applications are presented

Toward an optimized treatment of intracellular bacterial infections: input of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems

International audienceIntracellular pathogenic bacteria can lead to some of the most life-threatening infections. By evolving a number of ingenious mechanisms, these bacteria have the ability to invade, colonize and survive in the host cells in active or latent forms over prolonged period of time. A variety of nanoparticulate systems have been developed to optimize the delivery of antibiotics. Main advantages of nanoparticulate systems as compared with free drugs are an efficient drug encapsulation, protection from inactivation, targeting infection sites and the possibility to deliver drugs by overcoming cellular barriers. Nevertheless, despite the great progresses in treating intracellular infections using nanoparticulate carriers, some challenges still remain, such as targeting cellular subcompartments with bacteria and delivering synergistic drug combinations. Engineered nanoparticles should allow controlling drug release both inside cells and within the extracellular space before reaching the target cells

Controlled Radical Polymerization of Acrylic Acid in Protic Media

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A close collaboration of chitosan with lipid colloidal carriers for drug delivery applications

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An overview of lipid membrane supported by colloidal particles

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Chitosan hydrogels for sustained drug delivery

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