Electrical bursting of islet beta cells
Article Abstract:
Exposure of clusters of cultured mouse islet beta cells to carbamylcholine (CCh) or to dibutyryl cyclic AMP (db-cAMP) has been put forward as a cause of repeating membrane hyperpolarizations. However, the data used to support this hypothesis, such as db-cAMP and CCh's hyperpolarization of the membrane and prevention of membrane electrical activity, are already widely accepted. On the other hand, this mechanism may indeed be related to the islet cell's electrical activity since it has the capacity of initiating membrane potential oscillations in cultured beta cells.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
No electrostatic sense in snakes
Article Abstract:
The theory of W.T. Vonstille and W.T. Stille, III that the skin of snakes and the characteristic tongue-flicking of rattlesnakes are adaptations for production and reception of electrostatic charges is disputable. Although electrostatic charges are generated by rattlesnake rattles and tongue-flicking into the air is observed in these snakes, no phylogenetic or functional correlation exists between these features and the ability to release electrostatic charges. These charges are classified as epiphenomena, which might serve other purposes.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1995
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
ATP and chloride conductance
Article Abstract:
A better understanding of how the disease cystic fibrosis develops may result from research on how adenosine triphosphate (ATP) affects cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). CFTR is a chloride channel the mutation of which causes cystic fibrosis. P.M. Quinton and M.M. Reddy argue that ATP or adenylic acid (AMP) or both control ion transport by CFTR either directly or through the cellular energy charge. This would explain why AMP and ATP analogues trigger CFTR-linked chloride conductance.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Implications of hybridization between introduced and resident Orconectes crayfishes. A molecular genetic assessment of mating-system variation in a naturally bird-pollinated shrub: contributions from birds and introduced honeybees
- Abstracts: Implications of hybridization between introduced and resident Orconectes crayfishes. part 2 Nonindigenous species: ecological explanation, environmental ethics and public policy
- Abstracts: Coexistence between people and elephants in African savannas. Noninvasive stress and reproductive measures of social and ecological pressures in free-ranging African elephants
- Abstracts: Effects of supplemental protein source and metabolizable energy intake on nutritional status in pregnant ewes
- Abstracts: Wang goes bust: the bankruptcy of Wang Laboratories is sad - and confirmation that even the best cannot stand still