The pharmacological activation of the cystic fibrosis gene protein cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) was studied in human airway epithelial Calu-3 cells, which express a high level of CFTR protein as assessed by Western blot and in vitro phosphorylation. Immunolocalization shows that CFTR is located in the apical membrane. We performed iodide efflux, whole cell patch-cl...

Patches of freshly isolated epithelial cells from eel Anguilla anguilla intestine bathed by the same solution on both sides in the cell-attached configuration had conductances of 57.0+/-1.8 pS (for positive voltages) and 13.3+/-0.7 pS (for negative voltages) (means +/- s.e.m., N=25). Electrical activity was spontaneous in the cell-attached configuration, but was frequently lost after excision. ...

Band 3 Memphis variant II is a mutant anion-exchange protein associated with the Diego a+ blood group antigen. There are two mutations in this transporter: Lys-56-->Glu within the cytoplasmic domain, and Pro-854-->Leu within the membrane-bound domain. The Pro-854 mutation, which is thought to give rise to the antigenicity, is located within the C-terminal subdomain of the membrane-bound domain....

We present two novel alleles of the anion-exchanger 1 (AE1) gene, allele Coimbra and allele Mondego. Allele Coimbra (V488M, GTG --> ATG) affects a conserved position in the putative second ectoplasmic loop of erythrocyte band 3. In 15 simple heterozygotes, it yielded a mild form of hereditary spherocytosis (HS) with band 3 deficiency (-20% +/- 2%) and a reduced number of 4,4'-diisothiocyano-1,2...

A thin liquid layer covers the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates. Active ion transport processes via the pulmonary epithelial cells regulate the maintenance of this layer. This study focuses on basolateral Cl(-) uptake mechanisms in native lungs of Xenopus laevis and the involvement of the Na(+)/K(+)/2 Cl(-) cotransporter (NKCC) and HCO(3)(-)/Cl(-) anion exchanger (AE), in particular. Western ...

AIM The hormonally controlled mobilization and release of fatty acids from adipocytes into the circulation is an important physiological process required for energy homeostasis. While uptake of fatty acids by adipocytes has been suggested to be predominantly protein-mediated, it is unclear whether the efflux of fatty acids also requires membrane proteins. METHODS We used fluorescent fatty aci...

Recent R/D advances are presented in this keynote address on wireless and security technologies. To access Internet from mobile devices, the existing public key infrastructure (PKI) must be modified to work with limited wireless network bandwidth and low computing and memory capacity of handheld devices. A complete security chain is needed from smart cards to mobile clients, wireless PKI (WPKI)...

We have previously reported that liver X receptor (LXR) agonist, TO901317, could significantly inhibit hepatic apolipoprotein M (apoM) expression. It has been reported that TO901317 could activate the ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) that mediates cholesterol efflux to the lipid-poor apoAI, which is an essential step for the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) formation. It is unknown if ...

The compartmentalized production of superoxide (*O(2)(-)) by endosomal NADPH oxidase is important in the redox-dependent activation of NF-kappaB following interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta) stimulation. It remains unclear how *O(2)(-) produced within endosomes facilitates redox-dependent signaling events in the cytoplasm. We evaluated *O(2)(-) movement out of IL-1beta-stimulated endosomes and whether...