Effect of alginic acid decomposing bacterium on the growth of Laminaria japonica (Phaeophyceae)

We collected the diseased blades of Larninaria japonica from Yantai Sea Farm from October to December 2002, and the alginic acid decomposing bacterium on the diseased blade was isolated and purified, and was identified as A lteromonas espejiana. This bacterium was applied as the causative pathogen to infect the blades of L. japonica under laboratory conditions. The aim of the present study was to identify the effects of the bacterium on the growth of L. japonica, and to find the possibly effective mechanism. Results showed that： （1）The blades of L.japonica exhibited symptoms of lesion,bleaching and deteriortion when infected by the bacterium. and their growth and photosynthesis were dramatically suppressed. At the same time, the reactive oxygen species （ROS） generation enhanced obviously, and the relative membrane permeability increased significantly. The contents of malonaldehyde （MDA） and free fatty acid in the microsomol membrane greatly elevated, but the phospholipid content decreased. Result suggested an obvious peroxidation and deesterrification in the blades of L. japonica when infected by the bacterium. （2） The simultaneous assay on the antioxidant enzyme activities demonstrated that superoxide dismutase （SOD） and catalase （CAT） increased greatly when infected by the bacterium, but glutathione peroxidase （Gpx） and ascorbate peroxidase （APX） did not exhibit active responses to the bacterium throughout the experiment. （3） The histomorphological observations gave a distinctive evidence of the severity of the lesions as well as the relative abundance in the bacterial population on the blades after infection. The bacterium firstly invaded into the endodermis of L. japonica and gathered around there, and then resulted in the membrane damage, cells corruption and ultimately, the death of L. japonica.

Prospective,randomized,and active controlled study of the efficacy of alginic acid and antacid in the treatment of patients with endoscopy-negative reflux disease

AIM： To assess the efficacy and safety of a compound containing alginic acid plus antacid （Topaal） compared to equal-strength antacid （Nacid） in patients with endoscopy-negative reflux disease （ENRD）. METHODS： A total of 121 patients with ENRD were randomized to receive Topaal （65 patients） or Nacid （56 patients） for 6 weeks, with a consultation every 3 weeks. The primary end-point assessment was the change in the severity of heartburn as evaluated using a visual analog scale （VAS） at 6 weeks. The secondary end-point assessments were the VAS at 3 weeks, the change of frequency of the reflux symptom, the change of quality of life and the adverse effects. RESULTS： Demographics of randomized subjects in each treatment group were comparable except that the Topaal group included more males. The baseline characteristics between the groups were similar. After 6 weeks of treatment, the reduction of VAS of heartburn was more prominent in the Topaal group （-6.29 cm vs -4.11 cm）. At the 3m week, Topaal group showed greater reduction of VAS for heartburn （P= 0.0016）, regurgitation （P=0.0006）, vomiting （P=0.0373）, and belching （P〈0.0001）. The patients of the Topaal group had lower frequency of heartburn （P=0.0015） and pain （P= 0.0163） at the end of the 6-week treatment period. From the doctor＇s point of view, the Topaal group also showed significant reduction in the severity of heartburn （P= 0.0020）, regurgitation （P=0.0081）, vomiting （P= 0.0182）, and belching （P= 0.0018） at the end of the treatment. The improvement of the quality of life was more remarkable in the Topaal group at the end of the 6-week treatment period （P〈 0.0001）. For the adverse effect, there was no difference in both the groups. CONCLUSION： Topaal is more effective than Nacid for the treatment of symptoms presented by patients with ENRD.

Effects of La and Nd on the Fermentation of Alginic Acid Produced from the Strain 342 of Azotobacter Vinelandii

It is reported that fermentative liquids with various concentrations of La and Nd affect the fer- mentation of alginic acid from the strain 342 of Azotobacter vinelandii.The results are as follows:When the concentration of La or Nd was up to 100 ppm,the cell growth is stimulated and the production of alginic acid is promoted.The La or Nd in concentration higher than 200 ppm or 150 ppm inhibits the fermentation, respectively.As the concentration range of La is 0～100 ppm or that of Nd is 0～150 ppm,the yield of fixed nitrogen increases,and the ratio of c_M to c_G(c_M/c_G)decreases with the raise of the concentration of La or Nd.When the concentration range of La is 100～400 ppm and that of Nd is 150～400 ppm,the conclusion is contrary to the above mentioned result.

The effects of the environmental factors on Laminaria disease caused by alginic acid decomposing bacteria

-The rot disease of Laminaria occurs often in nurseries of sporeling and commercial cultivation in the sea and results in economic loss greatly. Usually the disease outbreaks accompanied with massive multiplication of alginic acid decomposing bacteria. From the section of the decaying Lamuutria which resulted from the inoculation of alginic acid decomposing bacteria, it was observed that the bacteria invaded the epiderm of the Laminaria surface at first, then entered the ex-odermis, endodermis and pith. In addition, there were a great amount of bacteria in the intercellular region and a lot of free cells of the algae in the decaying areas. The wall of some free cells was decomposed, which led to soft tissue or disintegration. Alginic acid decomposing bacteria are normal epiphytic microorganisms growing on Lamuutria surface. These bacteria do not cause disease at normal environmental conditions. The experiments showed that the unfavourable conditions, e. g. , wounding, overcrowding, high temperature reduced the ability of antibacterial activity and made the algae more susceptible to the pathogens and favoured the multiplication of alginic acid decomposing bacteria and finally led to the disease outbreak. The unfavourable environmental factors which resulted from a variety of reasons were the main cause of the disease.

Preparation and Characterization of AlginateHyaluronic Acid-chitosan based Composite Gel Beads

The aim of this study was to fabricate composite gel beads based on natural polysaccharides. Hyaluronic acid（HA） and Chitosan（CS） were successfully admixed with Ca^2＋/alginate（SA） gel system to produce SA/HA/CS gel beads by dual crosslinking： the ionic gelation and the polyelectrolyte complexation. The preparation procedure was that the weight ratio of SA（2%, m/v） to HA（2%, m/v） was kept at 2：1, then the mixture was dripped into the Ca^2＋ solution for ion-crosslinking, and finally polyelectrolyte crosslinked with 2% low molecular weight CS（LMW-CS） for 1.5 hours. The optimal formulation was achieved by adjusting the concentration and the weight ratio of SA, HA and LMW-CS. Due to the incorporation of HA and LMWCS, the swelling ratio of the beads at pH 7.4 was increased up to 120, and the time for the maximum swelling degree was prolonged to 7.5 h. The swelling behavior was obviously improved compared to the pure SA/Ca^2＋ system. The preliminary results clearly suggest that the SA/HA/CS gel beads may be a potential candidate for biomedical delivery vehicles.

One-step synthesis of biomass derived O, N-codoped hierarchical porous carbon with high surface area for supercapacitors

We report a convenient method to synthesize O,N-codoped hierarchical porous carbon by one-step carbonization of the mixture of KHCO3,urea and alginic acid.Benefiting from KHCO3 and urea syne rgistic effect,the obtained O,N-codoped hierarchical porous carbon(NPC-700) material has a well-developed interconnected porous framework with ultrahigh specific surface area(2846 m2/g) and massive heteroatoms functional groups.Consequence,such porous carbon displays high specific capacitance(324 F/g at 1 A/g),excellent rate performance(212 F/g at 30 A/g) and good electrochemical stabilization in 6 mol/L KOH solution.More importantly,the assembled NPC-700//NPC-700 symmetrical supercapacitor can achieve a high energy density of 18.8 Wh/kg and good electrochemical stabilization in 1 mol/L Na2SO4 solution.This process opens up a new way to design heteroatoms-doped hierarchical porous carbon derived from biomass materials for supercapacitors.