Purification of recombinant ADAMTSL2

Recombinantly produced proteins are used in many biological disciplines. However, their purity and quality are vital for downstream applications used to determine their structure and functions. Several purification and detection strategies can be used in combination to obtain protein samples with homogeneity and structural conformity. Here we detail the protocols involved in the purification of ADAMTSL2 from mammalian cells. We also describe the protocols used to validate the purity of the protein samples

Apoptosis and anti-cancer drug discovery: the power of medicinal fungi and plants

The purpose of this account is to review the compounds capable of eliciting mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in cancer cells produced by medicinal fungi and plants. The medicinal fungi discussed encompass Cordyceps, Ganoderma species, Coriolus versicolor and Hypsizygus marmoreus. The medicinal plants discussed comprise Astragalus complanatus , Dendrobium spp,Dioscorea spp, Glycyrrhiza spp, Panax notoginseng, Panax ginseng, and Momordica charantia. These compounds have the potential of development into anticancer drugs

Physicochemical Aspects of Chitosan Dispersibility in Acidic Aqueous Media: Effects of the Food Acid Counter-Anion

Differences in formation of colloidal dispersions of chitosan in aqueous solutions of citric acid or lactic acid (25, 50 or 100 mM) were quantitatively studied. Protonation enthalpies, electrical conductivity and ζ-potential measurements were additionally undertaken, aiming at better understanding these differences at a molecular level. In dispersion kinetics assays, experimental data were well fitted (R2 > 0.9; MAPE < 4 %) by a first-order kinetics model with two terms - one accounting for the fast, direct dispersion of biopolymers chains and another accounting for the slow dispersion of chains from lumps. In all cases, maximal dispersibility was reached after about 20−30 min of stirring. For both acids, the higher the acid concentration in the medium, the higher was the chitosan dispersibility. At a given acid concentration, chitosan showed higher dispersibility in lactic acid than in citric acid solutions. Protonation of chitosan -NH2 groups was strongly exothermic, with ΔH values three times higher for citric acid (triprotic) than lactic acid (monoprotic) (ΔH = −120 kJ∙mol- 1 and ΔH = −40 kJ∙mol- 1, respectively), indicating that chitosan -NH2 protonation itself was not dependent on the type of acid. However, the electrical conductivity of suspensions of powdered chitosan in water evolved differently as these systems were titrated with citric or acid lactic. With citric acid, electrical conductivity remained virtually constant for acid concentration < of 15 mM, and then increased linearly as the acid concentration increased until 75 mM. Instead, with lactic acid, electrical conductivity progressively increased with increasing of acid concentration from 0 to 75 mM. The ζ-potential of chitosan dispersed particles was +28.5 mV and +52.1 mV in dispersions containing 10 mM of citric and lactic acids, respectively. The conjoint analysis of data from physicochemical analyses suggested that, contrarily to lactate anions, citrate anions bind more strongly on the electrical double layer of protonated, positively charged chains of chitosan, diminishing the inter-chains electrostatic repulsion, thus leading to a lower dispersibility of this polysaccharide in aqueous solutions of citric acid, compared to equimolar solutions of lactic acid