Although water permeation across cell membranes occurs through several types of membrane proteins, the only permeation mechanism resolved at atomic scale is that through aquaporins. Crystallization of the Vibrio parahaemolyticus sodium-galactose transporter (vSGLT) allows investigation of putative water permeation pathways through both vSGLT and the homologous human Na-glucose cotransporter (hS...

Glutamate transport is coupled to the co-transport of 3 Na(+) and 1 H(+) followed by the counter-transport of 1 K(+). In addition, glutamate and Na(+) binding to glutamate transporters generates an uncoupled anion conductance. The human glial glutamate transporter EAAT1 (excitatory amino acid transporter 1) also allows significant passive and active water transport, which suggests that water pe...

Although sildenafil citrate (SC) is used extensively for erectile dysfunction, oral delivery of SC encounters many obstacles. Furthermore, the physicochemical characteristics of this amphoteric drug are challenging for delivery system formulation and transdermal permeation. This article concerns the assessment of the potential of nanomedicine for improving SC delivery and transdermal permeation...

Objective(s) Physiological changes in the body may be utilized as potential triggers for controlled drug delivery. Based on these mechanisms, stimulus-responsive drug delivery has been developed. Materials and Methods In this study, a kind of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide-acrylamide) membrane was prepared by radical copolymerization. Changes in swelling ratios and diameters of the membrane wer...

The present work reports on the synthesis of cellulose acetate (CA) asymmetric membranes with the incorporation of inorganic fluorides, CaF2 particles. These fillers of polymeric composites can, according to the literature, promote the ordering of the polymer matrix, which can lead to interesting permeation properties. In order to achieve that, fluorite (CaF2 ) fine particles were prepared by a...

Among aquaglyceroporins that transport both water and glycerol across the cell membrane, Escherichia coli glycerol uptake facilitator (GlpF) is the most thoroughly studied. However, one question remains: Does glycerol modulate water permeation? This study answers this fundamental question by determining the three-dimensional potential of mean force of glycerol along the permeation path through ...