Neurotransmitter:sodium symporters (NSSs) play a critical role in signaling by reuptake of neurotransmitters. Eukaryotic NSSs are chloride-dependent, whereas prokaryotic NSS homologs like LeuT are chloride-independent but contain an acidic residue (Glu290 in LeuT) at a site where eukaryotic NSSs have a serine. The LeuT-E290S mutant displays chloride-dependent activity. We show that, in LeuT-E29...

introduction: linguatula serrata is a zoonotic parasite, belonging to the class pentastomida. the major aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of sodium chloride (nacl) and heat on survival time of linguatula serrata nymphs. materials & methods: thirty nymphs (10 in triplicate) were separately transferred to plastic tubes, containing different concentrations of nacl solution (2%, 5% and 1...

3D mesostructured AgCl-KCl photonic crystals emerge from colloidal templating of eutectic solidification. Solvent removal of the KCl phase results in a mesostructured AgCl inverse opal. The 3D-template-induced confinement leads to the emergence of a complex microstructure. The 3D mesostructured eutectic photonic crystals have a large stop band ranging from the near-infrared to the visible tuned...

Densities in molten KCl, RbCI, T1C1, KC1-T1C1 and RbCl -TlCl at various temperatures (t °C) were measured to within ±0.1% by iridium pyknometry. For the pure melts the results fit empirical equations of the form Q=a—bt . The molar volumes at the melting points were derived and tested against other melting-point data for thermodynamic consistency. In the mixtures the volumes deviate from additiv...

Mammalian colonic epithelia consist of cells that are capable of both absorbing and secreting Cl-. The present studies employing Ussing chamber technique identified two opposing short-circuit current (Isc) responses to basolateral bumetanide in rat distal colon. Apart from the transepithelial Cl--secretory Isc in early distal colon that was inhibited by bumetanide, bumetanide also stimulated Is...

Neurotransmitter-sodium symporters (NSS), targets for psychostimulants and therapeutic drugs, have a critical role in neurotransmission. Whereas eukaryotic NSS show chloride-dependent transport, bacterial NSS feature Cl(-)-independent substrate transport. Recently we showed that mutation of an acidic residue near one of the sodium ion-binding sites in LeuT of Aquifex aeolicus or Tyt1 of Fusobac...

Bacterial sugar symporters in the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) use the H+ (and in a few cases Na+) electrochemical gradients to achieve active transport of sugar into the cell. Because a number of structures of MFS sugar symporters have been solved recently, molecular insight into the transport mechanism is possible from detailed functional analysis. We present here a comparative electro...

Sickle cell disease (SCD) in patients of HbSC genotype is considered similar, albeit milder, to that in homozygous HbSS individuals--but with little justification. In SCD, elevated red cell cation permeability is critical as increased solute loss causes dehydration and encourages sickling. Recently, we showed that the KCl cotransporter (KCC) activity in red cells from HbSC patients correlated s...

Cervical cancer is a major world health problem for women, but the pathophysiology of this disease has received scant attention. Here we show that the growth and invasion of cervical cancer cells are strongly linked the expression and activity of the KCl cotransporter (KCC), an important regulator of the ionic and cellular osmotic homeostasis. Functional assays of KCl cotransport activation by ...