BACKGROUND Recently, nitric oxide (NO) donors have been developed that mimic the physiological intracellular release of NO. We evaluated whether one of these new compounds, consisting of aspirin coupled to an NO-releasing moiety (NCX 4016), would protect limbs from supervening arterial occlusion. METHODS AND RESULTS Mice were assigned to receive regular chow or chow containing NCX 4016 or asp...

Background and Purpose—A prominent feature of cerebral ischemia is the excessive intracellular accumulation of both Na and Ca ions, which results in subsequent cell death. The plasma membrane Na /Ca exchanger (NCX), regulates the distribution of these ions acting either in the forward mode or in its reverse mode and it can play a critical role in brain ischemia. However, it is unclear whether t...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A prominent feature of cerebral ischemia is the excessive intracellular accumulation of both Na(+) and Ca(2+) ions, which results in subsequent cell death. The plasma membrane Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX), regulates the distribution of these ions acting either in the forward mode or in its reverse mode and it can play a critical role in brain ischemia. However, it is uncl...

Becker S, Moir LM, Snetkov VA, Aaronson PI. Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in intact rat intrapulmonary arteries is not initiated by inhibition of Na -Ca exchange. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 293: L982–L990, 2007. First published July 6, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00361.2006.—It has been proposed that a hypoxia-induced inhibition of the Na -Ca exchanger (NCX) contributes to hypoxic pu...

The cardiac Na-Ca exchanger (NCX) serves as the main calcium extrusion mechanism in heart muscle and is important in maintaining intracellular calcium homeostasis. The accumulations of NCX RNA and protein are known to be regulated in cardiac hypertrophy, by thyroid hormone and during postnatal development. In this study the temporal and spatial patterns of NCX mRNA and protein accumulations wer...

In mammalian adult cardiomyocytes, sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA) plays a major role in controlling the decline of cytosolic free Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) in comparison with sarcolemmal Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX). However, the functional importance of SERCA and NCX in cytosolic Ca(2+) removal during early cardiomyogenesis is still debated. In this study, the funct...

Fluctuations of cytosolic Ca 2+ concentration in astrocytes are regarded as a critical non-neuronal signal to regulate neuronal functions. Although such fluctuations can be evoked by activity, rhythmic astrocytic oscillations may also spontaneously arise. Experimental studies hint that these spontaneous lie behind different kinds emerging synchronized activities, like epileptogenic bursts or sl...

Substantial evidence has been accumulated which suggests that opioid delta receptors may be distinguished on the basis of their involvement in the modulation (i.e., increase or decrease in potency) of mu-mediated antinociception. On this basis, it has been hypothesized that some opioid delta receptors exist within a functional complex with mu receptors (delta complexed (delta cx) receptors) whi...

The activity of the plasmalemmal Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX) is highly sensitive to temperature. We took advantage of this fact to explore here the effects of the NCX blocker KB-R7943 (KBR) at 22 and 37°C on the kinetics of Ca(2+) currents (ICa), cytosolic Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)]c) transients, and catecholamine release from bovine chromaffin cells (BCCs) stimulated with high K(+), caffeine, or histam...

The sodium calcium exchange (NCX) was first discovered in cardiac muscle1 and squid axon2 and has since been found in most cell types (see reviews3,4). It accounts for the previously observed effects of sodium on cardiac contractility.5 The exchanger transports 3 Na ions per Ca .6–8 This stoichiometry has three important consequences.1 Ca fluxes and hence intracellular Ca concentration ([Ca ]i)...