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Related Concept Videos

Aquaporins01:25

Aquaporins

4.9K
Aquaporins or AQPs are a family of integral membrane proteins whose primary function is to transport water, while some called aquaglyceroporins also transport glycerol. In addition, aquaporins have also been suspected to be involved in transporting volatile substances, such as carbon dioxide and ammonia, across membranes. Such AQPs that act as gas channels are often highly expressed in cells involved in the gaseous exchange, such as red blood cells, epithelial cells, and pulmonary capillaries.
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Mechanically-gated Ion Channels01:12

Mechanically-gated Ion Channels

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Mechanically-gated ion channels are proteins found in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell membranes that open in response to mechanical stress. Tension, compression, swelling, and shear stress can alter the conformation of the protein, opening a transmembrane channel that allows the passage of ions for signal transmission. In eukaryotes, mechanically-gated channels are distributed in several regions like the neurons, lungs, skin, bladder, and heart, where they play critical roles in numerous...
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Ion Channels01:19

Ion Channels

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The movement of ions like sodium, potassium, and calcium into and out of the cell is essential to maintain the electrochemical gradient in living cells. The ion channels—a class of membrane transport proteins—help maintain this ionic gradient for the smooth functioning of physiological activities such as maintaining cell size and volume, conducting nerve impulses, and gas and nutrient exchange.
Ion channels are specialized integral membrane proteins on the plasma membrane that allow...
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Reabsorption and Secretion in the DCT and Collecting Duct01:26

Reabsorption and Secretion in the DCT and Collecting Duct

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The early phase of the DCT manages the reabsorption of approximately 10-15% of filtered water, 5–10% of filtered sodium, and 5–10% of filtered chloride. This process is facilitated by Na+–Cl− symporters in apical membranes and sodium-potassium pumps, as well as Cl− leakage channels in basolateral membranes. The early DCT also stands out as a site where parathyroid hormone (PTH) stimulates calcium reabsorption, depending on the body's requirements.
The distal...
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Tension Response at Adherens Junctions01:26

Tension Response at Adherens Junctions

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The adherens junctions that anchor cells together are multi-protein complexes that dynamically adapt to mechanical stimuli such as tensile forces and shear stress. Mechanosensory proteins in these junctions can sense such mechanical stimuli and undergo a shift in their conformation, resulting in an altered function — a process called mechanotransduction.
α-Catenin as a Mechanosensory Protein
The α-catenin of adherens junctions is an allosteric protein with three VH (vinculin...
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ATP Driven Pumps III: V-type Pumps01:30

ATP Driven Pumps III: V-type Pumps

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V-type pumps are ATP-driven pumps found in the vacuolar membranes of plants, yeast, endosomal and lysosomal membranes of animal cells, plasma membranes of a few specialized eukaryotic cells, and some prokaryotes. They are also known as the V1Vo-ATPase, that couple ATP hydrolysis to transport protons against a concentration gradient.
The peripheral or cytosolic V1 domain with eight subunits is involved in ATP hydrolysis. The integral or transmembrane V0 domain containing at least five subunits...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2025

Ex Vivo Analysis of Mechanically Activated Ca2+ Transients in Urothelial Cells
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Ex Vivo Analysis of Mechanically Activated Ca2+ Transients in Urothelial Cells

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Mechanosensitive aquaporins.

Marcelo Ozu1,2, Luciano Galizia1,2, Juan José Alvear-Arias3,4

  • 1Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Biophysical Reviews
|September 8, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Mechanosensitive aquaporins (AQPs) respond to mechanical forces, but their transport rate decreases with increasing tension. Understanding these mechanosensitive proteins is key to cellular mechanical response.

Keywords:
AquaporinsMembrane stretchOsmosisSwellingWater channelWater transport

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Area of Science:

  • Cellular Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Membrane Transport

Background:

  • Cellular systems are constantly subjected to mechanical forces, necessitating proteins that can sense and respond to these stimuli.
  • Aquaporins (AQPs) are crucial for water transport, but their role in mechanosensation is an emerging area of research.
  • While mechanosensitive ion channels are well-studied, the mechanosensitivity of AQPs and its underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanosensitive properties of aquaporins (AQPs).
  • To explore the molecular basis for AQP response to membrane tension.
  • To elucidate the role of AQPs in cellular responses to mechanical forces.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of aquaporins and mechanosensitive ion channels.
  • Hypothesizing molecular mechanisms based on structural motifs like GxxxG.
  • Investigating the role of specific amino acid residues (glycine, histidine) in AQP gating.

Main Results:

  • Aquaporins (AQPs) exhibit mechanosensitivity, responding to membrane tension changes.
  • Unlike ion channels, AQP water transport rate decreases as membrane tension increases.
  • The GxxxG motif and specific residues in loop B are implicated in tension-gated conformational changes.

Conclusions:

  • Mechanosensitive AQPs are critical for cellular adaptation to mechanical stress.
  • Understanding AQP mechanosensitivity provides insights into cellular force perception.
  • Further research into AQP-membrane interactions is needed to fully characterize their gating mechanisms.