Calcium gradient

Calcium is absorbed from the intestine by facilitated diffusion and active transport. In the former, Ca " moves from the mucosal to the serosal compartments along a concentration gradient. The active transport system requires a cation pump. In both processes, a calcium-binding protein (CaBP) is thought to be required for the transport. Synthesis of CaBP is activated by 1,25-DHCC. In the active transport, release of Ca " from the mucosal cell into... 

The resting membrane potential of most excitable cells is around —60 to —80 mV. This gradient is maintained by the activity of various ion channels. When the potassium channels of the cell open, potassium efflux occurs and hyperpolari2ation results. This decreases calcium channel openings, which ia turn preveats the influx of calcium iato the cell lea ding to a decrease ia iatraceUular calcium ia the smooth muscles of the vasculature. The vascular smooth muscles thea relax and the systemic blood pressure faUs. 

In areas of the system where the heat gradient is less severe, calcium carbonate precipitates in both crystalline and amorphous forms. It may precipitate as a calcite or aragonite sludge, but more usually an aragonite scale is produced. Aragonite is hard and adherent, depositing in FW lines and various boiler surface components such as boiler tubes. 

Capillary tube isotachophoresis using a potential gradient detector is another technique that has been applied to the analysis of alcohol sulfates, such as sodium and lithium alcohol sulfates [303]. The leading electrolyte solution is a mixture of methyl cyanate and aqueous histidine buffer containing calcium chloride. The terminating electrolyte solution is an aqueous solution of sodium octanoate. 

Westerblad, H., Lee, J.A., Lamb, A.G., Bolsover, S.R., Allen, D.G. (1990). Spatial gradients of intracellular calcium in skeletal muscle during fatigue. Pfluegers Arch. 415, 734-740. 

Previous studies indicate that osmotic gradients promote membrane fusion, while hyperosmotic conditions inhibit membrane fusion during exocytosis. Consistent with this idea is the observation that the release of lysosomal enzymes from rabbit neutrophils, induced by the chemotactic peptide J -formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP), is inhibited almost 80% in a 700-mosmol/kg medium. Inhibition is immediate (within 10 s), increases with osmolality, and is independent of the osmoticant. Neutrophils loaded with the calcium indicator indo-1 exhibit an FMLP-induced calcium signal that is inhibited by hyperosmolality. Hyperosmolality (700 mosmol/kg) increases basal calcium levels and reduces the peak of the calcium signal elicited by FMLP at concentrations ranging from 10 ° to 10 M. 

Sometimes it may become necessary to shut-in a gas well when the demand for gas is low. In such instances, the well is shut-in for an indefinite period, after which it is reopened and production is resumed. It often has been found that the production rate of gas from the reopened well is substantially less than it was before the well was shut-in. During production, the inner wall of the production tubing will be coated with a film of condensed freshwater because of the geothermal gradient. This water flows down when production is interrupted and can cause formation damage. This may occur because clays are normally saturated with brine water and not with freshwater. This swelling can be prevented with the injection of some additive, for example, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, or an alcohol or a similar organic material [1853]. 

Recent studies by Crompton et al. have shown that oxidant stress may open a Ca-sensitive, non-selective pore in the inner mitochondrial membrane that is blocked by cyclosporin A (Crompton, 1990 Crompton and Costi, 1990). This pore opening results in massive mitochondrial swelling, dissipation of the transmembrane proton gradient and disruption of mitochondrial energy production (Crompton et al., 1992). Since mitochondria may play a role as a slow, high-capacity cytosolic calcium buffer (Isenberg et al., 1993), disruption of mitochondrial function may also contribute to calcium overload and cell injury. 

The sarcolemmal Na/K pump plays an imp>ortant, although indirect role in the regulation of cellular calcium homeostasis. The transmembrane Na gradient is maintained by the activity of the Na/K pump and the thermodynamic energy of this gradient in turn drives the Na/Ca exchange mechanism (Sheu and Fozzard, 1982 Barry and Bridge, 1993). Thus, the intracellular Ca concentration is closely related to intracellular Na and the activity of the Na/K pump (Bers and Ellis, 1982). 

Matsuura, H., Shattock, M.J. and Hearse, D.J. (1991). Calcium overload induced by oxidant stress is dependent on an intact transarcolemmal sodium gradient. J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 23, S7. 

Potentiometry is the measurement of the potential at an electrode or membrane electrode, so the detector response is in units of volts. The potentio-metric response tends to be slow, so potentiometry is used infrequently in analysis.47 One example is the use of a polymeric membrane impregnated with ionophores for the selective detection of potassium, sodium, ammonium, and calcium 48 In process chromatography, potentiometry may be used to monitor selected ions or pH as these values change over the course of the gradient. 

When the action potential reaches the synaptic bouton, depolarisation triggers the opening of voltage-operated calcium channels in the membrane (Figure 2.5). The concentration gradient for Ca2+ favours the passive movement of this ion into the neuron. The subsequent rise in cytoplasmic Ca2+ ion concentration stimulates the release of neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft, which diffuses across this narrow gap and binds to receptors located on the postsynaptic neuronal membrane (Figure 2.5). 

We have described the initial functions of calcium outside cells in Section 5.5. Here we draw attention again to its later function in association with manganese in 02 production, described in the previous section (see Figure 5.9). We have also left out of this chapter any reference to vanadium as the first functional use of it known to us is in nitrogenase which was probably not required in the earliest organisms (see Section 6.5). The sodium gradient was utilised to cotransport nutrients into cells and this function remains a major use of the Na+ ion in later organisms. 

Novel external/internal sensing and signalling systems, often based on calcium gradients,... 

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