Biofilm growth of Chlorella sorokiniana in a rotating biological contactor based photobioreactor.

Microalgae biofilms could be used as a production platform for microalgae biomass. In this study, a photobioreactor design based on a rotating biological contactor (RBC) was used as a production platform for microalgae biomass cultivated in biofilm. In the photobioreactor, referred to as Algadisk, microalgae grow in biofilm on vertical rotating disks partially submerged in a growth medium. The objective is to evaluate the potential of the Algadisk photobioreactor with respect to the effects of disk roughness, disk rotation speed and CO2 concentration. These objectives where evaluated in relationship to productivity, photosynthetic efficiency, and long-term cultivation stability in a lab-scale Algadisk system. Although the lab-scale Algadisk system is used, operation parameters evaluated are relevant for scale-up. Chlorella Sorokiniana was used as model microalgae. In the lab-scale Algadisk reactor, productivity of 20.1 ± 0.7 g per m(2) disk surface per day and a biomass yield on light of 0.9 ± 0.04 g dry weight biomass per mol photons were obtained. Different disk rotation speeds did demonstrate minimal effects on biofilm growth and on the diffusion of substrate into the biofilm. CO2 limitation, however, drastically reduced productivity to 2-4 g per m(2) disk surface per day. Productivity could be maintained over a period of 21 weeks without re-inoculation of the Algadisk. Productivity decreased under extreme conditions such as pH 9-10, temperature above 40°C, and with low CO2 concentrations. Maximal productivity, however, was promptly recovered when optimal cultivation conditions were reinstated. These results exhibit an apparent opportunity to employ the Algadisk photobioreactor at large scale for microalgae biomass production if diffusion does not limit the CO2 supply.

tDCS recovers depth perception in adult amblyopic rats and reorganizes visual cortex activity.

Amblyopia or lazy eye is a neurodevelopmental disorder that arises during the infancy and is caused by the interruption of binocular sensory activity before maturation of the nervous system. This impairment causes long-term deterioration of visual skills, particularly visual acuity and depth perception. Although visual function recovery has been supposed to be decreased with age as consequence of reduced neuronal plasticity, recent studies have shown that it is possible to promote plasticity and neurorestoration in the adult brain. Thus, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown effective to treat amblyopia in the adulthood. In the present work we used postnatal monocular deprivation in Long Evans rats as an experimental model of amblyopia and the cliff test task to assess depth perception. Functional brain imaging PET was used to assess the effect of tDCS on cortical and subcortical activity. Visually deprived animals ability to perceive depth in the cliff test was significantly reduced in comparison to their controls. However, after 8 sessions of tDCS applied through 8 consecutive days, depth perception of amblyopic treated animals improved reaching control level. PET data showed 18F-FDG uptake asymmetries in the visual cortex of amblyopic animals, which disappeared after tDCS treatment. The possibility of cortical reorganization and stereoscopy recovery following brain stimulation points at tDCS as a useful strategy for treating amblyopia in adulthood. Furthermore, monocular deprivation in Long Evans rats is a valuable research model to study visual cortex mechanisms involved in depth perception and neural restoration after brain stimulation.

Enhancement of photorespiration in immobilized Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells.

Immobilization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in alginate increases its photorespiration rate. In the immobilized cells, the photorespiratory enzyme, phosphoglycolate phosphatase, was 75% higher than in freely suspended cells. Thus, the immobilized cells produced glycolate at twice the rate than in freely suspended cells when treated with aminooxyacetate (a transaminase inhibitor). With immobilized cells in a batch reactor, 270 micromol glycolate mg(-1) Chl was produced after 12 h.