Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1995-6-5
pubmed:abstractText
This paper explores the properties and likely functions of an epidermal Ca(2+)-selective cation channel complex activated by tension. As many as eight or nine linked or linkable equivalent conductance units or co-channels can open together. Open time for co-channel quadruplets and quintuplets tends to be relatively long with millimolar Mg2+ (but not millimolar Ca2+) at the cytosolic face of excised plasma membrane. Sensitivity to tension is regulated by transmembrane voltage and temperature. Under some circumstances channel activity is sychronized in rhythmic pulses. Certain lanthanides and a cytoskeleton-disturbing herbicide that inhibit gravitropic reception act on the channel system at low concentrations. Specifically, ethyl-N-phenylcarbamate promotes tension-dependent activity at micromolar levels. With moderate suction, Gd3+ provided at about 0.5 micromole at the extracellular face of the membrane promotes for several seconds but may then become inhibitory. Provision at 1-2 micromoles promotes and subsequently inhibits more vigorously (often abruptly and totally), and at high levels inhibits immediately. La3+, a poor gravitropic inhibitor, acts similarly but much more gradually and only at much higher concentrations. These properties, particularly these susceptibilities to modulation, indicate that in vivo the mechanosensitive channel must be mechanosensory and mechanoregulatory. It could serve to transduce the shear forces generated in the integrated wall-membrane-cytoskeleton system during turgor changes and cell expansion as well as transducing the stresses induced by gravity, touch and flexure. In so far as such transduction is modulated by voltage and temperature, the channels would also be sensors for these modalities as long as the wall-membrane-cytoskeleton system experiences mechanical stress.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:keyword
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
S
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0960-7412
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
3
pubmed:owner
NASA
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
83-110
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1993
pubmed:articleTitle
Mechanosensory calcium-selective cation channels in epidermal cells.
pubmed:affiliation
Biology Department, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't