Two Transient Receptor Potential Channels at Focal Adhesions.

Recently there have been reports that identify two transient receptor potential channels in cell-matrix junctions known as focal adhesions. These are the calcium channel TRP canonical 7 and the calcium-activated monovalent ion channel, TRP melastatin (TRPM) 4. Here, we report on the occurrence of TRPM4 in focal adhesions of fibroblasts.

Calcium in Cell-Extracellular Matrix Interactions.

In multicellular organisms, the cells are surrounded by persistent, dynamic extracellular matrix (ECM), the largest calcium reservoir in animals. ECM regulates several aspects of cell behavior including cell migration and adhesion, survival, gene expression and differentiation, thus playing a significant role in health and disease. Calcium is reported to be important in the assembly of ECM, where it binds to many ECM proteins.

Sol-gel chemistry in molten Brønsted acids towards "activated" carbons and beyond.

"Chemical activation" using Brønsted acids as chemical agents is widely used to generate activated carbons for various sorption applications. Commercially relevant is especially a process using phosphoric acid as activating agent applied to abundant and inexpensive biomass such as wood or coconut shells. In this manuscript, we revisit the porogenesis mechanism based on experiments involving molecular model compounds and oxygen-free polymer precursors, as well as different molten acids as activating agents.

Keratinocytes negatively regulate the N-cadherin levels of melanoma cells via contact-mediated calcium regulation.

In human skin, melanocytes and their neighboring keratinocytes have a close functional interrelationship. Keratinocytes, which represent the prevalent cell type of human skin, regulate melanocytes through various mechanisms. Here, we use a keratinocyte and melanoma co-culture system to show for the first time that keratinocytes regulate the cell surface expression of N-cadherin through cell-cell contact.

Proteoglycans, ion channels and cell-matrix adhesion.

Cell surface proteoglycans comprise a transmembrane or membrane-associated core protein to which one or more glycosaminoglycan chains are covalently attached. They are ubiquitous receptors on nearly all animal cell surfaces. In mammals, the cell surface proteoglycans include the six glypicans, CD44, NG2 (CSPG4), neuropilin-1 and four syndecans.