Some aspects of calcium phosphate chemistry in sugarcane clarification

This paper reviews some aspects of calcium phosphate chemistry since phosphate in juice is an important parameter in all sugar juice clarification systems. It uses basic concepts to try and explain the observed differences in clarification performance obtained with various liming techniques. The paper also examines the current colorimetric method used for the determination of phosphate in sugar juice. In this method, a phosphomolybdate blue complex formed due to the addition of a dye is measured at 660 nm. Unfortunately, at this wavelength there is interference of the colour arising from within the juice and results in the underestimation of the amount of soluble inorganic phosphate content of juice. It is suggested that phosphate analysis be conducted at the higher wavelength of 875 nm where the interference of the juice colour is minimised.

Mechanistic investigations into interactions between IGF-I and IGFBPs and their impact on facilitating cell migration on vitronectin

Numerous studies have reported links between insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and the extra-cellular matrix protein vitronectin (VN). We ourselves have reported that IGF-I binds to VN via IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) to stimulate HaCaT and MCF-7 cell migration. Here, we detail the functional evaluation of IGFBP-1, -2, -3, -4 and -6 in the presence and absence of IGF-I and VN. The data presented here, combined with our prior data on IGFBP-5, suggest that IGFBP-3, -4 and -5 are the most effective at stimulating cell migration in combination with IGF-I and VN. In addition, we demonstrate that different regions within IGFBP-3 and -4 are critical for complex formation. Furthermore, we examine whether multi-protein complexes of IGF-I and IGFBPs associated with fibronectin and collagen IV are also able to enhance functional biological responses.