The free-living eukaryotic protozoan Tetrahymena is a potentially useful model for the thermoadaptive membrane regulation because of easy growth in the axenic culture, systematic isolation of subcellular organelles, and quick response to temperature stress. Exposure of Tetrahymena cells to the cold temperature induces marked alterations in the lipid composition and the physical properties (flui...

The effects of pressure and temperature on an integral membrane protein, Na+/K+-adenosine triphosphatase (Na+/K+-ATPase), were studied in fish gill membrane preparations from shallow- and deep-living marine teleosts. The inhibition by pressure of maximal velocity of the enzyme is nonlinear, increasing at higher pressures. Na+/K+-ATPases from deep-sea fish were less inhibited by pressure than th...

BACKGROUND Cilastatin reduces nephrotoxicity associated with cyclosporin A (CyA) in solid organ and bone marrow transplantation. This appears to be unrelated to changes in renal haemodynamics or CyA metabolism. How cilastatin induces this protection is unclear, but it could result from changes on accumulation of CyA proximal cells. METHODS We investigated the effects of cilastatin on primary ...

Calcium is often used to stabilize membranes and enhance membrane fusion. We have used the fatty acid spin label, 5-nitroxy stearic acid to measure fluidity changes in the plasma membrane of carrot suspension culture cell protoplasts in response to divalent cations. Electron spin resonance spectra from spin-labeled protoplasts showed no membrane fluidity changes (as determined by the hyperfine ...

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a dietary fatty acid frequently used as a body fat reducing agent whose effects upon cell membranes and cellular function remain unknown. Obese Zucker rats were fed atherogenic diets containing saturated fats of vegetable or animal origin with or without 1% CLA, as a mixture of cis(c)9,trans(t)11 and t10,c12 isomers. Plasma membrane vesicles obtained from visce...

The plasma membrane has gained increasing attention as a possible target of antitumor drugs. It has been reported that they act as growth factor antagonists, growth factor receptor blockers, interfere with mitogenic signal transduction or exert direct cytotoxic effects. Chlorambucil (4-[p-(bis[2-chloroethyl]amino)phenyl]butyric acid) is an alkylating agent widely used in the treatment of chroni...

The influence of various concentrations of 15 detergents at different temperatures on the fluidity of membranes was analysed by fluorescence anisotropy of inserted 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5hexatriene in rat cortical and Sf9 cell membranes. Comparison of the obtained data with the abilities of the detergents to solubilize muscarinic receptor subtypes indicated that not only the fluidity of the micelles...