The effects of hypercapnia on force and rate of contraction and intracellular pH of perfused ventricles from the land snail Helix lucorum (L.)

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (21) ◽  
pp. 2993-3001
Author(s):  
B. Michaelidis ◽  
E. Rofalikou ◽  
M.K. Grieshaber

The effects of hypercapnia, together with low and high levels of extracellular Ca(2+), on heart activity and intracellular pH were examined in isolated perfused hearts from the land snail Helix lucorum. In addition, the intracellular level of Ca(2+) was determined in slices of ventricles superfused with both normal and hypercapnic salines, containing low and high concentrations of Ca(2+), to investigate whether low extracellular pH affects the entry of Ca(2+) into the heart cells. We also examined the effect of a saline that simulated the composition of the haemolymph of snails after estivating for 3 months on the heart activity and intracellular pH. The results showed that hypercapnia causes decreases in the rate and force of heart contraction, and these are more pronounced in the presence of low levels of extracellular Ca(2+). Moreover, the present results indicate that Ca(2+) maintains the contractility of the heart muscle under acidic conditions and seems to act by competing with protons for the Ca(2+)binding sites on sarcolemma. The negative effect of hypercapnia on heart activity appears to be due to a reduction in extracellular pH rather than to changes in intracellular pH.

1989 ◽  
Vol 259 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
S J Fuller ◽  
C J Gaitanaki ◽  
P H Sugden

Increasing the extracellular pH over the range pH 7.4-8.9 stimulated protein synthesis by about 60% in the rat heart preparation anterogradely perfused in vitro. Protein degradation was inhibited by this pH increase. The magnitudes of the effects at pH 8.9 on protein synthesis and degradation were similar to those of high concentrations of insulin. Cardiac outputs were increased, as were cardiac phosphocreatine contents, indicating that the alterations in extracellular pH did not adversely affect the physiological viability of the preparation. ATP contents were unaltered. The creatine kinase equilibrium was used to assess the magnitude of the change in intracellular pH induced by these treatments. The increase in intracellular pH was about 0.2 for a 1-unit increase in extracellular pH. Thus small changes in intracellular pH have dramatic effects on cardiac protein turnover.


2018 ◽  
Vol 103 (10) ◽  
pp. 3729-3736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Derakhshan ◽  
Tim I M Korevaar ◽  
Peter N Taylor ◽  
Deborah Levie ◽  
Monica Guxens ◽  
...  

Abstract Context Thyroperoxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity is a major risk factor for gestational thyroid dysfunction. During the first 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, high concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulate the thyroid to ensure adequate thyroid hormone availability for the developing fetus. However, TPOAb-positive women have an impaired thyroidal response to hCG stimulation. Objective To study the association of maternal TPOAb positivity during pregnancy with child IQ. Design, Setting, and Participants This study was embedded in two prospective birth cohorts: Generation R (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; United Kingdom). Mother-child pairs with available data on early pregnancy TPOAb (≤18 weeks of gestation) and offspring IQ were included (n = 3637 for Generation R and n = 2396 for ALSPAC). Main Outcome Measures Child IQ at 5 to 10 years of age. Results In Generation R, TPOAb positivity was associated with a 2.0 ± 0.9-point lower mean child IQ (P = 0.03). Sensitivity analyses showed negative effect estimates already from TPOAb concentrations considerably lower than currently used manufacturer cutoffs. In ALSPAC, neither TPOAb positivity nor TPOAb concentrations below manufacturer cutoffs were associated with child IQ (TPOAb positivity: 0.7 ± 1.0; P = 0.45). Adjustment for maternal TSH or free T4 concentrations or urinary iodine/creatinine ratio did not change the results. Conclusion TPOAb positivity during pregnancy was associated with lower child IQ in Generation R but not in ALSPAC. Further studies are needed to elucidate whether differences between the study populations, such as maternal iodine status, could be the underlying cause for these differences.


Molecules ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yibin Zhang ◽  
Jianheng Bi ◽  
Shuai Xia ◽  
Wafa Mazi ◽  
Shulin Wan ◽  
...  

A fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based near-infrared fluorescent probe (B+) for double-checked sensitive detection of intracellular pH changes has been synthesized by binding a near-infrared rhodamine donor to a near-infrared cyanine acceptor through robust C-N bonds via a nucleophilic substitution reaction. To demonstrate the double-checked advantages of probe B+, a near-infrared probe (A) was also prepared by modification of a near-infrared rhodamine dye with ethylenediamine to produce a closed spirolactam residue. Under basic conditions, probe B+ shows only weak fluorescence from the cyanine acceptor while probe A displays nonfluorescence due to retention of the closed spirolactam form of the rhodamine moiety. Upon decrease in solution pH level, probe B+ exhibits a gradual fluorescence increase from rhodamine and cyanine constituents at 623 nm and 743 nm respectively, whereas probe A displays fluorescence increase at 623 nm on the rhodamine moiety as acidic conditions leads to the rupture of the probe spirolactam rings. Probes A and B+ have successfully been used to monitor intracellular pH alternations and possess pKa values of 5.15 and 7.80, respectively.


1961 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 925-932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen J. Morton ◽  
Joseph F. Morgan

Seventeen structurally related compounds were tested for their ability to substitute for phenylalanine or tyrosine in the nutrition of chick embryo heart fragments. DL-Alanyl-DL-phenylalanine replaced phenylalanine. All other compounds had negligible effects, and most were toxic at high concentrations. β-Phenylserine, a phenylalanine antagonist, actually prolonged the survival of chick heart cells but only if both phenylalanine and tyrosine were present. Similarly, optimal reversal of β-phenylserine toxicity was dependent on the presence of both amino acids. Although phenylalanine and tyrosine are not interconvertible in the present system, it has been shown that three phenylalanine antagonists, p-fluorophenylalanine, β-2-thienylalanine, and β-phenylserine, can be identified by their relationship to tyrosine, rather than to phenylalanine.


Rodriguésia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-666
Author(s):  
João Fabrício Mota Rodrigues ◽  
Sâmia Paiva de Oliveira

Abstract Ingestion of seeds by vertebrates may influence seed germination and dispersion. However the mechanisms responsible by these effects and the importance of turtles in these interactions are still poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate how Chelonoidis carbonarius influences the germination process of Leucaena leucocephala using an experiment conducted at the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, that simulates the passage of the seeds of this plant through the digestive tract of C. carbonarius: stomach acidic condition and seeds sown in feces. We demonstrated that sowing the seeds in feces of Chelonoidis carbonarius has a negative effect on the germination of Leucaena leucocephala, decreasing the germination speed index of the seeds, while the acidic conditions have a neutral one. This study is a first attempt to understand how turtles and tortoises may influence the seed germination, and the implications of these findings in natural environments deserve further investigations.


1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (3) ◽  
pp. R738-R750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Wang ◽  
G. J. Heigenhauser ◽  
C. M. Wood

Manipulations of pH and electrical gradients in a perfused preparation were used to analyze the factors controlling ammonia distribution and flux in trout white muscle after exercise. Trout were exercised to exhaustion, and then an isolated-perfused white muscle preparation with discrete arterial inflow and venous outflow was made from the posterior portion of the tail. The tail-trunks were perfused with low (7.4)-, medium (7.9)-, and high (8.4)-pH saline, achieved by varying HCO3- concentration ([HCO3-]) at constant Pco2. Intracellular and extracellular pH, ammonia, CO2, K+, Na+, and Cl- were measured. Muscle intracellular pH was not affected by changes in extracellular pH. Increasing extracellular pH caused a decrease in the transmembrane NH3 partial pressure (PNH3) gradient and a decrease in ammonia efflux. When extracellular K+ concentration was increased from 3.5 to 15 mM in the medium-pH group, a depolarization of the muscle cell membrane potential from -92 to -60 mV and a 0.1-unit depression in intracellular pH occurred. Ammonia efflux increased despite a marked reduction in the PNH3 gradient. Amiloride (10(-4) M) had no effect, indicating that Na+/H(+)-NH4+ exchange does not participate in ammonia transport in this system. A comparison of observed intracellular-to-extracellular ammonia distribution ratios with those modeled according to either pH or Nernst potential distributions supports a model in which ammonia distribution across white muscle cell membranes is affected by both pH and electrical gradients, indicating that the membranes are permeable to both NH3 and NH4+. Membrane potential, acting to retain high levels of NH4+ in the intracellular compartment, appears to have the dominant influence during the postexercise period. However, at rest, the pH gradient may be more important, resulting in much lower intracellular ammonia levels and distribution ratios. We speculate that the muscle cell membrane NH3-to-NH4+ permeability ratio in trout may change between the rest and postexercise condition.


1996 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1090-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lahiri ◽  
R. Iturriaga ◽  
A. Mokashi ◽  
F. Botre ◽  
D. Chugh ◽  
...  

The hypotheses that the chemosensory discharge rate parallels the intracellular pH (pHi) during hypercapnia and that the initial change in pHi (delta pHi) is always more than the stead-state delta pHi were studied by using cat carotid bodies in vitro at 36.5 degrees C in the absence and presence of methazolamide (30-100 mg/l). Incremental acidic hypercapnia was followed by an incremental initial peak response and a greater adaptation. A given acidic hypercapnia elicited a rapid initial response followed by a slower adaptation; isohydric hypercapnia produced an equally rapid initial response but of smaller magnitude that returned to near-baseline level; alkaline hypercapnia induced a similar rapid initial response but one of still smaller magnitude that decreased rapidly to below the baseline. Methazolamide eliminated the initial overshoot, which also suggested involvement of the initial rapid pHi in the overshoot. These results show that the initial delta pHi is always greater than the steady-state delta pHi and during hypercapnia. Also, the steady-state chemoreceptor activity varied linearly with the extracellular pH, indicating a linear relationship between extracellular pH and pHi.


Author(s):  
Basile Michaelidis ◽  
Pasqualina Kyriakopoulou-Sklavounou ◽  
Alexandra Staikou ◽  
Ioanna Papathanasiou ◽  
Kiriaki Konstantinou

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (12) ◽  
pp. 1667-1675
Author(s):  
B. Michaelidis ◽  
A. Pallidou ◽  
P. Vakouftsi

The aims of the present study were to describe a possible correlation between the regulation of the key glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase and the acid-base status in the haemolymph and in several other tissues of land snails during anoxia. To illustrate whether such a relationship exists, we determined (i) the acid-base variables in the haemolymph and tissues of the land snail Helix lucorum, (ii) the kinetic properties of pyruvate kinase from several tissues and (iii) the levels of the anaerobic end-products d-lactate and succinate in the haemolymph and tissues of aerobic and anoxic Helix lucorum. The results showed that the pH of haemolymph (pHe) decreased significantly over the first 20 h of anoxia and then recovered slowly towards control values. A similar pattern was observed for intracellular pH (pHi), which decreased significantly over the first 16 h of anoxia and slowly returned towards control levels. The reduction and recovery of pHi and pHe seem to reflect the rate of anaerobic metabolism. The main anaerobic end-products, d-lactate and succinate, accumulated rapidly during the initial stages of anoxia and more slowly as anoxia progressed. The decrease in the rate of accumulation of anaerobic end-products during prolonged anoxia was due to the conversion of tissue pyruvate kinase to a less active form. The results demonstrate a correlation between pyruvate kinase down-regulation and the recovery of acid-base status in the haemolymph and the tissues of land snails during anoxia.


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