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Biomedical subjects

J M Tang

Publications and source records attributed to J M Tang.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

A calcium conducting channel akin to a calcium pump.

Calcium conducting channels were studied in blebs of sarcoplasmic reticulum described by Stein & Palade (1988). The calcium channels had at least three conductance states (70 pS, 50 pS and 37 pS) and were weakly selective for calcium ions, with a permeability ratio Ca2+ to K+ of about 3.4. The open probability of the channel was strongly voltage dependent, decreasing at positive membrane voltages. 10 microM ryanodine and 5 microM ruthenium red had no effect on this channel; neither did millimolar concentrations of ATP, Mg2+, caffeine, and Ca2+, implying that the calcium conducting channels are not ryanodine receptors. Several calcium pump inhibitors--namely, vanadate, AlF4-, reactive red 120, and cyclopiazonic acid--had obvious effects on the calcium conducting channels, suggesting that the calcium conducting channel of SR membrane blebs is some form of the SR calcium pump.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Characteristics of antigen-presenting cells involved in contact sensitization of normal and UV-irradiated mice.

Exposure of mice to ultraviolet (UV)-B (280-320 nm) radiation alters their immune response to contact-sensitizing haptens applied to UV-irradiated skin. Under these conditions, the contact-hypersensitivity response is reduced, and hapten-specific suppressor T lymphocytes can be found in the spleen. Considerable evidence suggests that the epidermal Langerhans cell is one of the principal targets of this effect of UV irradiation that leads, ultimately, to suppressor cell formation. We are using a combination of cell-surface markers and light and electron microscopy to determine whether differences can be detected in the antigen-presenting cells involved in contact sensitization of normal and UV-irradiated mice.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Genetic variation and host-parasite relations: Nematospiroides dubius in mice.

Our work deals with aspects of the genetics and immunology of host-parasite relationships as they influence the development of protective immunity and the phenomenon of coevolution. The aim is to understand parasitism through analyses of host specificity. In earlier studies we examined the inheritance of resistances in mice to infections with Nematospiroides dubius (=Heligmosomoides polygyrus) and established the predominant role played by antibodies in protective immunity. Here we report information concerning the selection of lines of N. dubius that differ in their ability to survive antagonistic immunological reactions from mice. Challenge infections with groups of these mice, immunized and protected by previous repeated infections, show that worms selected to survive the immunity that kills other worms do so by inhibiting the effectiveness of the cellular rather than humoral elements of protective immunity.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Evidence that cutaneous antigen-presenting cells migrate to regional lymph nodes during contact sensitization.

These studies address the hypothesis that Ag-bearing epidermal Langerhans cells migrate to the regional lymph node during contact sensitization and function as APC. Skin from C3H mice was grafted onto BALB/c nude mice, and 7 or 14 days later, the recipients were sensitized with FITC through the grafts. APC from lymph nodes draining the site of sensitization were capable of sensitizing C3H recipients to FITC. Because sensitization is MHC restricted, only cells reaching the lymph node from the grafted skin could have induced contact hypersensitivity in C3H mice. Examination of the FITC+ draining lymph node cells by immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated that all were Ia+, most were F4/80+, and some contained Birbeck granules. These studies demonstrate that Ia+, FITC+ cells from the skin, at least some of which are Langerhans cells, leave the skin after epicutaneous sensitization with FITC and participate in the initiation of the contact hypersensitivity response within the regional lymph node.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Perfusing pipettes.

A simple modification of a patch-clamp set-up allows the fluid in a patch pipette to be changed. The time course of the solution exchange is estimated from the time course of change of the reversal potential of the current through an open Ca2+ activated K+ channel: solution exchange takes less than 1 min. Measurements of the power spectrum of noise show that the modified set-up introduces little excess noise below 1 kHz.

Electrophysiology↗
PubMed1989

K+-selective channel from sarcoplasmic reticulum of split lobster muscle fibers.

The patch clamp technique has been used to study channels in a membrane inside a cell. A single muscle fiber is skinned in relaxing saline (high K+, low Ca2+ with EGTA and ATP), leaving the native sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membrane exposed for patching. Fibers are dissected from the second antenna remotor muscles of the American lobster, Homarus americanus. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy confirm the large volume fraction of SR (approximately 70%) and absence of sarcolemma in this unusual skinned preparation. The resting potential of the SR was measured after the resistance of the patch of membrane was broken down. It is near 0 mV (-0.4 +/- 0.6 mV). The average input resistance of the SR is 842 +/- 295 M omega. Some 25% of patches contain a K+-selective channel with a mean open time of seconds and the channel displays at least two conducting states. The open probability is weakly voltage dependent, large at zero and positive potentials (cytoplasm minus SR lumen), and decreasing at negative potentials. The maximal conductance of this channel is 200 +/- 1 pS and the substate conductance is 170 +/- 3 pS in symmetrical 480 mM K+ solution. The current-voltage relation of the open channel is linear over a range of +/- 100 mV. The selectivity is similar to the SR K+ channel of vertebrates: PK/PNa is 3.77 +/- 0.03, determined from reversal potential measurements, whereas gamma K/gamma Na is 3.28 +/- 0.06, determined from open-channel conductance measurements in symmetrical 480 mM solutions. Voltage-dependent block in the lobster SR K+ channel is similar to, but distinct from, that reported for the vertebrate channels. It occurs asymmetrically when hexamethonium is added to both sides of the membrane. The block is more effective from the cytoplasmic side of the channel.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

A cation channel in frog lens epithelia responsive to pressure and calcium.

Patch-clamp recording from the apical surface of the epithelium of frog lens reveals a cation-selective channel after pressure (about +/- 30 mm Hg) is applied to the pipette. The open state of this channel has a conductance of some 50 pS near the resting potential (-56.1 +/- 2.3 mV) when 107 mM NaCl and 10 HEPES (pH 7.3) is outside the channel. The probability of the channel being open depends strongly on pressure but the current-voltage relation of the open state does not. With minimal Ca2+ (55 +/- 2 microM) outside the channel, the current-voltage relation is nonlinear even in symmetrical salt solutions, allowing more current to flow into the cell than out. The channel, in minimal Ca2+ solution, is selective among the monovalent cations in the following sequence K+ greater than Rb+ greater than Cs+ greater than Na+ greater than Li+. The conductance depends monotonically on the mole fraction of K+ when the other ion present is Li+ or Na+. The single-channel current is a saturating function of [K+] when K+ is the permeant ion, for [K+] less than or equal to 214 mM. When [Ca2+] = 2 mM, the current-voltage relation is linearized and the channel cannot distinguish Na+ and K+.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Immunoglobulin G-induced single ionic channels in human alveolar macrophage membranes.

While it is well known that the engagement of IgG Fc receptors on the macrophage surface triggers a number of cellular responses, including particle ingestion, secretion, and respiratory burst activity, the mechanism of signal transmission following ligand binding remains poorly understood. To acquire more data in this area, we studied the electrical properties of the macrophage membrane and its response to oligomeric immunoglobulin G (IgG) using the patch-clamp technique on human alveolar macrophages that were obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage and maintained in short-term tissue culture. The results showed that cell resting potentials, as determined from whole-cell tight seal recordings, increased from -15 mV on the day of plating to -56 mV after the first day in culture and remained stable at this hyperpolarized level. Macrophages revealed an input resistance of 3.3 G omega, independent of age in culture. Extracellular application of heat-aggregated human IgG to cells voltage-clamped at -70 mV resulted in peak inward currents of approximately 470 pA. We identified an IgG-dependent, nonselective channel in both cell-attached and isolated membrane patches, with a unitary conductance of approximately 350 pS and a predominant subconductance level of 235 pS in symmetrical NaCl solutions. Single channel open times were observed to be in the range of seconds and, in addition, were dependent upon membrane voltage. Channel opening involved transitions between a number of kinetic states and subconductance levels. Channel events recorded in cell-attached patches showed characteristic exponential relaxations, which implied a variation in membrane potential as a result of a single ion channel opening. These data suggest that the IgG-dependent nonselective cation channel that we have characterized may provide the link between Fc receptor engagement and subsequent cellular activation.

Adult↗