Dagmar A. Brüggemann

Muscle Contraction and Force: the Importance of an Ancillary Network, Nutrient Supply and Waste Removal

Muscle contraction studies often focus solely on myofibres and the proteins known to be involved in the processes of sarcomere shortening and cross-bridge cycling, but skeletal muscle also comprises a very elaborate ancillary network of capillaries, which not only play a vital role in terms of nutrient delivery and waste product removal, but are also tethered to surrounding fibres by collagen ”wires”. This paper therefore addresses aspects of the ancillary network of skeletal muscle at both a microscopic and functional level in order to better understand its role holistically as a considerable contributor to force transfer within muscular tissue.

Investigation of oxidation in freeze-dried membranes using the fluorescent probe C11-BODIPY581/591

Incorporation of the fluorescent probe C11-BODIPY(581/591) in two dried membrane systems, soy bean phosphatidylcholine liposomes freeze-dried in a carbohydrate/protein matrix and Lactobacillus acidophilus (La-5) freeze-dried in a carbohydrate matrix, was successful and could be visualised by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). The C11-BODIPY(581/591) probe is a lipid oxidation reporter molecule, which is known to associate with the lipids of biological membranes and exhibit a fluorescence shift from the red range to the green range of the visible spectrum when it is oxidised together with the lipids. The present study is the first to demonstrate that the C11-BODIPY(581/591) probe can be used in dried membrane systems, and that a detection of oxidation is possible by CLSM analysis directly on the dried samples.

Localized lipid autoxidation initiated by two-photon irradiation within single oil droplets in oil-in-water emulsions

The initiation of lipid autoxidation within single oil droplets in Tween-20-stabilized oil-in-water emulsion was achieved by highly focused two-photon (2P) irradiation at excitation wavelength (λex) 700 nm. The radical formation was enhanced by inclusion of the photo-cleavable radical initiator di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) into the droplets, and demonstrated with confocal microscopy using radical-sensitive probe BODIPY(665/676). The radical chain reactions progressed up to 60 μm; however, there were no indications of oxidation in neighboring droplets demonstrating that radicals and oxidized probe molecules were not able to migrate between oil droplets. In addition, the spatial propagation of lipid autoxidation increased with the degree of oil unsaturation.

Production of dry-cured formed ham with different concentrations of microbial transglutaminase: Mass spectrometric analysis and sensory evaluation

Dry-cured formed hams were produced with different concentrations of microbial transglutaminase (TG; 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8% Activa PB) and glucono-delta-lactone as control. A sensory evaluation was performed during a 43-day storage to determine cohesion, cavities, and local separation of dry-cured formed ham. Rising TG concentrations resulted in a slight increase in the evaluation of all sensory parameters, whereas amounts of TG higher than 0.5% led to an only very minor improvement. Dry-cured formed ham samples were analyzed by a sensitive HPLC-MS/MS method for the detection of TG using five tryptic marker peptides. Even very small amounts of Activa PB (0.05%) were detectable unambiguously. A decrease of TG detectability during the storage time of dry-cured formed ham was not observed. Using four marker peptides, no false-positive or -negative results were obtained. The amounts of two marker peptides were calculated using isotope-labeled peptides. They showed high correlations to the amount of Activa PB (R2>0.995).