scholarly journals Polyphenols as Modulators of Aquaporin Family in Health and Disease

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Fiorentini ◽  
Laura Zambonin ◽  
Francesco Vieceli Dalla Sega ◽  
Silvana Hrelia
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Skin Diseases ◽  
Water Channel ◽  
Bioactive Molecules ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Major Function ◽  
Cell Plasma ◽  
Original Analysis ◽  
Health And Disease

Polyphenols are bioactive molecules widely distributed in fruits, vegetables, cereals, and beverages. Polyphenols in food sources are extensively studied for their role in the maintenance of human health and in the protection against development of chronic/degenerative diseases. Polyphenols act mainly as antioxidant molecules, protecting cell constituents against oxidative damage. The enormous number of polyphenolic compounds leads to huge different mechanisms of action not fully understood. Recently, some evidence is emerging about the role of polyphenols, such as curcumin, pinocembrin, resveratrol, and quercetin, in modulating the activity of some aquaporin (AQP) isoforms. AQPs are integral, small hydrophobic water channel proteins, extensively expressed in many organs and tissues, whose major function is to facilitate the transport of water or glycerol over cell plasma membranes. Here we summarize AQP physiological functions and report emerging evidence on the implication of these proteins in a number of pathophysiological processes. In particular, this review offers an overview about the role of AQPs in brain, eye, skin diseases, and metabolic syndrome, focusing on the ability of polyphenols to modulate AQP expression. This original analysis can contribute to elucidating some peculiar effects exerted by polyphenols and can lead to the development of an innovative potential preventive/therapeutic strategy.

scholarly journals Aquaporin Expression in Normal and Pathological Skeletal Muscles: A Brief Review with Focus on AQP4

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Wakayama
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscles ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Water Channel ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Molecular Architecture ◽  
Aqp4 Expression ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Freeze Fracture Electron Microscopy ◽  
Fast Twitch

Freeze-fracture electron microscopy enabled us to observe the molecular architecture of the biological membranes. We were studying the myofiber plasma membranes of health and disease by using this technique and were interested in the special assembly called orthogonal arrays (OAs). OAs were present in normal myofiber plasma membranes and were especially numerous in fast twitch type 2 myofibers; while OAs were lost from sarcolemmal plasma membranes of severely affected muscles with dystrophinopathy and dysferlinopathy but not with caveolinopathy. In the mid nineties of the last century, the OAs turned out to be a water channel named aquaporin 4 (AQP4). Since this discovery, several groups of investigators have been studying AQP4 expression in diseased muscles. This review summarizes the papers which describe the expression of OAs, AQP4, and other AQPs at the sarcolemma of healthy and diseased muscle and discusses the possible role of AQPs, especially that of AQP4, in normal and pathological skeletal muscles.

scholarly journals Presynaptic AMPA Receptors in Health and Disease

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2260
Author(s):  
Letizia Zanetti ◽  
Maria Regoni ◽  
Elena Ratti ◽  
Flavia Valtorta ◽  
Jenny Sassone
Keyword(s):  
Ampa Receptors ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Actin Dynamics ◽  
Axonal Pathology ◽  
Pathological Conditions ◽  
Pain Transmission ◽  
Pharmacological Targets ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Excitatory Neurotransmission

AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are ionotropic glutamate receptors that play a major role in excitatory neurotransmission. AMPARs are located at both presynaptic and postsynaptic plasma membranes. A huge number of studies investigated the role of postsynaptic AMPARs in the normal and abnormal functioning of the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). These studies highlighted that changes in the functional properties or abundance of postsynaptic AMPARs are major mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity phenomena, providing molecular explanations for the processes of learning and memory. Conversely, the role of AMPARs at presynaptic terminals is as yet poorly clarified. Accruing evidence demonstrates that presynaptic AMPARs can modulate the release of various neurotransmitters. Recent studies also suggest that presynaptic AMPARs may possess double ionotropic-metabotropic features and that they are involved in the local regulation of actin dynamics in both dendritic and axonal compartments. In addition, evidence suggests a key role of presynaptic AMPARs in axonal pathology, in regulation of pain transmission and in the physiology of the auditory system. Thus, it appears that presynaptic AMPARs play an important modulatory role in nerve terminal activity, making them attractive as novel pharmacological targets for a variety of pathological conditions.

scholarly journals The role of vitamins and minerals in modulating the expression of microRNA

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma L. Beckett ◽  
Zoe Yates ◽  
Martin Veysey ◽  
Konsta Duesing ◽  
Mark Lucock
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Transcriptional Level ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Regulatory Circuit ◽  
Non Coding Rna ◽  
Epigenetic Machinery ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Expression Potential

A growing number of studies in recent years have highlighted the importance of molecular nutrition as a potential determinant of health and disease. In particular, the ability of micronutrients to regulate the final expression of gene products via modulation of transcription and translation is now being recognised. Modulation of microRNA (miRNA) by nutrients is one pathway by which nutrition may mediate gene expression. miRNA, a class of non-coding RNA, can directly regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. In addition, miRNA are able to indirectly influence gene expression potential at the transcriptional level via modulation of the function of components of the epigenetic machinery (DNA methylation and histone modifications). These mechanisms interact to form a complex, bi-directional regulatory circuit modulating gene expression. Disease-specific miRNA profiles have been identified in multiple disease states, including those with known dietary risk factors. Therefore, the role that nutritional components, in particular, vitamins and minerals, play in the modulation of miRNA profiles, and consequently health and disease, is increasingly being investigated, and as such is a timely subject for review. The recently posited potential for viable exogenous miRNA to enter human blood circulation from food sources adds another interesting dimension to the potential for dietary miRNA to contribute to gene modulation.

The Role of the Golgi Apparatus in Mammalian Cell Secretion

1981 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 520-523
Author(s):  
Becca Fleischer
Keyword(s):  
Golgi Apparatus ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Sole Source ◽  
Cell Secretion ◽  
Cell Organelles ◽  
Major Function ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
Secretory Products

A major function of the Golgi apparatus of mammalian cells is the transport and modification of secretory products of the cell. These include proteins, glycoproteins, glycolipids, and lipoproteins. Our approach to understanding the role of the Golgi apparatus has been to isolate fractions rich in Golgi apparatus from mammalian tissues and to determine directly what secretory products and enzymic activities are present in these fractions compared to other purified cell components such as plasma membranes, mitochondria, nuclei, and endoplasmic reticulum. In order to accomplish this, we developed methods for this isolation of Golgi apparatus from liver, since methods for the isolation of the other organelles of this tissue were already well developed and liver is the sole source of most of the proteins and glycoproteins secreted into serum. We then applied these techniques with appropriate modification to isolate Golgi apparatus and other purified cell organelles from kidney, which we believe was a better source for study of the biosynthesis of glycolipids.

scholarly journals Aquaporin-4 Water Channel in the Brain and Its Implication for Health and Disease

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Mader ◽  
Lior Brimberg
Keyword(s):  
Water Channel ◽  
Aquaporin 4 ◽  
Target Antigen ◽  
Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Pathological Conditions ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Inflammatory Autoimmune Disease ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Astrocytic Endfeet

Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) is a water channel expressed on astrocytic endfeet in the brain. The role of AQP4 has been studied in health and in a range of pathological conditions. Interest in AQP4 has increased since it was discovered to be the target antigen in the inflammatory autoimmune disease neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Emerging data suggest that AQP4 may also be implicated in the glymphatic system and may be involved in the clearance of beta-amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this review, we will describe the role of AQP4 in the adult and developing brain as well as its implication for disease.

Heme Oxygenase and the Skin in Health and Disease

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (20) ◽  
pp. 2303-2310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imre Lorinc Szabo ◽  
Anna Kenyeres ◽  
Andrea Szegedi ◽  
Attila Gabor Szollosi
Keyword(s):  
Heme Oxygenase ◽  
Skin Diseases ◽  
Recent Decade ◽  
Cellular Damage ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Pathological Conditions ◽  
Malignant Skin ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
A Site

The skin is often introduced as the largest organ of the human body which – being uniquely exposed to external stress – faces several types of challenges, from physical, chemical, biological, and immunological origin. Therefore, the skin is also a site where inflammation, oxidative stress and cellular damage occurs regularly. Heme oxygenase (HO), primarily functioning in the catabolism of heme, is a very important cytoprotective enzyme that has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties. Given the need for an enzyme with such a combination of attributes in the skin, it is not surprising that HO is involved in physiological processes as well as pathological conditions of the skin. In the recent decade, a huge effort was undertaken to identify treatments that modify HO-activity for the treatment of inflammatory or malignant skin diseases. In this review, we highlight the role of HO in the skin in physiological conditions as well as in relevant dermatological diseases such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and melanoma.

scholarly journals Cross-Talk between Lipoproteins and Inflammation: The Role of Microvesicles

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Chiva-Blanch ◽  
Lina Badimon
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Oxidized Ldl ◽  
Low Density Lipoprotein ◽  
Density Lipoprotein ◽  
Plaque Vulnerability ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Cell Plasma ◽  
Novel Therapeutic

Atherothrombosis is the principal underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Microvesicles (MV) are small blebs originated by an outward budding at the cell plasma membranes, which are released in normal conditions. However, MV release is increased in pathophysiologic conditions such as CVD. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) and MV contribute to atherothrombosis onset and progression by promoting inflammation and leukocyte recruitment to injured endothelium, as well as by increasing thrombosis and plaque vulnerability. Moreover, (oxidized)LDL induces MV release and vice-versa, perpetuating endothelium injury leading to CVD progression. Therefore, MV and lipoproteins exhibit common features, which should be considered in the interpretation of their respective roles in the pathophysiology of CVD. Understanding the pathways implicated in this process will aid in developing novel therapeutic approaches against atherothrombosis.

Participation of Ca2+ channel in liver calcium regulation by calcitonin in rats

1985 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayoshi Yamaguchi ◽  
Hiroyuki Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Channel Blocker ◽  
Calcium Content ◽  
Liver Cells ◽  
Lanthanum Chloride ◽  
Channel Blockers ◽  
Significant Elevation ◽  
Hormonal Effect ◽  
Cell Plasma

Abstract. A possible regulatory role of calcitonin (CT) upon liver calcium content was investigated by using a Ca2+ channel blocker in thyroparathyroidectomized (TPTX) rats. In bile duct-ligated TPTX rats, liver calcium content was not significantly increased by a single ip injection of calcium chloride (4.0 mg Ca2+/100 g body weight). Administration of CT (80 MRC mU/100 g) caused a remarkable elevation of liver calcium content. This hormonal effect was inhibited by administration of verapamil (1.0 mg/100 g) or lanthanum chloride (0.4 mg/100 g), Ca2+ channel blockers. CT administration markedly increased the transport of calcium into the bile through the liver cells of TPTX rats injected ip with calcium. This increase in the bile calcium content was prevented by administration of verapamil or lanthanum chloride. Administration of epinephrine (10 μg/100 g), vasopressin (10 μg/100 g), or concanavalin A (1.0 mg/100 g) produced a significant elevation of bile calcium content; these elevations were not significantly altered by addition of verapamil (1.0 mg/100 g). These data suggest the presence of CT receptors on liver cell plasma membranes which are involved in regulation of membrane Ca2+ channels. It is proposed that CT facilitates the entry of extracellular calcium into liver cells by opening Ca2+ channels located on their plasma membranes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document