Croslinking

In this research, we propose to engineer a nanostructured mat that can simultaneously kill bacteria and promote an environment conducive to healing for prospective wound care. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and cellulose acetate (CA) were combined at different polymer ratios (100/0, 90/10, 80/20% v/v), electrospun and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde vapor. Crosslinked fibers increased in diameter (from 194 to 278 nm), retaining their uniform structure. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal analyses proved the excellent miscibility between polymers...

In order to prepare a biosensor for the determination of uric acid, electropolymerization of pyrrole on Pt surface was carried out with an electrochemical cell containing pyrrole, ferrocene (as a electron mediator) and tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborat in acetonitrile by cyclic voltammetry between 0.0 and 1.0 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) at a scan rate of 50 mV/s upon Pt electrode. Uricase was immobilized by a glutaraldehyde/gelatine croslinking procedure on to polypyrrole film after the electropolymerization processes...

An immunotoxin consisting of a monoclonal antibody specific for CD7, a cell surface determinant expressed on T acute lymphocytic leukemia (T-ALL) blast cells, was linked to the potent plant toxin deglycosylated ricin toxin A chain (dgRTA) and is currently under evaluation in phase I clinical trials. Scale-up production of this immunotoxin, called DA7, was simplified using a two-step purification protocol that resulted in a highly purified immunotoxin meeting FDA criteria for IND approval. The anti-CD7 antibody, 3Ale, an IgG2b, was coupled to toxin using two different heterobifunctional cross-linkers, (1) N-succinimidyl-3-(2-pyridyl-dithiolproprionate) (SPDP), considered a standard croslinker and (2) 4-succinimidyloxycarbonyl-alpha-methyl-alpha-(2-pyridyldithio)tolu ene (SMPT), designed to hinder the in vivo breakdown of the toxin/antibody disulfide bond...

Accumulated evidence implicates two non-enzymatic, post-translational, amino acid modifications -- deamidation of asparagine and glutamine, and racemization of aspartic acid -- as potentially important reactions in cellular and organismal ageing. Rates of deamidation can be genetically regulated over a range of at least six days to ten years, and this release of ammonia from amides causes molecular conformational changes, loss of activity, and age-related alterations in a number of proteins in vivo. Racemized aspartic acid amasses with age, especially in croslinked and partly degraded proteins of the normal ageing human lens and yellow cataracts...