Organic-aqueous liquid (phenol) extraction is one of many standard techniques to efficiently purify DNA directly from cells. With effective mixing, the cell components naturally distribute themselves into the two fluid phases in order to minimize interaction energies of the biological components with the surrounding solvents. The membrane and protein partition into the organic phase while the D...

Glaucoma is a family of optic neuropathies which cause irreversible but potentially preventable vision loss. Vision loss in most forms of glaucoma is related to elevated IOP with subsequent injury to the optic nerve. Secretion of aqueous humor and regulation of its outflow are physiologically important processes for maintaining IOP in the normal range. Thus, understanding the complex mechanisms...

he anterior and posterior chambers of the eye are filled with aqueous humor, a fluid with an ionic composition very similar to the blood plasma and with two main functions: to supply nutrients to the avascular structures of the eye, cornea, and lens and to maintain intraocular pressure (IOP) within its physiological range, because it is the volume of aqueous humor in the eye chambers that deter...

There is a considerable effort in the literature trying to calculate the mean force between globular proteins (and colloidal particles). To this purpose, we used here the ion-specific Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation that presents good results of ionic concentration profiles around a macroion, especially for salt solutions containing monovalent ions. The ion-specific PB equation includes not onl...

for use in extracorporeal circuits, for the removal of toxic substances such as certain metabolites or antibodies from blood. For example, exogenous human serum amyloid P component, a substance associated with Alzheimer’s disease, has been removed from whole rat blood in an extracorporeal circulation system. This model system used a polyclonal antibody coupled to cellulose Sat-sheet membranes. ...

The therapeutic use of proteins has created an increasing demand for feasible and economical methods for both up- and downstream processes. However, whereas upstream processes have attracted substantial investment and commercial attention, downstream processing has been overlooked, causing a production bottleneck that is shifting the costs of production. This review focuses on the use of aqueou...

The surface net hydrophobicity and local hydrophobicity of green fluorescent protein was evaluated by using the aqueous two-phase partitioning method. The surface net hydrophobicity of GFP allowed it to be classified as a hydrophobic protein although the local hydrophobicity was low. The local hydrophobicity of the GFP was increased by a pH shift to acidic conditions and was maximal at pH 4. Th...

An approach to describe continuous partitioning of Cerrena unicolor laccase in a PEG 6000-phosphate aqueous two-phase system was proposed. The laccase was separated from crude supernatant of C. unicolor-submerged culture, and all the experiments were carried out in 25 °C and pH 7 conditions. Masses of both phases and their compositions at phase equilibrium, as well as laccase activity concentra...

The partitioning of endo-polygalacturonase (endo-PG) in polyethylene glycol (PEG)-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA10000) and PEG-hydroxypropyl starch (Reppal PES100) aqueous two-phase systems was studied, and revealed the possibility of using aqueous two-phase extraction to purify and concentrate endo-PG from its clarified fermentation broth. For the PEG8000-PVA10000 system, endo-PG presented in the ferm...