Objective: Extracts of Anchomanes difformis (AD) are used in folkloric medicine to treat several diseases and infections. However, their roles in mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening are not known. Material and Methods: The viability of mitochondria isolated from Wistar rat liver used in this experiment, was assessed by monitoring their swel...

The obesity-related 16 kDa peptide leptin is synthesized primarily in white adipocytes although its production has been reported in other tissues including the heart. There is emerging evidence that leptin may contribute to cardiac pathology especially that related to myocardial remodelling and heart failure. In view of the importance of mitochondria to these processes, the goal of the present ...

In CFTR, the chloride ion channel mutated in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, pore opening is coupled to ATP-binding-induced dimerization of two cytosolic nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) and closure to dimer disruption following ATP hydrolysis. CFTR opening rate, unusually slow because of its high-energy transition state, is further slowed by CF mutation ΔF508. Here, we exploit equilibrium gati...

Mitochondria from transgenic mice, expressing enzymatically active mitochondrial creatine kinase in liver, were analyzed for opening of the permeability transition pore in the absence and presence of creatine kinase substrates but with no external adenine nucleotides added. In mitochondria from these transgenic mice, cyclosporin A-inhibited pore opening was delayed by creatine or cyclocreatine ...

Voltage-dependent gating in K(+) channels results from the mechanical coupling of voltage sensor movements to pore opening. We used single and double mutations in the pore of the Shaker K(+) channel to analyze a late concerted pore opening transition and interpreted the results in the context of known K(+) channel structures. Gating sensitive mutations are located at mechanistically informative...

Postconditioning has recently been described as a powerful cardioprotection that prevents lethal reperfusion injury. Growing evidence suggests that mitochondrial permeability transition may be a key event in postconditioning. This proposition arises from the complementary observations that: (1) conditions for the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening are built up during earl...

Nerve signaling in humans and chemical sensing in bacteria both rely on the controlled opening and closing of the ion-conducting pore in pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. With the help of a multiscale simulation approach that combines mixed elastic network model calculations with molecular dynamics simulations, we study the opening and closing of the pore in Gloeobacter violaceus channel GL...

Mitochondria play a fundamental role in the functioning of body but are also responsible for dysfunction, apoptosis, and death, associated with mPTP (mitochondrial permeability transition pore) opening. Despite fact that there many articles on this topic, none them solve problem PTP identification. The opening is elicited by matrix Ca2+ stimulated binding cyclophilin D (CyPD), Pi, elevated conc...

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a biopolymer of phosphoanhydride-linked orthophosphate residues. PolyP is involved in multiple cellular processes including mitochondrial metabolism and cell death. We used artificial membranes and isolated mitochondria to investigate the role of the polyP in mitochondrial ion transport and in activation of PTP. Here, we found that polyP can modify ion permeab...