Present and future technologies of tooth whitening.

Dental stains can be broadly classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic stains are a result of defects in tooth development, fluorosis, or acquired through the use of tetracycline. Extrinsic stains are localized mainly in the pellicle and are generated by the reaction between sugars and amino acids or acquired from the retention of exogenous chromophores in the pellicle. Three clinical methods are currently used for measuring stain removal and tooth whitening in the development of new whitening technologies: Lobene Stain Index, Shade Guide Color Change, and Minolta ChromaMeter. Professional tooth whitening products rely on proven technologies--35% hydrogen peroxide for in-office power bleaching or 10% to 15% carbamide peroxide for at-home bleaching--to reduce intrinsic stain and change the inherent tooth color. Over-the-counter tooth whitening products use a combination of surfactants, abrasives, anticalculus agents, and low levels of hydrogen peroxide to reduce extrinsic stain and help maintain tooth whiteness after professional treatment. Future technologies for whitening teeth could involve the use of activating agents to enhance the performance of hydrogen peroxide and natural enzymes.

NMR studies of 5-hydroxytryptamine transport through large unilamellar vesicle membranes.

Nuclear magnetic resonance techniques developed to study membrane permeability in closed membrane systems have been used to investigate transport of 5-hydroxytryptamine across the phospholipid membranes of large unilamellar vesicles. The vesicles, modeling the 5-hydroxytryptamine storage organelles of blood platelets, contained a high internal level of ATP buffered at a pH low relative to the external solution. The resultant pH gradient drove accumulation of 5-hydroxytryptamine to a level consistent with selective transport of the neutral amine. The upfield shifts of the 5-hydroxytryptamine resonances resulting from complexation with internally confined ATP were utilized to resolve and, simultaneously, to observe the internal and external amine. Simulation of the time evolution of the 5-hydroxytryptamine concentration allowed measurement of a permeability coefficient of 1.4 +/- 0.5 X 10(-5) cm/sec for the neutral amine.

Nuclear magnetic resonance determinations of permeation coefficients for maleic acid in phospholipid vesicles.

Lipid bilayer permeation coefficients for the neutral maleic acid molecule and the maleate monoanion have been determined by proton magnetic resonance techniques. Phosphatiydylcholine-cholesterol (2:1) unilamellar vesicles were prepared having an initial maleate anion concentration gradient stabilized by coupling to an impermeant potassium counterion. The coupling was released by addition of valinomycin, and the time evolution of external pH, internal pH, and maleate concentration followed using nuclear magnetic resonance areas and chemical shifts. Transport rate equations were numerically integrated to fit the date, yielding best fit permeation coefficients of 4 X 10(-9) and 4 X 10(-5) cm/s for maleate monoanion and maleic acid, respectively.

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of heme disorder in hemoproteins.

A proton NMR method is described for determining the orientation of a porphyrin within the heme pocket of a hemoprotein. The pattern of the hyperfine-shifted heme methyl resonances in low-spin ferric model compounds is demonstrated to characteristically reflect the position of a localized low-symmetry perturbation on the pi system. The specific assignments via deuteration of the two interconvertible sets of methyl resonances observed for deuteroporphyrin-reconstituted sperm whale metmyoglobin cyanide lead to the conclusion that the low-symmetry perturbations on the heme due to the apo-protein contacts differ for the two protein components by a 180 degrees rotation about the alpha-gamma meso axis. Hence the heme in the reconstituted myoglobin is "disordered" in solution, and the altered functional properties of the reconstituted protein cannot be simply attributed to the local effect of the heme substituent. This NMR technique has applicability for determining the relative heme orientation in related hemoproteins, and may clarify the origin of doubling of heme resonances observed in several native hemoproteins.