Transport mechanisms, fixative compounds

The brain needs the influx of nucleosides because the brain is deficient in de novo nucleotide synthesis (102). Purine and pyrimidine nucleosides are necessary for the synthesis of DNA and RNA, but nucleosides also influence many other biological processes. In addition, nucleosides play an important role in the treatment of diseases, such as cardiac diseases, brain cancers, and infections [parasitic and viral (103)]. Nucleosides are hydrophilic compounds, and the influx and efflux of these compounds is therefore mediated by a number of distinct transporters (104). Nucleoside transporters are membrane-fixed transporters and are classified by their transport mechanisms (e = equilibrative, c = concentrative), their sensitivity to the transport inhibitor nitrobenzylmercaptopurine riboside (NBMPR s = sensitive, i = insensitive), and their substrates. Presently, there are two equilibrative transporters (ENTs es and ei) and six concentrative nucleoside transporters [CNTs cif (concentrative, NBMPR insensitive, broad specificity Nl), cit (concentrative, NBMPR insensitive, common permeant thymidine N2), cib (concentrative, NBMPR insensitive, broad specificity N3), cib (concentrative, MBMPR insensitive, broad specificity N4), cs (concentrative, NBMPR sensitive N5), and csg (concentrative, NBMPR sensitive, accepts guanosine as permeant N6) (104)]. The equilibrative es and ei nucleoside transporters are widely expressed in mammalian cells and are present at cultured endothelial cells and brain capillaries (105). In these cells, the expression of concentrative transporter cit (N2) was demonstrated also. In other parts of the rat brain, ei and es nucleoside transport systems have... 

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