Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Author Spotlight: Exploring Cellular Zinc Regulation Through ZnT1 Functionality
Published on: June 2, 2023
Zinc transporters as potential therapeutic targets: An updated review
Takafumi Hara1, Emi Yoshigai1, Takuto Ohashi1
1Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Tokushima, Japan.
Abstract:
Zinc is an essential trace element that plays important roles in the regulation of various physiological responses in the body. Zinc deficiency is known to cause various health problems, including dysgeusia, skin disorders, and immune disorders. Therefore, the maintenance of healthy zinc content in the body is critical to our healthy life. Zinc homeostasis is tightly controlled by two of the solute carrier protein families SLC30A and SLC39A, called zinc transporters. In the last decade, research on zinc biology has made dramatic progress based on the physiological and functional analysis of zinc transporters in the fields of molecular biology, human genetics, and drug discovery. In particular, since the association between zinc transporters and human diseases was recently reported using human genetics and gene knockout mouse studies, zinc and zinc signals controlled by zinc transporters have been considered useful therapeutic targets. In this review, we introduce the importance of zinc homeostasis based on the findings of zinc transporter functions and their signals in relation to human diseases.
More Related Videos
13:04Atomic Absorbance Spectroscopy to Measure Intracellular Zinc Pools in Mammalian Cells
Published on: May 16, 2019
11:04Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Determining the Structure and Mechanisms of Metal Ion Recognition and Redox Activity of Metal Binding Oligopeptides
Published on: September 7, 2019
Related Concept Videos
ABC Transporters: Exporter
ABC Transporters: Importer
In bacteria, based on the number of transmembrane helices and the chemical nature of their substrates, the ABC importers can be divided into three types:
Carrier-Mediated Transport
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...
The Significance of Membrane Transport
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
Active Transport
Primary active transporters, like Na+, K+ and -ATPase, directly utilize ATP to move ions across the membrane. These transporters play significant roles in various physiological processes. For instance, Na+, K+ and -ATPase maintain...
Glucose Transporters
Facilitated diffusion-glucose transporters (GLUTs) are encoded by the solute-linked carrier (SLC) family 2, subfamily A gene family, or SLC2A. The 14 GLUT protein members are distributed into three classes: