Scientific Terms Found in Research Papers

[Pippit]

I'm in the process of reading a paper on Borelia Burgdorferi and T. Pallidum, and how each stimulates an inflammatory respnse, and came across some terms I'm not familiar with. If anyone could explain what these are that would be a big help.

Thanks,

Pippit



Lipid Moiety

nOspA

IL-18

Vitamin D3-matured THP-1 cells

Treponemal Sonicate Plateaus

pleiotropic

amphipathic

glycosylphosphatidylinositol







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[mith]

amphipathic- has one hydrophillic and one hydrophobic end ex.phospholipid
pleiotropic - gene with multiple effects

here's a tip I learned from google hacks
try searching using this string

define:vocabterm

I've found pleiotropic by typing define:pleiotropic

[canalon]

It seems that you were reading this paper http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/full/163/4/2049 It is easier to understand within the context. I am not a specialist but here what I can do for you:

lipid moiety: the lipid part of a molecule, here the "lipo" from the lipoprotein, a lipid linked to a protein.

nOspA: native outer surface protein A, it is explained in the materiel and methods...

IL18: Interleukine 18 more here

Treponemal Sonicate Plateaus: Plateaus is a verb meaning that something instead od increasing or decreasing with whatever variable become flat. If the "response of the cells to treponemal Sonicate Plateaus" it means that after reaching a certain concentration of treponemal sonicate (treponems destroyed by ultrasound AKA sonication) the response is not de/increasing any more.

glycosylphosphatidylinositol: a kind of molecule. You can find a lot about its structure and biosynthesis here

Vitamin D3-matured THP-1 cells: THP-1 cells are a macrophage cell line probably cultivated in presence of vitamin D3. I do not know whhat kind of maturation is necessary...

Hope I helped, but Google and Medline are good friends...

Patrick