The calcium permeability of the mouse muscle nicotinic ACh receptor (nAChR) was determined using patch-clamp techniques. Single-channel currents were measured in pure external calcium and in mixtures of calcium with cesium or sodium. At low concentrations, calcium decreases the current carried by the monovalent cation. At higher concentrations, calcium displaces the monovalent cation as the mai...

Excitotoxic neuronal injury is known to be associated with increases in cytosolic calcium ion concentrations. However, it is not known if perturbations in other intracellular ions are also associated with glutamate (GLU)-induced neuronal death. Accordingly, intracellular hydrogen ion concentrations were measured in cultured hippocampal neurons with the fluorescent dye BCECF during and after tox...

The effects of calcium ion on the Na+ activation gate were studied in squid giant axons. Saxitoxin (STX) was used to block ion entry into Na+ channels without hindering access to the membrane surface, making it possible to distinguish surface effects of calcium from pore-occupancy effects. In the presence of STX, gating kinetics were measured from gating current (Ig). The kinetic effects of ext...

Local anesthetics (LA) have been found to interact with phospholipids and lipids extracted from nerve and muscle. This reaction is demonstrated by: (a) Inhibition by LA of phospholipid (and tissue lipid) facilitated transport of calcium from a methanol: water phase into chloroform. This action is dependent upon the cationic form of the LA. (b) LA increase the electrical resistance of "membranes...

The physical association of regulatory enzymes and ion channels at relevant intracellular sites contributes to the diversity and specificity of second messenger-mediated signal transduction in cells. mAKAP is a scaffolding protein that targets the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A and phosphodiesterase type 4D3 to the nuclear envelope of differentiated cardiac myocytes. Here we present data that ...

Previous results in this laboratory indicate that protamine sulfate (PS) evokes dose-dependent relaxation of both spontaneous and calcium ion-induced uterus activity mediated predominantly by potassium channels and, to a small extent, via β-adrenergic receptors or nitric oxide (NO)-dependent pathways. Indometacin is a nonselective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase (COX 1 and COX 2) that has the abili...

Soybean globulins were deamidated after removing phytate using ion-exchange resins, and then hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes. The phytate-removed deamidated soybean globulins (PrDS) retained high calcium-binding ability even after the hydrolysis by digestive enzymes. PrDS and its hydrolysates enhanced calcium absorption from the small intestine when injected into the small intestine together wi...

Using hydrothermal synthesis process a series of Mobil Five (MFI) zeolites were synthesized with silica to alumina ratio (SAR) of 50, 100 and 200. The synthesized MFI zeolites were used to exchange with 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% Ca(NO3)2 solutions for modification of MFI zeolites to Ca-MFI zeolite. The formation of MFI zeolite phases was identified by XRD and FT-IR analysis. TGA...

When skeletal muscle is stretched or injured, satellite cells, resident myogenic stem cells positioned beneath the basal lamina of mature muscle fibers, are activated to enter the cell cycle. This signaling pathway is a cascade of events including calcium-calmodulin formation, nitric oxide (NO) radical production by NO synthase, matrix metalloproteinase activation, release of hepatocyte growth ...