The Ca2+-permeable cation channel TRPV4, which is part of the Trp family located in the circumventricular organs, is activated by cell swelling. To investigate the role of TRPV4 in osmotic sensation, we disrupted the TRPV4 gene in mice and examined the effect on osmotic metabolism. Disruption of the mouse TRPV4 gene did not influence either water intake behavior or serum osmolality. Short-term ...

Cells must interpret environmental information that often changes over time. In our experiment, we systematically monitored the growth of yeast cells under various frequencies of oscillating osmotic stress. Growth was severely inhibited at a particular resonance frequency, at which cells show hyperactivated transcriptional stress responses. This behavior represents a sensory misperception: The ...

Bacteria use a chemical communication process called quorum sensing to monitor cell density and to alter behavior in response to fluctuations in population numbers. Previous studies with Vibrio harveyi have shown that LuxR, the master quorum-sensing regulator, activates and represses >600 genes. These include six genes that encode homologs of the Escherichia coli Bet and ProU systems for synthe...

Macromol. Biosci. 2002, 2, 207 –213 Full Paper: Calcium ions are introduced to sodium polyacrylate gels swollen in sodium chloride solutions and the volume transition is measured by osmotic and small-angle neutron-scattering. The osmotic pressure is found to depend on the sodium chloride con­ centration, indicating that calcium preferen­ tially replaces condensed sodium ions, a result supported...

Liposomes are widely used as drug delivery systems in different forms including osmotic pumps, infusion and IV injection. In spite of these, there is no data available about their behavior under convective flow (e.g. infusion or osmotic pumps) and upon stagnation in such drug delivery systems. As a part of a series of investigations in this area, the present study investigates the effects of vi...

Abstract Liposomes are used widely as drug delivery systems in different forms including nanosuspensions, osmotic pumps, infusion pumps and IV injections. Some of these systems (e.g. infusion or osmotic pumps) might stay stagnant for a long time during or before administration, and therefore, might face phase separation. In spite of these, there is no data available about the behavior of lipos...

Abstract Liposomes are used widely as drug delivery systems in different forms including nanosuspensions, osmotic pumps, infusion pumps and IV injections. Some of these systems (e.g. infusion or osmotic pumps) might stay stagnant for a long time during or before administration, and therefore, might face phase separation. In spite of these, there is no data available about the behavior of lipos...