Ultrasonic treatment of Cryptosporidium oocysts.

The effect of 20 kHz ultrasound on the viability of Cryptosporidium oocysts was investigated. More than 90% of the dispersed Cryptosporidium oocysts could be deactivated in about 1.5 min of continuous sonication. In order to apply this technique to large quantities of contaminated water, quantitative filtration and redispersion of Cryptosporidium oocysts were investigated and found to be easily achievable. The estimated cost of sonication showed that the ultrasound treatment of Cryptosporidium oocysts contaminated water could be a very effective means of "deactivating" Cryptosporidium oocysts.

The effect of surface active solutes on bubbles exposed to ultrasound.

A review of the effects of a range of surface active solutes, aliphatic alcohols, alkyl amines, carboxylic acids and surfactants on bubbles exposed to ultrasound is presented. The solutes are shown to affect the phenomenon of sonoluminescence (SL) in quite a number of different ways. Ionic surfactants have a strong influence on interbubble interactions which at low concentrations (1 mM) results in an enhancement in SL. Alcohols and the neutral forms of the organic acids and amines induce SL quenching. The SL quenching is attributed to the formation and accumulation of decomposition products in the hot core of an oscillating bubble resulting from the evaporation of volatile solute adsorbed at the bubble interface. Some results are presented on the influence of low concentrations of alcohol on the SL generated from a single bubble and on the bubble dynamics, when exposed to ultrasound. These results add support to the interpretation given for solute-induced effects observed in multibubble systems. It is also shown that SL can be used as an internal light source to excite aromatic solutes that subsequently fluoresce, a process referred to as sonophotoluminescence.

Sonophotoluminescence from aqueous and non-aqueous solutions.

The sonoluminescence generated in air-saturated aqueous and non-aqueous solutions using 515 kHz ultrasound has been used to vibronically excite several fluorescent solutes, namely fluorescein, eosin, pyranine and pyrene. Emission, referred to as 'sonophotoluminescence', was generated in situ with emission spectra that closely matched those obtained by direct photoexcitation of the solutes by an external light source. In the case of pyranine, experiments were also conducted in the presence of the surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). The presence of 1 mM SDS enhances the sonoluminescence and sonophotoluminescence signals above that seen in pure water by a factor of about 2. Pyrene sonophotoluminescence was observed in ethylene glycol. The emission was quenched by the addition of I-, providing good evidence that emission was from pyrene in bulk solution and not within, or on the surface of cavitation bubbles.

Multibubble sonoluminescence in aqueous salt solutions.

The sonoluminescence from aqueous solutions containing various salts in the concentration range of 0 to 7 M has been examined using 3.5 ms pulses of 515 kHz ultrasound. In almost all cases the sonoluminescence intensity recorded increased with increasing salt level until a critical concentration (in the range of 1-2 M) was reached. At salt levels above the critical concentration the signal intensity decreased sharply with increasing salt concentration. It is not possible to satisfactorily account for the trends in terms of changes in solution viscosity, rate of bubble coalescence, water vapour pressure, air/water interfacial tension or ionic strength. However, a good correlation of the increase in the signal with the extent of gas solubilisation in the solutions with changing salt concentration was observed. Possible reasons for the signal increase with the addition of salts and the marked decrease at high salt concentrations are discussed.

Directional guidance of nicotiana alata pollen tubes in vitro and on the stigma

Pollen tubes navigate the route from stigma to ovule with great accuracy, but the cues that guide them along this route are not known. We reproduced the environment on the stigma of Nicotiana alata by immersing pollen in stigma exudate or oil close to an interface with an aqueous medium. The growth of pollen in this culture system mimicked growth on stigmas: pollen grains hydrated and germinated, and pollen tubes grew toward the aqueous medium. The rate-limiting step in pollen germination was the movement of water through the surrounding exudate or oil. By elimination of other potential guidance cues, we conclude that the directional supply of water probably determined the axis of polarity of pollen tubes and resulted in growth toward the interface. We propose that a gradient of water in exudate is a guidance cue for pollen tubes on the stigma and that the composition of the exudate must be such that it is permeable enough for pollen hydration to occur but not so permeable that the supply of water becomes nondirectional. Pollen tube penetration of the stigma may be the most frequently occurring hydrotropic response of higher plants.

Butyl Acrylate/Vinyl Acetate Copolymer Latex Synthesis Using Ultrasound As an Initiator

The polymerization of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions of monomeric species has been performed at 30°C (±5°C) under ultrasonic irradiation, in the absence of any added chemical initiators. Emulsions of butyl acrylate and vinyl acetate as well as emulsified mixtures of the two monomers have been reacted in this way. In all cases, the radicals formed as a result of the ultrasonic cavitation were sufficient to cause polymerization. Stable blue-white or white dispersions of polymer latex particles were obtained. The kinetics of the copolymerization process were monitored. The data obtained here show that the polymerization rate depends strongly upon the monomer concentration dissolved in the aqueous phase and on its vapor pressure. The more volatile of the monomers examined, vinyl acetate, was seen to have a markedly lower polymerization rate at equivalent monomer concentrations when compared to the butyl acrylate. This was attributed to monomer evaporation into the cavities formed by the ultrasound, causing a dampening of the cavitation process and hence a lower radical density. Data of particle sizes and polymer molecular weights for the latex samples support this hypothesis.

Direct Spectroscopic Measurement and Theoretical Modeling of the Diffusion of a Single Species in a Two-Phase Unstirred System

The diffusion of 8-hydroxyquinoline from an aqueous phase into an organic phase and vice versa has been measured using a static transfer cell. The total change in concentration in either phase can be accurately predicted by considering one-dimensional diffusion in the plane normal to the oil/water interface. It was found that any turbulent mixing that occurs during the initiation of the experiment dies out in the first few minutes. The relevance of this technique to the study of metal ion extraction from an aqueous phase into an organic phase is discussed.

A Kinetic Study of Copper Ion Extraction by Kelex 100 at a Heptane-Water Interface

A study of the kinetics of Cu2+ extraction by 7-(4-ethyl-1-methyloctyl)8-hydroxyquinoline (Kelex 100) has been undertaken in a static transfer cell, where the total concentration of the Cu2+-Kelex 100 complex in the organic phase is monitored in situ as the reaction proceeds using attenuated total internal reflectance spectroscopy. The temporal characteristics of the extraction of Cu2+ from water into heptane could be accounted for using a simple one-dimensional diffusion model coupled with a reaction-limited interaction between Cu2+ and Kelex 100. Rate constants for the reaction of Kelex 100 and Cu2+ at a model interface were obtained from stopped flow experiments using a neutral micelle (C12E8) system. These rate constants were used to model the reaction between Cu2+ and Kelex 100 at the heptane-water interface.

The Direct Measurement of the Forces of Interaction between a Colloid Particle and an Oil Droplet

An atomic force microscope was used to measure the forces between a silica sphere (diameter 10 μm) and a n-decane droplet (diameter 0.3 mm) in water. Force-distance profiles showed a weak attraction and adhesion due to van der Waals forces. When the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate was added, there was electrostatic repulsion at all separations due to the adsorption of the anionic surfactant at the oil-water interface, and no adhesion of the sphere to the oil droplet was observed upon retraction. Fitting the repulsive curves to the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation for heterogeneous surfaces yielded surface potentials on the oil surface which were consistently lower than those values found from electrokinetic experiments on oil drops under similar conditions. The measured Debye lengths were also found to be significantly different from those calculated from the surfactant and electrolyte conditions employed. Possible reasons for the discrepancies are outlined.

Two-dimensional diffusion of amphiphiles in phospholipid monolayers at the air-water interface.

Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy has been used to examine lateral diffusion in dipalmitoyl-L-alpha-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and dimyristoyl-L-alpha-phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) monolayers at the air-water interface, by studying the fluorescence quenching of a pyrene-labeled phospholipid (pyrene-DPPE) by two amphiphilic quenchers. Steady-state fluorescence measurements revealed pyrene-DPPE to be homogeneously distributed in the DMPC lipid matrix for all measured surface pressures and only in the liquid-expanded (LE) phase of the DPPC monolayer. Time-resolved fluorescence decays for pyrene-DPPE in DMPC and DPPC (LE phase) in the absence of quencher were best described by a single-exponential function, also suggesting a homogeneous distribution of pyrene-DPPE within the monolayer films. Addition of quencher to the monolayer film produced nonexponential decay behavior, which is adequately described by the continuum theory of diffusion-controlled quenching in a two-dimensional environment. Steady-state fluorescence measurements yielded lateral diffusion coefficients significantly larger than those obtained from time-resolved data. The difference in these values was ascribed to the influence of static quenching in the case of the steady-state measurements. The lateral diffusion coefficients obtained in the DMPC monolayers were found to decrease with increasing surface pressure, reflecting a decrease in monolayer fluidity with compression.

omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids: monolayer packing and effects on bilayer permeability and cholesterol exchange.

It has been suggested that the polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), can adopt unique closely packed arrays in lipid bilayers (Glomset and Applegate. (1986) J. Lipid Res. 27, 658-680). These conformations are predicted on the basis of molecular dynamics calculations and are in contrast to the expanded conformations characteristic of omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids. It has also been suggested that close packing of omega-3 acyl chains could have a substantial affect on the physical properties of lipid bilayers (e.g. permeability). We report here some experimental tests of these predictions. Surface pressure-area experiments have been carried out on DHA and its mixtures with stearic and oleic acids. At low surface pressures DHA is more expanded than oleic acid. Extrapolation to the high surface pressures characteristic of lipid bilayers indicates that the area per molecule of DHA is only marginally less than that for oleic acid. Thus there is no compelling evidence to suggest that the average area per molecule of the omega-3 fatty acid is substantially different from the omega-6 fatty acid at high surface pressures. Experiments also show that the permeability of bilayers to glucose and the rates of dissociation of pyrenyl cholesterol from bilayers were similar for bilayers containing DHA compared to bilayers containing oleic acid or linoleic acid.

The ionization behaviour of DL-alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) in model membranes: micelles and vesicles.

The ionization behaviour of DL-alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) has been investigated in dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) and dodecyldimethyl propiobetaine (DPB) micelles and didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) vesicles. The pKa values for DL-alpha-tocopherol in the aqueous self-assembled solutions of DTAB, CTAC, DPB, DDAB and DMPC were 12.0 +/- 0.1, 11.7 +/- 0.1, 13.1 +/- 0.1, 11.0 +/- 0.2 and greater than 14.5, respectively. It is shown how these pKa results confirm that DL-alpha-tocopherol exists predominantly in the un-ionized form when localized in any type of micelle or vesicle at physiological pH values.