Renata Toczyłowska-Mamińska

Ion transporting proteins of human bronchial epithelium.

The electrolyte transport system across human airway epithelium followed by water movement is essential for the normal mucociliary clearance that allows the maintenance of the aseptic condition of the respiratory tract. The function of epithelial cells is to control and regulate ionic composition and volume of fluids in the airways. Various types of proteins taking part in assuring effective ions and water transport in apical and basolateral membranes of the airway epithelium have been found (e.g., CFTR, ENaC, CaCC, ORCC, potassium channels, NaKATPase, aquaporins). The paper reviews the current state of the art in the field of ion channels, transporters, and other signaling proteins identified in the human bronchial epithelium. J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 426–432, 2012.

Multielectrode Bisensor System for Time-Resolved Monitoring of Ion Transport Across an Epithelial Cell Layer

An ion-selective multielectrode bisensor system is designed to ensure reliable real-time concentration measurements of sodium, potassium, chloride, and pH in a small volume of biological liquid bathing a living human bronchial epithelial cell monolayer. The bisensor system allows the monitoring of major ions, which are simultaneously transported through the epithelia in both directions.

Bioelectricity production from wood hydrothermal-treatment wastewater: Enhanced power generation in MFC-fed mixed wastewaters

Electrogenic microorganisms are the heart of microbial fuel cell (MFC) systems that enable the conversion of waste into bioelectricity. Bacteria able to generate current, found in various natural and anthropogenic environments, need simple substrates such as acetate or glucose. Complex substrates are utilized by bacterial consortia made up of strains that exhibit a wide range of enzymatic and metabolic activity that determines the type of substrate they are able to degrade. The characteristics of the environment that a bacterial consortium develops in strongly affect the consortiums species composition and electrogenic potential. This study presents the first attempt to use industrial raw wastewater from the hydrothermal treatment of wood (WHTW) as a substrate and a source of bacterial consortia for MFC, so that such wastewater could simultaneously be treated and produce bioelectricity. The power generated in MFCs fed with WHTW was enhanced remarkably from 70 to 360mW/m2 when municipal wastewater was introduced into the reactor. An analysis of the bacterial composition of these two types of wastewater revealed that the WHTW was dominated by the genera Thermoanaerobacterium and Paenibacillus while in the biofilm developed in the anode the main genera were Hydrogenophilus and Anaerobaculum. It has been shown for the first time that highly polluted wood industry wastewater may be effectively treated in MFC systems and the use of appropriate bacterial consortium may result in enhancing power generation accompanying wastewater treatment.

A Critical Role for the Presence of Lignocellulosic Material in the Determination of Wood Buffering Capacity

The currently used determinations of wood buffering capacity, which are based on pH-metric titrations of aqueous wood extracts, neglect the effect of lignocellulosic material and the role of its insoluble constituents. This study examined the influence of the presence of wood in a system subjected to titration. A comparison of the results obtained from pine chip extracts and chip suspensions showed that the presence of wood and the wood-to-water ratio were critical factors that affected the measurement of the wood buffering capacity. The evidence showed that the resulting determination may vary by up to six times (0.28–1.99 ml/g), depending upon the conditions of the titration. In addition, it was found that the presence of wood had a neutralizing effect over the course of prolonged pH observations.

Design and characterization of novel all-solid-state potentiometric sensor array dedicated to physiological measurements.

A novel construction of all-solid-state potentiometric sensor array designed for physiological measurements has been presented. The planar construction and elimination of liquid phase creates broad opportunities for the modifications in the sensing part of the sensor. The designed construction is based on all-solid-state ion-selective electrodes integrated with the ionic-liquid based reference electrode. Work parameters of the sensor arrays were characterized. It has been shown that presented sensor design indicates high sensitivity (55.2±1mV/dec, 56.3±2mV/dec, 58.4±1mV/dec and 53.5±1mV/pH for sodium-, potassium-, chloride- and pH-selective electrodes, respectively in 10(-5)-10(-1.5)M range of primary ions), low response time (t95 did not exceed 10s), high potential stability (potential drift in 28-h measurement was ca. ±2mV) and potential repeatability ca. ±1mV. The system was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of K(+), Cl(-), Na(+) and pH in the model physiological solution and for the ion flux studies in human colon epithelium Caco-2 cell line as well.