Pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (NEB) form innervated cell clusters that express voltage-activated currents and function as airway O(2) sensors. We investigated A-type K(+) currents in NEB cells using neonatal rabbit lung slice preparation. The whole cell K(+) current was slowly inactivating with activation threshold of approximately -30 mV. This current was blocked approximately 27% by blood-...

Recently a putative K' channel with homology to the Shaker family ofpotassium channels has been cloned from human ventricular myocardium. However, proof that the cDNA encodes a K' channel requires appropriate translation and expression of a functional ion-selective channel. Therefore, expression of this putative human K' channel DNA was attempted by cytoplasmic injections of in vitro transcribe...

We have constructed a new series of lentivirus vectors based on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) that can transduce nondividing cells. The U3 region of the 5' long terminal repeat (LTR) in vector constructs was replaced with the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter, resulting in Tat-independent transcription but still maintaining high levels of expression. A self-inactivating (SIN) vector ...

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are toxic N-glycosidases that depurinate the universally conserved alpha-sarcin loop of large rRNAs. This depurination inactivates the ribosome, thereby blocking its further participation in protein synthesis. RIPs are widely distributed among different plant genera and within a variety of different tissues. Recent work has shown that enzymatic activity of ...

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is now becoming a useful model for the study of mitochondrial genetics in a photosynthetic organism. The small (15.8 kb) mitochondrial genome C. reinhardtii has been sequenced completely and all the genes have been identified. Several mutants inactivated in mitochondrial genes encoding components of the respiratory complexes I, III and IV have been characterized at the...

In Na+ channels, recovery from inactivation begins with a delay, followed by an exponential course, and hyperpolarization shortens the delay as well as hastens the entire exponential phase. These findings have been taken to indicate that Na+ channels must deactivate to recover from inactivation, and deactivation facilitates the unbinding of the inactivating particle. In contrast, it is demonstr...

The role of the voltage-gated K+ channels in the effect of some nootropics was investigated. Earlier, the multiple effect of high concentrations of two nootropics, piracetam and its peptide analogue GVS-111 [Seredenin et al. (1995), US Patent No. 5,439,930], on Ca2+ and K+ currents of molluscan neurons was shown [Solntseva et al. (1997), General Pharmacology 29, 85-89]. In the present work, we ...

Neurons become photosensitive by genetically introducing one of green algae-derived protein, channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). Here, we quantitatively investigated the rapidness of the light-gated current of ChR2 expressed in PC12 cells using blue light-emitting diode (LED) light. The light-gated current consists of two components, inactivating and non-inactivating. The magnitude of inactivating compo...

| The von Hippel–Lindau disease is caused by inactivating germline mutations of the VHL tumour suppressor gene and is associated with an increased risk of a variety of tumours in an allele-specific manner. The role of the heterodimeric transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) in the pathogenesis of VHL-defective tumours has been more firmly established during the past 5 years. In add...

Whole cell voltage-clamp techniques were employed to characterize the sodium (Na) conductances in acutely dissociated, mature guinea-pig cerebellar Purkinje cells. Three phenomenological components were noted: two inactivating and a persistent component (I(P)(Na). All exhibited similar sensitivities to tetrodotoxin (TTX; IC50 approximately 3 nM). The inactivating Na current demonstrates two com...