Vascular stiffening, an early and common characteristic of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), stimulates vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation which reciprocally accelerates the progression CVDs. However, mechanisms by extracellular matrix stiffness accompanying stiffening regulates VSMC remain largely unknown. In present study, we examined role intermediate-conductance Ca2+ -activated ...

ATP-dependent Ca2+ uptake was determined into inside-out basolateral membrane vesicles (BLMV) from intermolt crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) Ca2+-transporting epithelia: gill, hepatopancreas (liver), and antennal gland (kidney). Extravesicular (EV) ATP (5 mM) increased 45Ca2+ uptake (free Ca2+ 5 microM) by fivefold but was abolished by pretreatment with either vanadate or the ionophore A-23187. ...

We have examined the contribution of L-type Ca2+ current ( I Ca) to the activation of contraction in trout atrial myocytes under basal and phosphorylating conditions. The average myocyte length was 197 ± 14 μm, width was 5.5 ± 0.2 μm, and cell capacitance was 36.2 ± 2.2 pF. With 25 μM EGTA in the patch pipette and a stimulation frequency of 0.125 Hz, I Cawas 2.6 ± 0.4 pA/pF and it carried a tot...

Ca2+-free calmodulin was obtained by exhaustively dialyzing 2 mg protein (c = 4 mg/mL) against 1000 volumes of 2 mM EGTA, 50 mM Tris HCl and 150 mM NaCl (pH = 7.4) at 4 °C in a 0.5 mL Pierce Slide-A-LyzerTM Dialysis Cassette (3.5 K MWCO) for 2 days. As the carboxylic groups of EGTA exhibit strong IR bands in the region 1570-1630 cm-1 that overlap with the amide I' band of proteins (1600-1700 cm...

In helically-cut strips of cerebral arteries isolated from dogs and monkeys, the addition of 1 mM iodoacetic acid (IAA) produced contractions during an early period (5 to 10 min) and also a prolonged exposure (50 to 70 min). The early contraction was abolished by exposure to Ca++-free media containing EGTA, and significantly attenuated by treatment with procaine or dantrolene. Verapamil, lidoca...

The mechanism underlying the inflammatory role of TRPA1 in lung epithelial cells (LECs) remains unclear. Here, we show that cigarette smoke extract (CSE) sequentially induced several events in LECs. The Ca(2+) influx was prevented by decreasing extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) with the scavenger N-acetyl-cysteine, removing extracellular Ca(2+) with the chelator EGTA, or treating with...

The calyx of Held, a specialized synaptic terminal in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body, undergoes a series of changes during postnatal development that prepares this synapse for reliable high frequency firing. These changes reduce short-term synaptic depression during tetanic stimulation and thereby prevent action potential failures during a stimulus train. We measured presynaptic membr...

The role of calcium in transducing the signal for interleukin-1 (IL-1) secretion was examined in the MQ-NCSU chicken macrophage cell line. Cells were maintained in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 5% chicken serum and antibiotic-antimycotic solution at 40 C and 5% CO2. The effects of stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), calcium ionophore A23187, or a combination of both on IL-1 secretio...