An increase in hydrostatic pressure in the endolymphatic system causes hydrops-related inner ear diseases such as Meniere's disease or low tone sensorineural hearing loss. In the present study, we investigated the effects of pressure exerted on potassium currents in acutely isolated inner hair cells of the guinea-pig cochlea using whole-cell voltage-clamp techniques. By applying negative or pos...

Only part of the beta-adrenergic receptors can undergo functional coupling to the adenylate cyclase regulatory unit. This receptor subpopulation shows an increased affinity for agonists in the presence of Mg2+ and undergoes rapid "inactivation" (locking-in of the agonist) by the alkylating reagent N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of agonists. Several experimental conditions, known to modify the...

In order to simulate the in vivo dissolution of drugs, biorelevant dissolution media (BDM), simulating the gastric or intestinal juices are often employed. For gastric BDM, pH, surface tension and osmolality is simulated, however, viscosity has, to our knowledge not been taken into account. The dissolution rate of a drug compound is influenced by the viscosity of the dissolution medium. In the ...

Morbidity and mortality caused by schistosomiasis are serious public health problems in developing countries. Because praziquantel is the only drug in therapeutic use, the risk of drug resistance is a concern. In the search for new schistosomicidal drugs, we performed a target-based chemogenomics screen of a dataset of 2,114 proteins to identify drugs that are approved for clinical use in human...