Membrane transport water channels

Apart from the co-transporters, astrocytic perivascular system in the brain involves membrane-bound water channels, called aquaporins (Nagelhus et al., 2004). These water channels... 

The presently known mammalian AQP0-AQP12 have been localized in tissues involved in fluid transport as well as in nonfluid-transporting tissues (Table 1). Most AQPs are constitutively present in the plasma membrane, whereas some water channels can be triggered to shuttle between intracellular vesicles and the plasma membrane [2]. 

Based on GebeTs calculations for Nafion (where lEC = 0.91 meq/g),i isolated spheres of ionic clusters in the dry state have diameters of 15 A and an intercluster spacing of 27 A. Because the spheres are isolated, proton transport through the membrane is severely impeded and thus low levels of conductivity are observed for a dry membrane. As water content increases, the isolated ionic clusters begin to swell until, at X, > 0.2, the percolation threshold is reached. This significant point represents the point at which connections or channels are now formed between the previously isolated ionic clusters and leads to a concomitant sharp increase in the observed level of proton conductivity. 

This review has highlighted the important effects that should be modeled. These include two-phase flow of liquid water and gas in the fuel-cell sandwich, a robust membrane model that accounts for the different membrane transport modes, nonisothermal effects, especially in the directions perpendicular to the sandwich, and multidimensional effects such as changing gas composition along the channel, among others. For any model, a balance must be struck between the complexity required to describe the physical reality and the additional costs of such complexity. In other words, while more complex models more accurately describe the physics of the transport processes, they are more computationally costly and may have so many unknown parameters that their results are not as meaningful. Hopefully, this review has shown and broken down for the reader the vast complexities of transport within polymer-electrolyte fuel cells and the various ways they have been and can be modeled. 

Water transport across the luminal and basolateral membranes of collecting duct cells. Above, low water permeability exists in the absence of antidiuretic hormone (ADH). Below, in the presence of ADH, aquaporins are inserted into the apical membrane, greatly increasing water permeability. (AQP2, apical aquaporin water channels AQP3,4, basolateral aquaporin water channels V2, vasopressin V2 receptor.)... 

The influence of adsorption of polyelectrolytes on bimolecular phospholipid leaflets was studied. All polyelectrolytes studied were adsorbed on the surface of the film, as demonstrated by greatly increased drainage times. Only some of the polyelectrolytes investigated are able to decrease the d.c. resistance, notably a protein derived from ox erythrocyte ghosts and a Na-K polyphosphate. The combination of these latter substances proved particularly effective. It is concluded that the decrease of d.c. resistance is caused by adsorption and penetration of the polyelectrolytes into the membrane, resulting in the formation of pores or water channels, and not by the possibility of transport of charged macromolecules through the membrane. 

Prasad, G. V., Coury, L. A., Finn, F., and Zeidel, M. L. (1998). Reconstituted aquaporin 1 water channels transport C02 across membranes./. Biol. Chem. 273, 33123-33126. 

The single most important effect of anti-diuretic hormone is to conserve body water, by reducing the loss of water in urine. In the absence of anti-diuretic hormone, the collecting ducts of the kidney are virtually impermeable to water. Anti-diuretic hormone stimulates water re-absorbtion through the insertion of water channels , or aquaporins (see Section 10.5), into the membranes of kidney tubules. Aquaporins transport solute-free water through tubular cells and back into blood, leading to a decrease in plasma osmolarity and an increased osmolarity of urine. 

Figure 3-14. Hypothetical structures indicating possible mechanisms for transporters and channels in cell membrane (shaded region) (a) mobile carrier or porter acting as a symporter for protons (H+) and some tr ansported solute (5) (b) series of binding sites in a channel across a membrane, acting as a symporter for H+ and S (c) sequential conformations of a channel, leading to unidirectional movement of solute and (d) a protein-lined pore with multiple solute or water molecules hr single file, the most accepted version of ion or water (aquaporirr) channels.

Brain vascular endothelial cells are linked by tight junction proteins creating high-resistance junctions between cells that effectively prevent the movement of hydrophilic substances, including electrolytes, such as Na and K+. Water moves across the lipid bilayer of endothelial cells through simple diffusion and vesicular transport (Tait et al., 2008). However, specialized water channels are formed by molecules called aquaporins (AQPs), which are highly expressed in blood-brain interfaces to facilitate the transport of water across cell membranes. 

A novel polymeric bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) membrane, consisting of an interconnecting network of nanometer pore size water channels, was employed as liquid membrane support [13] for the immobilization of new porphyrin carrier [14] for facilitated oxygen transport. Although the membrane resulted to be stable due to the nanoporous structure, a modest (2.3-2.4) O2/N2 selectivity was achieved. 

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