1. When [4-(14)C]cholesterol, attached to beta-globulin or dispersed with Tween 20, was incubated with fresh rabbit (New Zealand albino females) plasma, 30-47% esterification was observed. The optimum pH was 6.8. This esterification was accomplished by the transfer of fatty acids from the C-2 position of lecithin (phosphatidylcholine) to cholesterol. 2. There was no evidence that triglycerides ...

Reverse vesicles are spherical containers in organic liquids (oils) consisting of an oily core surrounded by a reverse bilayer. They are the organic counterparts to vesicles in aqueous solution and could potentially find analogous uses in encapsulation and controlled release. However, few examples of robust reverse vesicles have been reported, and general guidelines for their formation do not e...

1. Changes which occur in the fat content of the liver of dogs receiving haemotoxic serum bear no relation to the degree of necrosis produced by this serum. 2. An increase in water content of the tissue seldom occurs, but where present is due to the nitrogenous autolysis rather than to the deposition of fat. 3. The appearance of fat in the cell is not associated with a decomposition of the prot...

Two synthetic photoactive azidoarylphosphatidylcholines were used to investigate the level of interaction between D-beta-hydroxybutyrate apodehydrogenase (apoBDH), an amphipathic membrane protein, with the hydrophobic domain of phospholipids. The two synthetic lecithins, PL I (1-myristoyl-2-12-N-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl) aminododecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and PL II (1-myristoyl-2-(2-azi...

The basic unit operations in vegetable oil processing are shown in Figure 4. Oil is extracted from plant material (oilseeds) using a solvent, usually hexane. Published research indicates that about 50}70% of the hexane can be recovered and recycled using nanoRltration membranes instead of the evaporators used today, thus reducing energy consumption substantially. The extracted crude oil is most...

Lecithins, mainly composed of the phospholipids phosphatidylcholines (PC), have many different uses in the pharmaceutical and clinical field. PC are involved in structural and biological functions as membrane trafficking processes and cellular signaling. Considering the increasing applications of lecithin-based nanosystems for the delivery of therapeutic agents, the aim of the present work was ...

The orientation of bacteriorhodopsin in the purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium has been studied by proteolytic degradation of purple membrane sheets, reconstituted vesicles, and whole cells, with the following results: (i) Bacteriorhodopsin in purple membrane sheets is cleaved at a single site by Pronase or trypsin; a polypeptide segment of about 15 amino acids is lost from the carboxyl ...

Lipid matrices are always an interesting alternative to encapsulate hydrophobic bioactives, as many of them have their absorption enhanced in the presence of lipidic molecules. Among the most studied hydrophobic food ingredient are the carotenoids, known by their prominent antioxidant capacity, and, among them, the beta-carotene is the nutritionally most active one. In this study liposomes (pho...

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) has been shown to play an integral role in the pathogenesis of the acute respiratory distress syndrome. This disorder is characterized by a deficiency of alveolar surfactant, a surface-active material that is composed of key hydrophobic proteins and the major lipid disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC). We investigated how TNF-alpha might alter DSPC cont...