The enteric nervous system (ENS) is mainly derived from vagal neural crest cells (NCC) that arise at the level of somites 1-7. To understand how the size and composition of the NCC progenitor pool affects ENS development, we reduced the number of NCC by ablating the neural tube adjacent to somites 3-6 to produce aganglionic gut. We then back-transplanted various somite lengths of quail neural t...

A simple graph G has the neighbour-closed-co-neighbour property, or ncc property, if for all vertices x of G, the subgraph induced by the set of neighbours of x is isomorphic to the subgraph induced by the set of non-neighbours of x. We present characterizations of graphs with the ncc property via the existence of certain perfect matchings, and thereby prove that the ncc graphs can be recognize...

The activity of the renal thiazide-sensitive NaCl cotransporter (NCC) in the distal convoluted tubule plays a key role in defining arterial blood pressure levels. Increased or decreased activity of the NCC is associated with arterial hypertension or hypotension, respectively. Thus it is of major interest to understand the activity of NCC using in vivo models. Phosphorylation of certain residues...

Neural crest cells (NCC) are multipotent progenitors that migrate extensively throughout the developing embryo and generate a diverse range of cell types. Vagal NCC migrate from the hindbrain into the foregut and from there along the gastrointestinal tract to form the enteric nervous system (ENS), the intrinsic innervation of the gut, and into the developing lung buds to form the intrinsic inne...

The distal convoluted tubule (DCT) Na+-Cl(-) cotransporter (NCC), the target of thiazide diuretics, is responsible for the reabsorption of 5-10% of filtered NaCl. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that acute infusion of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril (at 12 microg/min) for 20 min provokes trafficking of NCC from apical plasma membranes (APM) to subapi...

Pregnancy is characterized by plasma volume expansion due to Na(+) retention, driven by aldosterone. The aldosterone-responsive epithelial Na(+) channel is activated in the kidney in pregnancy. In the present study, we investigated the aldosterone-responsive Na(+)-Cl(-) cotransporter (NCC) in mid- and late pregnant rats compared with virgin rats. We determined the abundance of total NCC, phosph...

Mutations in the kinase WNK4 cause pseudohypoaldosteronism type II (PHAII), a syndrome featuring hypertension and high serum K(+) levels (hyperkalemia). WNK4 has distinct functional states that regulate the balance between renal salt reabsorption and K(+) secretion by modulating the activities of renal transporters and channels, including the Na-Cl cotransporter NCC and the K(+) channel ROMK. W...

The curing behavior of lignin-based phenol-formaldehyde (LPF) resin with different contents of nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC) was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at different heating rates (5, 10 and 20 ̊C/min) and the bonding property was evaluated by the wet shear strength and wood failure of two-ply plywood panels after soaking in water (48 hours at room temperature and f...

The Na-Cl cotransporter (NCC) in the distal convoluted tubules in kidney is known to be excreted in urine. However, its clinical significance has not been established because of the lack of quantitative data on urinary NCC. We developed highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for urinary total NCC (tNCC) and its active form, phosphorylated NCC (pNCC). We first measured the ...

Pseudohypoaldosteronism type II (PHAII) is an autosomal dominant disorder of hyperkalemia and hypertension. Mutations in two members of the WNK kinase family, WNK1 and WNK4, cause the disease. WNK1 mutations are believed to increase WNK1 expression; the effect of WNK4 mutations remains unknown. The clinical phenotype of PHAII is opposite to Gitelman syndrome, a disease caused by dysfunction of ...