One of the major abiotic stresses affecting agriculture is soil salinity, which reduces crop yield and, consequently, revenue for farmers. Although tomato is an important agricultural species, elite varieties are poor at withstanding salinity stress. Thus, a feasible way of improving yield under conditions of salinity stress is to breed for improved salt tolerance. In this study, we analysed th...

In Sprague Dawley rats, 2-week angiotensin II (AngII) infusion increases Na(+) transporter abundance and activation from cortical thick ascending loop of Henle (TALH) to medullary collecting duct (CD) and raises blood pressure associated with a pressure natriuresis, accompanied by depressed Na(+) transporter abundance and activation from proximal tubule (PT) through medullary TALH. This study t...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with mucosal T cell activation and diarrhea. We found that T cell activation with anti-CD3 mAb induces profound diarrhea in mice. Diarrhea was quantified by intestinal weight-to-length (wt/l) ratios, mucosal Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase activity was determined and ion transport changes were measured in Ussing chambers. Anti-CD3 mAb increased jejunal wt/l rati...

Synthesis and activity of the enzymatic equivalent of the sodium pump, Na,K-ATPase, are regulated by thyroid hormone in responsive tissues. The purpose of this study was to determine whether triiodothyronine (T3) regulates the level of the messenger RNA (mRNA) coding for Na,K-ATPase alpha- and beta-subunits in the heart. The expression of Na,K-ATPase mRNAs in in vitro myocardial cells was direc...

Optimal growth of euhalophytes requires moderate concentrations of salt and, in dicotyledons, is associated with succulence and accumulation of Na(+) in plant tissues. However, reports of salt-stimulated growth in monocotyledons are rare. Relative growth rate (RGR), biomass accumulation, and water content were studied in Sporobolus virginicus (Poaceae), a C(4) chloridoid grass, grown hydroponic...

  In a three-year (2004-2006), field experiment, we aimed to study changes in leaf physiological traits (leaf water potential-Ψleaf, leaf water content-LWC, carbon isotope discrimination-Δ, specific leaf area-SLA, chlorophyll content as assessed by SPAD and modified SPAD-MSPAD) and elemental composition (K, Na, Ca, Mg, K/Na, Ca/Mg, total leaf salinity-TLS) of sugar beets (cv. Rizor) grown unde...

Recent evidence suggested that Na can be stored in an osmotically inactive form. We investigated whether osmotically inactive Na storage is reduced in a rat model of salt-sensitive (SS) hypertension. SS and salt-resistant (SR) Dahl-Rapp rats as well as Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed a high (8%)- or low (0.1%)-NaCl diet for 4 wk (n = 10/group). Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was measured at the...

BACKGROUND Ventricular fibrillation has deleterious metabolic and functional consequences for the heart. This study had two purposes: first, to define the effects of ventricular fibrillation during hypoxia on energy metabolism and accumulation of intracellular Na+ and, second, to test whether the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation can be predicted from functional or metabolic parameters. ...

Soil salinity affects large areas of cultivated land, causing significant reductions in crop yield globally. The Na+ toxicity of many crop plants is correlated with overaccumulation of Na+ in the shoot. We have previously suggested that the engineering of Na+ exclusion from the shoot could be achieved through an alteration of plasma membrane Na+ transport processes in the root, if these alterat...

There are considerable data to support the general hypothesis that accumulation of [Na]i during ischemia and early reperfusion leads, via Na/Ca exchange, to elevated [Ca]i, resulting in myocardial damage.1–10 Despite the strong support for the general aspects of this hypothesis, there is controversy regarding some details that have important implications for the design of therapeutic interventi...