PubMed · 1094586
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A Haaland. 1975. Organometallic compounds studied by gas-phase electron diffraction.. https://doi.org/10.1007/bfb0045409
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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease characterized, in part, by defective regulation of Cl- secretion by airway epithelial cells. In CF, cAMP does not activate Cl- channels in the apical membrane of airway epithelial cells. We report here whole-cell patch-clamp studies demonstrating that pertussis toxin, which uncouples heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins (G proteins) from their receptors, and guanosine 5'-[beta-thio]diphosphate, which prevents G proteins from interacting with their effectors, increase Cl- currents and restore cAMP-activated Cl- currents in airway epithelial cells isolated from CF patients. In contrast, the G protein activators guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate and AlF4- reduce Cl- currents and inhibit cAMP from activating Cl- currents in normal airway epithelial cells. In CF cells treated with pertussis toxin or guanosine 5'-[beta-thio]diphosphate and in normal cells, cAMP activates a Cl- conductance that has properties similar to CF transmembrane-conductance regulator Cl- channels. We conclude that heterotrimeric G proteins inhibit cAMP-activated Cl- currents in airway epithelial cells and that modulation of the inhibitory G protein signaling pathway may have the therapeutic potential for improving cAMP-activated Cl- secretion in CF.
Aluminium is a serious environmental toxicant and is inimical to biota. Omnipresent, it is linked with a number of disorders in man including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's dementia and osteomalacia. Evidence supporting aluminium as an aetiological agent in such disorders is not conclusive and suffers principally from a lack of consensus with respect to aluminium's toxic mode of action. Obligatory to the elucidation of toxic mechanisms is an understanding of the biological availability of aluminium. This describes the fate of and response to aluminium in any biological system and is thus an important influence of the toxicity of aluminium. A general theme in much aluminium toxicity is an accelerated cell death. Herein mechanisms are described to account for cell death from both acute and chronic aluminium challenges. Aluminium associations with both extracellular surfaces and intracellular ligands are implicated. The cellular response to aluminium is found to be biphasic having both stimulatory and inhibitory components. In either case the disruption of second messenger systems is observed and GTPase cycles are potential target sites. Specific ligands for aluminium at these sites are unknown though are likely to be proteins upon which oxygen-based functional groups are orientated to give exceptionally strong binding with the free aluminium ion.
Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases are regarded as switch kinases in the phosphorylation cascade initiated by various agonists. We have investigated whether endothelins (ET), which are constrictor and mitogenic isopeptides, can increase MAP kinase activity in rat mesangial cells, using bovine myelin basic protein (MBP) as a substrate for an in vitro kinase assay. Treatment of quiescent mesangial cells with ET-1 rapidly stimulated a kinase activity which phosphorylated exogenous MBP. This stimulation was dose-dependent, with threshold responses at 1 nM-ET-1. Epidermal growth factor and thrombin also activated this kinase in mesangial cells. We also examined the ET signal transduction pathways leading to activation of MBP kinase. Pertussis toxin had no effect on ET-stimulated MBP kinase activity. Stimulation of protein kinase C by phorbol ester increased MBP kinase activity, and down-regulation of PKC partially inhibited ET-stimulated MBP kinase as well as phorbol ester-stimulated MBP kinase activity. Interestingly, genestein, an inhibitor of protein tyrosine kinases, partially inhibited MBP kinase stimulated by ET but not by phorbol esters. These results suggest that ET stimulates MBP kinase activity in rat mesangial cells via at least two pathways: one which is protein kinase C-dependent and a second one that involves a protein tyrosine kinase. Finally, by raising rabbit antibodies against the two forms of MAP kinase, p44mapk and p42mapk, we demonstrated that both isoforms are expressed in mesangial cells. Antibody alpha 1 Cp42 specifically immunoprecipitated p42mapk and allowed us to demonstrate that ET stimulates MBP kinase activity in the p42mapk immunocomplex. In conclusion, we have provided evidence that, in rat mesangial cells, MAP kinases are rapidly activated by ET-1, a regulatory process that involves at least protein kinase C activation and also a contribution of a tyrosine kinase not yet characterized.