BACKGROUND A period of hypothermia before ischemia (hypothermic preconditioning) induces a delayed phase of ischemic tolerance in rat brain. However, whether hypothermic preconditioning induces an acute phase (within a few hours after the hypothermia) of ischemic tolerance remains unknown. This study was designed to determine the time window of the hypothermic preconditioning-induced acute phas...

Background and Objectives. Neuroprotection agents may help improve the outcomes of large vessel ischemic stroke. This study aims to explore role Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO), with its well-documented anti-oxidant properties, in neuroprotection after transient occlusion extracranial internal carotid artery a rat model stroke.
 Methods. Twenty-three Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into two g...

Mutations in the chloride channel, ClC-5, have been described in several inherited diseases that result in the formation of kidney stones. To determine whether ClC-5 is also involved in calcium homeostasis, we investigated whether ClC-5 mRNA and protein expression are modulated in rats deficient in 1alpha,25(OH)(2) vitamin D(3) with and without thyroparathyroidectomy. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) ...

Olfactory receptor neurons respond to odor stimulation with a receptor potential that results from the successive activation of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-gated, Ca(2+)-permeable channels and Ca(2+)-activated chloride channels. The cAMP-gated channels open at micromolar concentrations of their ligand and are subject to a Ca(2+)-dependent feedback inhibition by calmodulin. Attempts to understand the oper...

Introduction: The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride (Cl−) channel is an essential component of epithelial Cl− transport systems in many organs. CFTR is mainly expressed in the lung and other tissues, such as testis, duodenum, trachea and kidney. The ubiquitin ligase neural precursor cells expressed developmentally down-regulated protein 4-2 (Nedd4-2...

We previously reported that novel protein kinase C (nPKC) epsilon and N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors participated in morphine preconditioning (MP)-induced neuroprotection. In this study, we used Western blot analysis, 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage assay to determine the involvement of conventional PKC isoforms (cPKC) in MP-...

A novel chloride intracellular channel (CLIC) gene, clone mc3s5/mtCLIC, has been identified from differential display analysis of differentiating mouse keratinocytes from p53+/+ and p53-/- mice. The 4.2-kilobase pair cDNA contains an open reading frame of 762 base pairs encoding a 253-amino acid protein with two putative transmembrane domains. mc3s5/mtCLIC protein shares extensive homology with...

ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels regulate insulin release, vascular tone, and neuronal excitability. Whether these channels are modulated by NO, a membrane-permeant messenger in various physiological and pathological processes, is not known. The possibility of NO signaling via K(ATP) channel modulation is of interest because both NO and K(ATP) have been implicated in physiological func...

Calcium channels have been suggested to play a major role in the initiation of a large number of signal transduction processes in higher plant cells. However, molecular components of higher plant Ca2+ channels remain unidentified to date. Calcium channel blockers of the phenylalkylamine family and bepridil specifically inhibit Ca2+ influx into carrot (Daucus carota L.) cells. By using a phenyla...