Post-extraction stabilization of HIV viral RNA for quantitative molecular tests.

Two approaches to stabilize viral nucleic acid in processed clinical specimens were evaluated. HIV-1 RNA extracted from clinical specimens was stabilized in a dry matrix in a commercial product (RNAstable, Biomatrica, San Diego, CA, USA) and in a reverse-transcription reaction mixture in liquid form as cDNA. As few as 145 HIV-1 genome copies of viral RNA are reliably stabilized by RNAstable at 45°C for 92 days and in the cDNA format at 45°C for 7 days as determined by real-time PCR. With RNAstable the R(2) at days 1, 7, and 92 were 0.888, 0.871, and 0.943 when compared to baseline viral load values. The cDNA generated from the same clinical specimens was highly stable with an R(2) value of 0.762 when comparing viral load determinations at day 7 to baseline values. In conclusion viral RNA stabilized in a dry RNAstable matrix is highly stable for long periods of time at high temperatures across a substantial dynamic range. Viral RNA signal can also be stabilized in liquid in the form of cDNA for limited periods of time. Methods that reduce reliance on the cold chain and preserve specimen integrity are critical for extending the reach of molecular testing to low-resource settings. Products based on anhydrobiosis, such as the RNAstable should be evaluated further to support viral pathogen diagnosis.

Miscibility of ternary mixtures of phospholipids and cholesterol in monolayers, and application to bilayer systems.

We investigate miscibility transitions of two different ternary lipid mixtures, DOPC/DPPC/Chol and POPC/PSM/Chol. In vesicles, both of these mixtures of an unsaturated lipid, a saturated lipid, and cholesterol form micron-scale domains of immiscible liquid phases for only a limited range of compositions. In contrast, in monolayers, both of these mixtures produce two distinct regions of immiscible liquid phases that span all compositions studied, the alpha-region at low cholesterol and the beta-region at high cholesterol. In other words, we find only limited overlap in miscibility phase behavior of monolayers and bilayers for the lipids studied. For vesicles at 25 degrees C, the miscibility phase boundary spans portions of both the monolayer alpha-region and beta-region. Within the monolayer beta-region, domains persist to high pressures, yet within the alpha-region, miscibility phase transition pressures always fall below 15 mN/m, far below the bilayer equivalent pressure of 32 mN/m. Approximately equivalent phase behavior is observed for monolayers of DOPC/DPPC/Chol and for monolayers of POPC/PSM/Chol. As expected, pressure-area isotherms of our ternary lipid mixtures yield smaller molecular area and compressibility for monolayers containing more saturated acyl chains and cholesterol. All monolayer experiments were conducted under argon. We show that exposure of unsaturated lipids to air causes monolayer surface pressures to decrease rapidly and miscibility transition pressures to increase rapidly.