To cause an infection, bacteriophages must penetrate the alginate exopolysaccharide of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to reach the bacterial surface. Despite a lack of intrinsic motility, phage were shown to diffuse through alginate gels at alginate concentrations up to 8% (wt/vol) and to bring about a 2-log reduction in the cell numbers in 20-day-old biofilms of P. aeruginosa. The inability of alginat...

A lateral dislocation in a double-layer microsphere film is very difficult to identify because the constituent domains have the same two-dimensional crystalline orientation. Orientation-sensitive optical techniques cannot resolve this issue. Here, we demonstrate that partial dark-field (pDF) optical microscopy can be very effective in identifying this type of domain boundary and dislocation of ...

Alginate is a commonly used biomedical hydrogel whose in vivo degradation behavior is only beginning to be understood. The use of alginate in the central nervous system is gaining popularity as an electrode coating, cell encapsulation matrix, and for duraplasty. However, it is necessary to understand how the hydrogel will behave in vivo to aid in the development of alginate for use as a neural ...

"Alginate/silica hybrid materials for immobilization of green microalgae Chlorella vulgaris for cellbased sensor arrays" (2014). Thin layers and patterned dot arrays of sodium alginate containing living microalgal cells were deposited onto glass carriers which were subsequently gelled using amino-functionalized silica sol to obtain reinforced alginate hydrogels. The resulting alginate/silica hy...

Although some alginate lyases have been isolated from marine bacteria, alginate lyases-excreting bacteria from the Arctic alga have not yet been investigated. Here, the diversity of the bacteria associated with the brown alga Laminaria from the Arctic Ocean was investigated for the first time. Sixty five strains belonging to nine genera were recovered from six Laminaria samples, in which Psychr...

Mucoidy, or overproduction of the exopolysaccharide known as alginate, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a poor prognosticator for lung infections in cystic fibrosis. Mutation of the anti-sigma factor MucA is a well-accepted mechanism for mucoid conversion. However, certain clinical mucoid strains of P. aeruginosa have a wild-type (wt) mucA. Here, we describe a loss-of-function mutation in kinB that...

Oxidized sodium alginate is a handily modifiable polysaccharide owing to the pendant aldehyde groups which can form dynamic covalent bonds with amines, acylhydrazines, etc., providing oxidized sodium alginate-based hydrogels with stimuli-responsive properties. However, due to the stiffness and, in particular, the hydrophobicity of sodium alginate dialdehyde at low pH, the mechanical performance...

Chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in the form of pellet culture and encapsulation in alginate beads has been widely used as conventional model for in vitro chondrogenesis. However, comparative characterization between differentiation, hypertrophic markers, cell adhesion molecule and ultrastructural changes during alginate and pellet culture has not been described....

OBJECTIVE We have developed an ultrapurified low endotoxin alginate (UPLE alginate), which can drastically reduce endotoxin levels. Our purposes were to examine the effects of UPLE alginate administration on osteoarthritis (OA) progression and to determine the adequate molecular weight of the UPLE alginate for therapeutic effects. DESIGN To induce knee OA, 35 Japanese White rabbits underwent ...

Department of Applied Physics, University of Fukui, Bunkyo 3-9-1, Fukui, 910-8507 Japan Abstract Sodium alginate solution, being viscous hydrocolloid, was examined voltammetrically in the context of viscous effects by use of a ferrocenyl compound as a redox probe. Voltammograms were almost independent of concentrations of sodium alginate even in a solid-like state. Diffusion coefficients of the...