Plasma hydrogen sulfide, nitric oxide, and thiocyanate levels are lower during pregnancy compared to postpartum in a cohort of women from the Pacific northwest of the United States.

AIMS: Pregnancy alters multiple physiological processes including angiogenesis, vasodilation, inflammation, and cellular redox, which are partially modulated by the gasotransmitters hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nitric oxide (NO). In this study, we sought to determine how plasma levels of H2S, NO, and the H2S-related metabolites thiocyanate (SCN-), and methanethiol (CH3SH) change during pregnancy progression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plasma was collected from 45 women at three points: 25-28 weeks gestation, 28-32 week gestation, and at ≥3 months postpartum. Plasma levels of H2S, SCN-, and CH3SH were measured following derivatization using monobromobimane followed by LC-MS/MS. Plasma NO was measured indirectly using the Griess reagent. KEY FINDINGS: NO and SCN- were significantly lower in women at 25-28 weeks gestation and 28-32 weeks gestation than postpartum while plasma H2S levels were significantly lower at 28-32 weeks gestation than postpartum. No significant differences were observed in CH3SH. SIGNIFICANCE: Previous reports demonstrated that the production of H2S and NO are stimulated during pregnancy, but we observed lower levels during pregnancy compared to postpartum. Previous reports on NO have been mixed, but given the related effects of H2S and NO, it is expected that their levels would be higher during pregnancy vs. postpartum. Future studies determining the mechanism for decreased H2S and NO during pregnancy will elucidate the role of these gasotransmitters during normal and pathological progression of pregnancy.

Hybrid semiconducting polymer nanoparticles as polarization-sensitive fluorescent probes.

Much work has been done on collapsed chains of conjugated semiconducting polymers and their applications as fluorescent probes or sensors. On surfaces spin-coated with semiconducting polymers, excitation energy transfer along the polymer backbone can be used to quickly and efficiently funnel energy to chromophores with localized energy minima. If each chromophore is immobilized within its matrix, this can result in a large fluorescence anisotropy. Through nanoprecipitation of a matrix polymer blended at low mass ratios with short-chain, hydrophobic, fluorescent semiconducting polymers, we took advantage of this large fluorescence anisotropy to make polarization-sensitive nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs are small (~7 nm in diameter), exhibit a high quantum yield of 0.75, and are easily functionalized to bind to protein targets. Excitation of the NPs with polarized light on a wide-field fluorescence microscope enabled monitoring of both protein location and changes in protein orientation.

Single-cell nanosurgery.

This chapter explains the steps necessary to perform laser surgery upon single adherent mammalian cells, where individual organelles are extracted from the cells by optical tweezers and the cells are monitored post-surgery to check their viability. Single-cell laser nanosurgery is used in an increasing range of methodologies because it offers great flexibility. Its main advantages are (a) there is not any physical contact with the cells so they remain in a sterile environment, (b) high spatial selectivity so that single organelles can be extracted from specific areas of individual cells, (c) the method can be conducted in the cell's native media, and (d) in comparison to other techniques that target single cells, such as micromanipulators, laser nanosurgery has a comparatively high throughput.

Probing rotational viscosity in synaptic vesicles.

The synaptic vesicle (SV) is a central organelle in neurotransmission, and previous studies have suggested that SV protein 2 (SV2) may be responsible for forming a gel-like matrix within the vesicle. Here we measured the steady-state rotational anisotropy of the fluorescent dye, Oregon Green, within individual SVs. By also measuring the fluorescence lifetime of Oregon Green in SVs, we determined the mean rotational viscosity to be 16.49 ± 0.12 cP for wild-type (WT) empty mice vesicles (i.e., with no neurotransmitters), 11.21 ± 0.12 cP for empty vesicles from SV2 knock-out mice, and 11.40 ± 0.65 cP for WT mice vesicles loaded with the neurotransmitter glutamate (Glu). This measurement shows that SV2 is an important determinant of viscosity within the vesicle lumen, and that the viscosity decreases when the vesicles are filled with Glu. The viscosities of both empty SV2 knock-out vesicles and Glu-loaded WT vesicles were significantly different from that of empty WT SVs (p < 0.05). This measurement represents the smallest enclosed volume in which rotational viscosity has been measured thus far.

Laser selection significantly affects cell viability following single-cell nanosurgery.

This paper compares the viability of over 700 NG108 cells after membrane disruption either with a single 3 ns pulse at 337 nm or with a 5 ms train of 110 fs pulses (80 MHz) at 770 nm. Cell viability was monitored over a period of 12 h so as to understand the effect of laser ablation-induced cell apoptosis. The use of one-photon membrane disruption with the UV-laser resulted in approximately 36% cell viability after 12 h while the use of two-photon ablation with the femtosecond laser resulted in a much higher viability of approximately 79% after 12 h, which was the same within error of the approximately 79% viability of cells in the control group. Changing the laser power to achieve a 90% probability of membrane disruption (PMD) from 50% PMD did not change the percentage of viable cells after 12 h, regardless of whether one- or two-photon ablation was employed. A systematic comparison between different methods of cellular ablation and their effect upon the viability of single cells has not been done before over such a long time frame. These results show the importance of laser choice when cell viability postsurgery is a concern.