PURPOSE To examine the effect of hypertonicity on the induction of the Na(+)-myo-inositol (Na(+)-MI) cotransporter(s) in cultured bovine lens epithelial cells (BLECs). METHODS Na(+)-MI cotransporter 626-bp reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction product amplified from lens cell RNA and aldose reductase (AR) cDNA probes were used to measure respective mRNA content by Northern blot anal...

PURPOSE Cultured bovine lens epithelial cells (BLECs) exposed to sodium hypertonicity respond with an accumulation of intracellular myo-inositol. Using BLECs initially maintained at hypertonicity and reacting to a decrease in medium osmolality, a mechanism for the tonicity-activated release of myo-inositol was recognized. Alternatively, BLECs acclimated to sodium hypertonicity and subsequently ...

Hypertonicity induced by NaCl, but not by urea or mannitol, up-regulates expression of the gamma subunit of Na/K-ATPase in cells of the murine inner medullary collecting duct line (IMCD3) by activation of the Jun kinase 2 (JNK2) pathways. We examined the ionic mediators of the osmosensitive response. An increase in osmolality to 550 milliosmoles per kg of water (mosmol/kgH2O) for 48 h by replac...

Exposure of C. elegans to hypertonic stress-induced water loss causes rapid and widespread cellular protein damage. Survival in hypertonic environments depends critically on the ability of worm cells to detect and degrade misfolded and aggregated proteins. Acclimation of C. elegans to mild hypertonic stress suppresses protein damage and increases survival under more extreme hypertonic condition...

Long-term effects of mannitol hypertonicity on the water and ion contents in the fresh-water alga Hydrodictyon reticulatum were studied. The cells did not behave as osmometers and a closer examination suggested that wall elasticity was related to the medium tonicity and that the rate of sodium extrusion from the cells depended on the wall (turgor) pressure.