Dependence on pH of polarized sorting of secreted proteins

The plasma membranes of epithelial cells are divided into apical and basolateral domains. These two surfaces are characterized by markedly different protein compositions, reflecting the ability of the cell to target newly synthesized membrane proteins to specific regions of the cell surface. This targeting capability is also apparent in the polarized release of secretory products. Recent studies using canine renal tubule (MDCK) cells have suggested that distinct sets of secretory proteins are released from their apical and basolateral poles. We report experiments designed to examine secretory protein sorting by MDCK cells. We have shown that secretion of basement membrane components (laminin and heparan sulphate proteoglycan (HSPG] takes place from the basolateral cell surface and that this polarized release results from active sorting. The sorting process which mediates this polarized secretion requires an acidic intracellular compartment. MDCK cells treated with NH4Cl to raise the pH of their intracellular compartments, secrete laminin and HSPG by a default pathway which leads to their release in roughly equal quantities into the medium of both the apical and basolateral compartments.     

Active transport of Ca2+ by an artificial photosynthetic membrane

Transport of calcium ions across membranes and against a thermodynamic gradient is essential to many biological processes, including muscle contraction, the citric acid cycle, glycogen metabolism, release of neurotransmitters, vision, biological signal transduction and immune response. Synthetic systems that transport metal ions across lipid or liquid membranes are well known, and in some cases light has been used to facilitate transport. Typically, a carrier molecule located in a symmetric membrane binds the ion from aqueous solution on one side and releases it on the other. The thermodynamic driving force is provided by an ion concentration difference between the two aqueous solutions, coupling to such a gradient in an auxiliary species, or photomodulation of the carrier by an asymmetric photon flux. Here we report a different approach, in which active transport is driven not by concentration gradients, but by light-induced electron transfer in a photoactive molecule that is asymmetrically disposed across a lipid bilayer. The system comprises a synthetic, light-driven transmembrane Ca2+ pump based on a redox-sensitive, lipophilic Ca2+-binding shuttle molecule whose function is powered by an intramembrane artificial photosynthetic reaction centre. The resulting structure transports calcium ions across the bilayer of a liposome to develop both a calcium ion concentration gradient and a membrane potential, expanding Mitchell's concept of a redox loop mechanism for protons to include divalent cations. Although the quantum yield is relatively low (approximately 1 per cent), the Ca2+ electrochemical potential developed is significant.     

不同初始pH值酸性土壤净矿化、净硝化和酸度变化分析

采集了4个不同初始pH值酸性土壤,在60%土壤持水量和25 ℃条件下对土壤矿化、净硝化和酸度变化进行了研究.结果表明,Ⅰ号土壤(pH=4.03,茶园土)矿化作用不明显,Ⅱ号(pH=4.81,玉米地)、Ⅳ号(pH=6.02,菜地)土壤矿化模式为Logistic 方程,Ⅲ号土壤(pH=5.41,菜地)为指数方程.不加NH+4条件下Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ号土壤净硝化模式为一级反应方程,加NH+4后净硝化速率增加一个数量级.培养结束后不加NH+4条件下Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ号土壤pH值没有变化,加NH+4处理后pH值显著降低,同时交换性Al3+显著增加.加NH+4促进酸性土壤(pH=4.81~6.02)硝化和酸化,但pH值过低的土壤(pH=4.03)NO-3-N、pH值和交换性Al3+无显著变化.     

Endfeet of retinal glial cells have higher densities of ion channels that mediate K+ buffering

A major function of glial cells in the central nervous system is to buffer the extracellular potassium concentration, [K+]o. A local rise in [K+]o causes potassium ions to enter glial cells, which have membranes that are highly permeable to K+; potassium then leaves the glial cells at other locations where [K+]o has not risen. We report here the first study of the individual ion channels mediating potassium buffering by glial cells. The patch-clamp technique was employed to record single channel currents in Müller cells, the radial glia of the vertebrate retina. Those cells have 94% of their potassium conductance in an endfoot apposed to the vitreous humour, causing K+ released from active retinal neurones to be buffered preferentially to the vitreous. Recordings from patches of endfoot and cell body membrane show that a single type of inward-rectifying K+ channel mediates potassium buffering at both cell locations. The non-uniform density of K+ conductance is due to a non-uniform distribution of one type of K+ channel, rather than to the cell expressing high conductance channels at the endfoot and low conductance channels elsewhere on the cell.     

Functional characterization of a potassium-selective prokaryotic glutamate receptor

Ion channels are molecular pores that facilitate the passage of ions across cell membranes and participate in a range of biological processes, from excitatory signal transmission in the mammalian nervous system to the modulation of swimming behaviour in the protozoan Paramecium. Two particularly important families of ion channels are ionotropic glutamate receptors (GluRs) and potassium channels. GluRs are permeable to Na+, K+ and Ca2+, are gated by glutamate, and have previously been found only in eukaryotes. In contrast, potassium channels are selective for K+, are gated by a range of stimuli, and are found in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Here we report the discovery and functional characterization of GluR0 from Synechocystis PCC 6803, which is the first GluR found in a prokaryote. GluR0 binds glutamate, forms potassium-selective channels and is related in amino-acid sequence to both eukaryotic GluRs and potassium channels. On the basis of amino-acid sequence and functional relationships between GluR0 and eukaryotic GluRs, we propose that a prokaryotic GluR was the precursor to eukaryotic GluRs. GluR0 provides evidence for the missing link between potassium channels and GluRs, and we suggest that their ion channels have a similar architecture, that GluRs are tetramers and that the gating mechanisms of GluRs and potassium channels have some essential features in common.     

Gating of a muscle K+ channel and its dependence on the permeating ion species

In excitable cells, ions permeate the cell membrane through ionic channels, some of which open and close in response to changes in the potential difference across the membrane. It has been supposed that this opening and closing (or gating) process is largely independent of the permeating ion. However, we show here that the gating of the resting potassium permeability of frog skeletal muscle depends on the species of ion which carries current across the membrane. The potassium permeability investigated allows K+ to move in across the membrane more easily than out. This property is known as inward or anomalous rectification and is shared by cell membranes of skeletal muscle, egg and certain other cells. In both egg cells and skeletal muscle fibres, the group IIIB metal ion Tl+, which can replace K+ in several other systems in experimental conditions, also permeates the inward rectifier. Indeed, Tl+ is more permeant than K+ (refs 8, 9). However, when Tl+ carries current inwards across the membrane, the inward rectifier inactivates over a brief period when the membrane is hyperpolarized, whereas when K+ carries current, the permeability increases with time under hyperpolarization.     

Membrane protein oligomeric structure and transport function

Proteins which traverse membranes tend to have a dimeric structure in which the dimer is arranged asymmetrically across the membrane with the axis of symmetry perpendicular to the membrane plane. This general structure is well suited to the function of transporting nutrients across the cell membrane.     

Plasticity of functional epithelial polarity

The fundamental characteristics that allow vectorial transport across an epithelial cell are the differential sorting and insertion of transport proteins either in the apical or the basolateral plasma membrane, and the preferential association of endocytosis and exocytosis with one or the other pole of the cell. Asymmetrical cellular structure and function, being manifestations of terminal differentiation, might be expected to be predetermined and invariant. Here we show that the polarity of transepithelial H+ transport, endocytosis and exocytosis in kidney can be reversed by environmental stimuli. The HCO3- secreting cell in the cortical collecting tubule is found to be an intercalated cell possessing a Cl-/HCO3- exchanger in the apical membrane and proton pumps in endocytic vesicles that fuse with the basolateral membrane; the H+-secreting cell in the medullary collecting tubule has these transport functions on the opposite membranes. Further, the HCO3- -secreting cell can be induced to change its functional polarity to that of the H+-secreting cell by acid-loading the animal.     

改性壳聚糖、海藻酸钠离子膜电渗析处理垃圾渗滤液的研究

用电渗析法处理高浓度氨氮废水.使用阴阳离子双隔膜三室电解槽,以铁作阳极,碳作阴极,把废水中的氨氮富集到阴极液中,在阳极中产生 Fe2+,滴加 H2O2 后生成 Fenton 试剂,用以氧化降解废水中的有机物,6 h 可将垃圾渗滤液中的氨氮和 CODCr 同时除去80%.     

Evidence for fixed charge in the nexus

The nexus or gap junction has been characterized as a low-resistance junction as well as a highly permeable junctional membrane to many molecules. The transfer of electrical current from one cell interior to another, the aqueous solubility of dyes used to trace cell to cell communication and the fact that these molecules move across the nexus more rapidly than the plasma membrane have led to the hypothesis of an aqueous channel in the junction. Both Ca2+ (ref.11) and H+ (ref. 12) are thought to alter nexal membrane conductance, and a voltage-sensitive gate has been demonstrated within the junction. Recently, Flagg-Newton et al. have concluded that mammalian junctions may contain fixed charge or be of smaller diameter than arthropod junctions. Here we have investigated these alternatives by examining the permeability of nexuses of septa of the median giant axon of Lumbricus terrestris with various derivatives of fluorescein. Both carboxyfluorescein and aminofluorescein were found to have depressed permeabilities relative to their predicted permeabilities based on molecular size and weight (MW). Flourescein diffusion was significantly suppressed in axons pre-injected with aminofluorescein but carboxyfluorescein had no such effect (Table 1). These data suggest the existence of fixed anionic charge within the nexal channel which may have affinity for amino groups.     

Activation of latent Ca2+ channels in renal epithelial cells by parathyroid hormone.

Calcium has an important role in regulating epithelial cell ion transport and is itself transported by tissues involved in the maintenance of extracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. Although the mechanism of Ca2+ entry in electrically excitable cells is well-documented little is known about it in epithelial cells. Calcium absorption in polarized epithelial cells is a two-step process in which Ca2+ enters cells across apical plasma membranes and is extruded across basolateral membranes. Efflux may be mediated by an energy-dependent Ca2(+)-ATPase or by Na+/Ca2+ exchange. We examined Ca2+ influx in single cultured cells from distal renal tubules sensitive to parathyroid hormone by measuring intracellular Ca2+. Our results demonstrate that parathyroid hormone activates dihydropyridine-sensitive channels responsible for Ca2+ entry. We also show that microtubule-dependent exocytosis stimulated by parathyroid hormone may be necessary for the insertion or activation of Ca2+ channels in these cells. Once inserted or activated, dihydropyridine-sensitive channels mediate Ca2+ entry into these Ca2(+)-transporting epithelial cells. Our results support the view that agonist-induced exocytosis may represent a general paradigm for modulation of transport in epithelial cells by delivery and incorporation of transport proteins to plasma membranes or by delivery to plasma membranes of factors regulating these proteins.     

Chloroquine and ammonium chloride prevent terminal glycosylation of immunoglobulins in plasma cells without affecting secretion

The generation of an acidic pH in intracellular organelles is required for several membrane and protein recycling processes. For instance, the internalization of ligands by receptor-mediated endocytosis is followed by the development of an acidic pH inside endosomes; this allows dissociation of the ligand, which is then transported to the lysosomes, from the receptor, which is recycled to the cell surface. There is evidence that part of this recycling process involves the distal region of the Golgi complex, where terminal glycosylation occurs: when the plasma membrane transferrin receptor is desialylated by neuraminidase treatment, it acquires new sialic acid molecules after endocytosis and before cell-surface re-expression. Golgi membranes have been shown to contain a proton pump and the distal Golgi cisternae appear to have an acidic content. Here, we have studied the effects of chloroquine and ammonium chloride, which raise the pH of acidic intracellular compartments, on the processing and secretion of immunoglobulins by plasma cells. Sialic acid transfer to terminal galactose residues, a reaction known to occur in the distal Golgi shortly before secretion, is completely and rapidly inhibited in the presence of these drugs, without significant modification of the secretion rate. This effect is accompanied by a dilatation of the Golgi cisternae and is not rapidly reversible.     

Control of Ca2+ in rod outer segment disks by light and cyclic GMP

Photons absorbed in vertebrate rods and cones probably cause electrochemical changes at the photoreceptor plasma membrane by changing the cytoplasmic concentration of a diffusible transmitter substance, reducing the Na+ current flowing into the outer segment of the cell in the dark, to produce the observed membrane hyperpolarization that is the initial excitatory response. Cyclic GMP has been proposed as the transmitter because a light-activated cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) has been found in rod disk membranes and because intracellularly injected cyclic GMP reduces rod membrane potentials. Free Ca2+ has also been proposed because increasing external [Ca2+] quickly and reversibly reduces the dark current and divalent cationophores increase the Ca2+ sensitivity. Ca2+ efflux from rod outer segments (ROS) of intact retinas occurs simultaneously with light responses. Vesicles prepared from ROS disk membranes become more permeable on illumination, releasing trapped ions or molecules, but intact outer segment disks have not previously been found to store sufficient Ca2+ in darkness and to release enough in light to meet the theoretical requirements for control of the dark current by varying cytoplasmic Ca2+ (refs 14-18). We now report experiments that show the required Ca2+ storage and release from rod disk membranes suspended in media containing high-energy phosphate esters and electrolytes approximating the cytoplasmic composition of live rod cells. Cyclic GMP stimulates Ca2+ uptake by ROS disks in such media.     

微量Clark型溶解氧传感器透氧膜的研究

设计两组实验,分别对不同材质、不同厚度的透氧膜进行氧气透过性、热收缩性、拉伸性能和耐化学介质浸泡性能的测试和评价,通过比较0.03 mm厚度的聚乙烯（PE）薄膜、聚四氟乙烯（PTFE）薄膜和聚全氟乙丙烯（FEP）薄膜以及0.045 mm和0.05 mm厚度FEP薄膜的测试数据,得出0.03 mm的FEP薄膜综合性能最优的结论。最后,将0.03 mm的FEP透氧膜放入北京华科仪科技有限公司的HK-258便携式溶解氧分析仪,与其原有商用膜进行比较,实验表明0.03 mm的FEP透氧膜具有更快的氧气透过速度和更高的氧气透过率,可以提高自制溶解氧传感器的响应速率,使自制溶解氧传感器达到10^-9级检测精度。     

Voltage-dependent electrogenic chloride/proton exchange by endosomal CLC proteins

Eukaryotic members of the CLC gene family function as plasma membrane chloride channels, or may provide neutralizing anion currents for V-type H(+)-ATPases that acidify compartments of the endosomal/lysosomal pathway. Loss-of-function mutations in the endosomal protein ClC-5 impair renal endocytosis and lead to kidney stones, whereas loss of function of the endosomal/lysosomal protein ClC-7 entails osteopetrosis and lysosomal storage disease. Vesicular CLCs have been thought to be Cl- channels, in particular because ClC-4 and ClC-5 mediate plasma membrane Cl- currents upon heterologous expression. Here we show that these two mainly endosomal CLC proteins instead function as electrogenic Cl-/H+ exchangers (also called antiporters), resembling the transport activity of the bacterial protein ClC-e1, the crystal structure of which has already been determined. Neutralization of a critical glutamate residue not only abolished the steep voltage-dependence of transport, but also eliminated the coupling of anion flux to proton counter-transport. ClC-4 and ClC-5 may still compensate the charge accumulation by endosomal proton pumps, but are expected to couple directly vesicular pH gradients to Cl- gradients.     

Yip3 catalyses the dissociation of endosomal Rab-GDI complexes

Human cells contain more than 60 small G proteins of the Rab family, which are localized to the surfaces of distinct membrane compartments and regulate transport vesicle formation, motility, docking and fusion. Prenylated Rabs also occur in the cytosol bound to GDI (guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor), which binds to Rabs in their inactive state. Prenyl Rab-GDI complexes contain all of the information necessary to direct Rab delivery onto distinct membrane compartments. The late endosomal, prenyl Rab9 binds GDI with very high affinity, which led us to propose that there might be a 'GDI-displacement factor' to catalyse dissociation of Rab-GDI complexes and to enable transfer of Rabs from GDI onto membranes. Indeed, we have previously shown that endosomal membranes contain a proteinaceous factor that can act in this manner. Here we show that the integral membrane protein, Yip3, acts catalytically to dissociate complexes of endosomal Rabs bound to GDI, and to deliver them onto membranes. We propose that the conserved Yip proteins serve as GDI-displacement factors for the targeting of Rab GTPases in eukaryotic cells.     

复合Li2SO4质子传导膜的性能

制备了以Li2SO4为基体的复合质子传导膜。采用电化学阻抗波谱分析法（EIS）研究了掺杂不同组分如Li2WO4、Na2SO4和Al2O3、以及掺杂不同的比例时制备不同厚度的复合质子传导膜的离子（电）传导率。在Li2SO4中掺杂适宜比例的Li2WO4或Na2SO4可提高膜的离子传导率,掺杂Li2WO4比掺杂Na2SO4制备的复合膜具有更高的离子传导率和较佳的性能。虽然掺杂Al2O3会稍微降低膜的质子传导率,但确可以提高膜的机械性能。膜的厚度减少,其离子传导率增加,但膜太薄,气体容易从膜一侧渗透到另一侧（crossover）。采用扫描电镜(SEM)对复合膜进行了表征,掺杂Li2WO4制备的复合膜结构较致密和紧凑、性能较好。实验结果表明,适宜的膜厚为0.8mm,由Li2SO4、Li2WO4和Al2O3制备的复合膜适宜的组成为75wt％(90mol%Li2SO4+10mol%Li2WO4）＋25wt%Al2O3,其离子传导率在600、650、700和750℃时高达0.16、0.38、0.46和0.52Scm1。研究了以H2S为燃料、复合Mo-Ni-S为阳极、复合Li2SO4为质子传导膜、复合NiO为阴极、空气作为氧化剂的单电池的电化学性能,Li2SO4+Li2WO4＋Al2O3复合膜的电池性能较优。     

Basolateral KCl co-transport in a NaCl-absorbing epithelium

In NaCl-absorbing epithelia such as proximal renal tubule, small intestine and gallbladder, Na+-dependent Cl- entry across the luminal membrane is an electroneutral transport process that has been attributed to Na-Cl symport, Na-K-Cl symport, or a double (Na-H, Cl-HCO3) antiport. At the basolateral (antiluminal) membrane, Na+ extrusion can be attributed to the Na+-K+ pump, and Cl- transport could be explained in principle by electrodiffusion since the intracellular Cl- activity is higher than predicted for equilibrium distribution. However, in Necturus gallbladder, as in other epithelia, the electrodiffusional Cl- permeability of the membrane (PCl) is too low to account for the transepithelial Cl- transport rate. Because K+ is at a higher chemical potential in the cell than in the extracellular fluid, and because serosal Cl- substitutions have only small effects on membrane potential, the hypothesis of carrier-mediated electroneutral KCl co-transport was proposed. The experiments reported here were designed to test this hypothesis in Necturus gallbladder epithelium. Intracellular Cl- and K+ activities (aCli, aKi) were measured with ion-sensitive intracellular microelectrodes before, during and after ionic substitutions of the serosal (basolateral) bathing medium. The results demonstrate a Na+-independent basolateral membrane KCl symport.     

化学沉淀法去除木薯制备酒精废水中氨氮的试验研究

针对NH_3-N质量浓度为500~900mg/L木薯制备酒精的废水,采用正交试验及单因素试验研究了用化学沉淀法去除废水中氨氮的工艺条件,结果表明:以MgCl_2·6H_2O和Na2HPO4·12H_2O为沉淀剂,在pH=9.0时废水溶液中PO_4~(3-)与Mg~(2+)和NH_4~+一起发生沉淀反应生成MgNH4PO4·6H_2O,从而达到去除废水中的氨氮的目的;影响废水中的氨氮去除率的因素依次为n(Mg~(2+):NH_4~+),反应时间,n(PO_4~(3-)∶NH_4~+)和pH值。最佳反应条件是当pH=9.0,n(Mg~(2+))∶n(NH_4~+)∶n(PO_4~(3-))=1.4∶1.0∶1.2,常温下反应30min,静置30min,该工艺条件下,对初始氨氮为644.5mg/L的木薯制备酒精的废水进行处理,其氨氮的去除率90%。     

Keggin型杂多酸H3PMo12O40对磷脂双层膜电化学行为的影响

利用循环伏安法和交流阻抗谱,以铂电极支撑的磷脂双层膜（s-BLM）作为生物膜的模型,Fe（CN）6^3-和Fe（CN）6^4-为探针分子,研究了Keggin型杂多酸H3 PMo12 O40对磷脂双层膜电化学行为的影响,结果显示s-BLM与杂多酸H3PMo12 O40之间可以发生比较强烈的相互作用,使8-BLM的通透性发生变化．这种现象的出现可能是由予在杂多酸H3PMo12O40与磷脂双层膜发生作用时引起s-BLM表面分子的排列变化,进而在膜的表面形成不可逆的微孔,而探针分子Fe（CN）6^3-/4-可以通过这些微孔接近电极,产生氧化还原响应。