Synthesis of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine from the exogenously provided precursor choline or glycine betaine aldehyde confers considerable osmotic stress tolerance to Bacillus subtilis in high-osmolarity media. Using an Escherichia coli mutant (betBA) defective in the glycine betaine synthesis enzymes, we cloned by functional complementation the genes that are required for the synthesis o...

While the relationship between intraocular pressure and plasma osmolarity has been investigated during hemodialysis, no research has been published concerning the relationship between intraocular pressure and plasma colloid osmotic pressure during hemodialysis. We describe a patient with neovascular glaucoma who demonstrated a marked decrease in intraocular pressure during hemodialysis. The pat...

Iodinated contrast media (iodinated CM) have increased ability to absorb x-rays and to visualize structures that normally are impossible to observe in a radiological examination. The use of iodinated CM may destory renal function, commonly known as contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), which can result in acute renal failure (ARF). This review article mainly focuses on the following areas: (1) cl...

The capacity of organisms to respond to fluctuations in their osmotic environments is an important physiological process that determines their abilities to thrive in a variety of habitats. The primary response of bacteria to exposure to a high osmotic environment is the accumulation of certain solutes, K+, glutamate, trehalose, proline, and glycinebetaine, at concentrations that are proportiona...

It has recently been shown that a red blood cell (RBC) can be used as optically driven motor. The mechanism for rotation is however not fully understood. While the dependence on osmolarity of the buffer led us to conclude that the osmolarity dependent changes in shape of the cell are responsible for the observed rotation, role of ion gradients and folding of RBC to a rod shape has been invoked ...

Two general strategies exist for the growth and survival of prokaryotes in environments of elevated osmolarity. The 'salt in cytoplasm' approach, which requires extensive structural modifications, is restricted mainly to members of the Halobacteriaceae. All other species have convergently evolved to cope with environments of elevated osmolarity by the accumulation of a restricted range of low m...

Electrophoretic analysis of outer membrane proteins showed that Salmonella typhi OmpC expression is not reciprocally regulated relative to OmpF as described for Escherichia coli and S. typhimurium. When bacteria were grown in minimal media, both OmpC and OmpF were repressed as the osmolarity increased. However, in Luria broth, expression of OmpC was slightly induced by osmolarity up to 0.3 osmM...

Tissue-specific microenvironments shape the fate of mononuclear phagocytes [1-3]. Interstitial osmolarity is a tissue biophysical parameter which considerably modulates the phenotype and function of dendritic cells [4]. In the present report we provide a detailed description of our experimental workflow and bioinformatic analysis applied to our gene expression dataset (GSE72174), aiming to inve...

The effect of a continuous 110-km march with a 20-kg backpack load on intraocular pressure (IOP), plasma osmolarity, blood lactate, pH, and other related laboratory parameters was studied in 22 healthy young volunteers. Intraocular pressure decreased significantly at all marching intervals and returned to baseline level 3 hr after the completion of marching. The maximal average reduction during...

Dictyostelium cells express a G-protein-coupled adenylyl cyclase, ACA, during aggregation and an atypical adenylyl cyclase, ACG, in mature spores. The ACG gene was disrupted by homologous recombination. acg- cells developed into normal fruiting bodies with viable spores, but spore germination was no longer inhibited by high osmolarity, a fairly universal constraint for spore and seed germinatio...