Cell migration is crucial for processes such as immune defense, wound healing, or the formation of tumor metastases. Typically, migrating cells are polarized within the plane of movement with lamellipodium and cell body representing the front and rear of the cell, respectively. Here, we address the question of whether this polarization also extends to the distribution of ion transporters such a...

Laughery MD, Clifford RJ, Chi Y, Kaplan JH. Selective basolateral localization of overexpressed Na-K-ATPase 1and 2-subunits is disrupted by butryate treatment of MDCK cells. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 292: F1718–F1725, 2007. First published March 6, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00360.2006.—The exclusive basolateral localization of the Na-K-ATPase in kidney epithelium is a critical aspect of nephr...

BACKGROUND The urgent need for cheap and easy-to-use protection against both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases has stimulated considerable interest in the use of surfactants as microbicides, anti-viral, and contraceptive agents in recent years. In the present study we report a systematic in vitro evaluation of the microbicidal, anti-viral and contraceptive potential of cati...

The functional significance of two highly conserved amino acid residues, F316 [putative transmembrane domain (TM)7] and G476 (putative TM11), in the concentrative nucleoside transporter hCNT1 (SLC28A1) was examined by performing site-directed mutagenesis. Conservative mutations at these positions (F316A, F316Y, G476A, and G476L) were generated and expressed in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) c...

Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells are a well characterized epithelial cell line used to study mechanisms of polarized delivery. As glycans on apically expressed proteins have been identified as targeting signals, and crosslinking by the abundant galectin-3 has been implicated in the mechanism of glycan-dependent sorting, we wanted to identify other members of the galectin (Gal) family expr...

BACKGROUND Human infections with avian influenza viruses (AIVs) have frequently raised global concerns of emerging, interspecies-transmissible viruses with pandemic potential. Waterfowl, the predominant reservoir of influenza viruses in nature, harbor precursors of different genetic lineages that have contributed to novel pandemic influenza viruses in the past. METHODS Two duck influenza H5N2...

MDCK cells are widely used to study the differential targeting of membrane transporters to apical and basolateral membrane but its canine origin limited the commercial tools available for the analysis of protein trafficking machinery. Because apical and basolateral membranes are only found in differentiated epithelial cells, genes critical for differential targeting may be specifically up-regul...

The establishment of epithelial cell polarity correlates with the formation of specialized cell-cell junctions and striking changes in the organization of microtubules. A significant fraction of the microtubules in MDCK cells become stabilized, noncentrosomally organized, and arranged in longitudinal bundles in the apical-basal axis. This correlation suggests a functional link between cell-cell...

Cytosolic Ca(2+) controls a wide range of cellular events. The versatility of this second messenger depends on its ability to form diverse spatial and temporal patterns, including waves and oscillations. Ca(2+)-signaling patterns are thought to be determined in part by the subcellular distribution of inositol (1,4,5)-trisphosphate receptors [Ins(1,4,5)P(3)Rs] but little is currently known about...

We have transfected a polarised endothelial cell line, ECV 304, and an epithelial cell line, MDCK, with a well characterised epithelial protein, the rat polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR), in order to study the protein sorting and transcytosis in endothelial cells. The expressed protein was normally processed and the steady state distribution between apical and basolateral surfaces was si...