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Updated: May 25, 2026

Mechanical Stimulation-induced Calcium Wave Propagation in Cell Monolayers: The Example of Bovine Corneal Endothelial Cells
Published on: July 16, 2013
[The role of ectonucleotides metabolizing enzymes in purinergic signaling]
Dorota Porowińska1, Joanna Czarnecka, Michał Komoszyński
1Zakład Biochemii, Instytut Biologii Ogólnej i Molekularnej, Wydział Biologii i Nauk o Ziemi, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń.
Abstract:
Purinergic signaling plays an important role in the regulation of many physiological processes. The concentration of nucleotides in extracellular space is controlled by at least two families of nucleotidases: NPPases and NTPDases. These families are examples of convergent evolution of proteins. Above ezymes are not phylogenetically related, but they catalyze the same type of reaction. They hydrolyzed tri- and diphosphonucleosides to monophosphonucleosides and orthophosphate or pyrophosphate. This degradation terminates the nucleotide signaling process and also produces other signaling molecules like ADP, and with 5'-nucleotidase, adenosine. Most of known animal NPPases and NTPDases were found as membranous ectoenzymes or soluble proteins localized in tissue fluids. The aim of this work is to provide information about localization, structure, properties and function of NPPases and NTPDases in the regulation of extracellular concentration of nucleotides and purinergic signaling.
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