Inhibition of prostaglandin (PG) production with either nonselective or selective inhibitors of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity can induce or exacerbate salt-sensitive hypertension. This effect has been previously attributed to inhibition of intrinsic renal COX-2 activity and subsequent increase in sodium retention by the kidney. Here, we found that macrophages isolated from kidneys of high-s...

BACKGROUND Altered renal sodium handling has a major pathogenic role in salt-sensitive hypertension. Renal sodium transporters are present in urinary exosomes. We hypothesized that sodium transporters would be excreted into the urine in different amounts in response to sodium intake in salt-sensitive versus salt-resistant patients. METHODS Urinary exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation...

Molecular dynamics simulations of molten KCl have been performed at 1173 K with the molar volumes of 52.0 (the value under ambient pressure), 50.0, 48.0 and 45.0 cm mol 1 . Some thermodynamic properties at higher densities have been evaluated, which are generally in good agreement with the experimentally obtained ones and Monte Carlo results. Both at normal and higher densities, the self-exchan...

Mutations in the WNK4 gene cause pseudohypoaldosteronism type II (PHAII), an autosomal-dominant disorder of hyperkalemia and hypertension. The target molecules of this putative kinase and the molecular mechanisms by which the mutations cause the phenotypes are currently unknown. Although recent reports found that expression of WNK4 in Xenopus oocytes causes inhibition of the thiazide-sensitive ...

A thiazide-sensitive Na-Cl cotransporter contributes importantly to mammalian salt homeostasis by mediating Na-Cl transport along the renal distal tubule. Although it has been accepted that thiazide-sensitive Na-Cl cotransport occurs predominantly along the distal convoluted tubule in rats and mice, sites of expression in the rabbit have been controversial. A commonly accepted model of rabbit d...

Diatoms are an important group of eukaryotic algae with a curious evolutionary innovation: they sheath themselves in a cell wall made largely of silica. The cellular machinery responsible for silicification includes a family of membrane permeases that recognize and actively transport the soluble precursor of biosilica, silicic acid. However, the molecular basis of silicic acid transport remains...

The concept of electrical circuit analysis is extended to include components found in membrane ionic transport systems. As in classical electrical equivalent circuits, resistors and capacitors are used to represent ion channels and the membrane capacitances, respectively; batteries represent energy sources driven by chemical reactions. In the extensions proposed, energy stored in various ionic ...

Eukaryotic neurotransmitter:sodium symporters (NSSs), targets for antidepressants and psychostimulants, terminate neurotransmission by sodium-driven reuptake. The crystal structure of LeuT(Aa), a prokaryotic NSS homolog, revealed an occluded state in which one leucine and two Na(+) ions are bound, but provided limited clues to the molecular mechanism of transport. Using steered molecular dynami...

The Na(+)/proline symporter (PutP), like several other Na(+)-coupled symporters, belongs to the so-called LeuT-fold structural family, which features ten core transmembrane domains (cTMs) connected by extra- and intracellular loops. The role of these loops has been discussed in context with the gating function in the alternating access model of secondary active transport processes. Here we repo...