Effects of a complex polyene antibiotic, filipin, and its four components were studied upon biological (erythrocyte) and artificial (liposome) membranes in order to test the “sterol receptor” hypothesis of polyene action. The hemolytic activity of filipin complex could be removed more effectively by liposomes which had cholesterol incorporated (phosphatidyl choline (7)~dicetylphosphate (2)-chol...

Standard methods to monitor tuberculosis (TB) treatment response rely on sputum microscopy and culture conversion. Alternatives to these methods are needed for those patients whose sputum tests are smear or culture negative. Here, we examine anti-phospholipid IgM antibody level changes as a biomarker for treatment response in smear positive TB patients. Serum samples were obtained from 40 pulmo...

The preservation for electron microscopy of saturated phospholipids in general, and phosphatidyl choline (PC)in particular, remains and unsolved problem since OsO(4) and glutaraldehyde are incapable of interacting with PC directly. However, by introducing tannic acid preceding osmication, we were able to demonstrate highly ordered, preserved lamellar structures in model experiments with saturat...

The lipids of Bacteroides melaninogenicus were readily extractable with chloroform-methanol. Three per cent of the fatty acids were not extractable. The neutral lipids contained 4% of the extractable fatty acids, the stench characteristic of these organisms, and 0.5 mumole of vitamin K(2) isoprenologues K(2)-35, K(2)-40, and K(2)-45 per g (dry weight). This is one-fifth to one-tenth of the vita...

A novel genus, Albibacter, with one species, Albibacter methylovorans sp. nov., is proposed for a facultatively chemolithotrophic and methylotrophic bacterium (strain DM10T) with the ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) pathway of C1 assimilation. The bacterium is a Gram-negative, aerobic, asporogenous, nonmotile, colourless rod that multiplies by binary fission. The organism utilizes dichloromethane, ...

A polyphasic study was carried out to clarify the taxonomic position of a novel strain R-30(T) isolated from the surficial layer of sediment from Taihu Lake of China. The strain formed pink colored colonies comprising coccodial cells on R2A agar. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain R-30(T) clustered with the strains of genus Roseococcus and strain Rubri...

Experimental myocardial ischemia produced in dogs by proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation results in a small but measurable decrease in total phospholipid content in the subendocardium of the ischemic region. After 3 hours of fixed occlusion, there is a 10% decrease in total phospholipid content. Silica gel chromatography reveals this decrease to be reflected predomi...

Previously, we have shown that lipid-free apoA-I, when incubated with fibroblasts, will produce lipoproteins of pre-alpha mobility (Asztalos, B. F., et al. 1997. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 17: 1630-1636). In order to understand the nature of these pre-alpha particles, we further characterized their lipid content. The pre-alpha particles are high density lipoproteins, having a median dens...

Haemophilus parainfluenzae incorporates glycerol and phosphate into the membrane phospholipids without lag during logarithmic growth. In phosphatidyl glycerol (PG), the phosphate and unacylated glycerol moieties turn over and incorporate radioactivity much more rapidly than does the diacylated glycerol. At least half the radioactivity is lost from the phosphate and unacylated glycerol in about ...