Most ion channels are very selective about the ions that may or may not pass through them. They may be conductive for potassium ions and non-conductive for sodium ions, or vice versa. However, a number of ion channels allow ...
Materials Science
Feb 19, 2018
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Tiny pores at a cell's entryway act as miniature bouncers, letting in some electrically charged atoms—ions—but blocking others. Operating as exquisitely sensitive filters, these "ion channels" play a critical role in ...
Nanophysics
Dec 8, 2017
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32
(Phys.org)—A small team of researchers from Stanford University has synthesized the neurotoxin present in the skin of the poison dart frog. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they accomplished ...
Duke University biomedical engineers have harvested genes for ion channels from bacteria that, with a few tweaks, can create and enhance electrical signaling in human cells, making the cells more electrically excitable.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 18, 2016
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209
(Phys.org)—One of the mysteries in biology is how cells can selectively diffuse potassium across a membrane. Biological systems rely on a delicate balance between these potassium and sodium ion concentrations in the surrounding ...
Scientists from the Vaziri lab at the Vienna Biocenter, together with colleagues at the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics at the University of Chicago, have developed a method using infrared spectroscopy and atomistic modeling ...
Biochemistry
May 18, 2015
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13
A common protein plays a different role than previously thought in the opening and closing of channels that let ions flow in and out of our cells, researchers at Johns Hopkins report. Those channels are critical to life, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 27, 2014
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Ion channels are involved in many physiological and pathophysiological processes throughout the human body. A young team of researchers led by pharmacologist Anna Stary-Weinzinger from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 2, 2014
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The diuretic agent amiloride is used for the treatment of high blood pressure. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich researchers have now synthesized a photosensitive version, which allows regulating the function of sodium-specific ...
Biochemistry
Jul 22, 2014
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have spotted a strong family trait in two distant relatives: The channels that permit entry of sodium and calcium ions into cells turn out to share similar means for regulating ion intake, they ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 1, 2014
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