Retinal capillary pericytes are believed to have a contractile function and to regulate retinal blood flow at the microvascular level. Membrane potential is an important control element for contractility in smooth muscle cells. In the present study, bovine retinal capillary pericytes have been grown in tissue culture and membrane potentials have been measured using glass microelectrodes. Restin...

PURPOSE To determine the stoichiometry of Na+,K+,Cl- cotransport in fetal human nonpigmented ciliary epithelial cells and the effect of forskolin, an adenylyl cyclase activator, on Na+,K+,Cl- cotransport. METHODS 86Rb+ as a marker for K+ was used to study ouabain-insensitive, bumetanide-sensitive 86Rb+ uptake in cultured human nonpigmented epithelial (NPE) monolayers. RESULTS The dependence...

Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis was applied on human intraoperative biopsy materials of different thyroid tumors. To ensure suitability of these tissue pieces for quantitative microanalysis in freeze-fractured, freeze-dried bulk specimens, sampling was carried out with strictly defined criteria. Benign adenomas and differentiated and anaplastic carcinomas were selected for the studies on ...

Aldosterone upregulates the Na(+)-K(+) pump in kidney and colon, classical target organs for the hormone. An effect on pump function in the heart is not firmly established. Because the myocardium contains mineralocorticoid receptors, we examined whether aldosterone has an effect on Na(+)-K(+) pump function in cardiac myocytes. Myocytes were isolated from rabbits given aldosterone via osmotic mi...

Using radio-tracers, we measured Na(+) and K(+) accumulation in roots and transport to shoots in Zea mays (cv Pioneer 3906) as a function of NaCl concentration and O(2) partial pressure in the nutrient solution. Under fully aerobic conditions, roots partially excluded Na(+) from the shoots over a wide range of NaCl concentration (0.2-200 millimolar). With root anoxia, the exclusion mechanism br...

To determine the relative salt tolerance and/or resistance in seedlings of pistachio genotypes, four pot experimentswere conducted. In experiments 1 and 2, the effects of salinity on growth indices were studid. Experiments were donein the form of split plot based on RCBD. In each experiment, mainplots consisted of different electrical conductivitiesof irrigation water (ECiws). In experiment 1, ...

The phosphorylated intermediate (EP) of the Na,K-ATPase proteoliposomes (PL) prepared from the electric eel enzyme is composed of an ADP-sensitive K+-insensitive form (E1P), an ADP- and K+-sensitive form (E*P), and a K+-sensitive ADP-insensitive form (E2P). The composition of the intermediate varied with the cholesterol content of the lipid bilayer. The PL containing less than 30 mol % choleste...