Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
Potassium channels are widespread over all kingdoms and play an important role in the maintenance of cellular ionic homeostasis. Kv1.3 is a voltage-gated potassium channel of the Shaker family with a wide tissue expression and a well-defined pharmacology. In recent decades, experiments mainly based on pharmacological modulation of Kv1.3 have highli...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
Despite centuries of investigation, questions and controversies remain regarding the fundamental genesis and motor pattern of swallow. Two significant topics include inspiratory muscle activity during swallow (Schluckatmung, i.e., "swallow-breath") and anatomical boundaries of the swallow pattern generator. We discuss the long history of reports re...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
Peripheral nerve injuries often result in life-altering functional deficits even with optimal management. Unlike the central nervous system, peripheral nerves have the ability to regenerate lost axons after injury; however, axonal regeneration does not equate to full restoration of function. To overcome this physiological shortcoming, advances in n...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
Granzymes are serine proteases previously believed to play exclusive and somewhat redundant roles in lymphocyte-mediated target cell death. However, recent studies have challenged this paradigm. Distinct substrate profiles and functions have since emerged for each granzyme while their dysregulated proteolytic activities have been linked to diverse ...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
Developmental hypoxia has profound and persistent effects on the vertebrate cardiovascular system, but the nature, magnitude and long-term outcome of the hypoxic consequences are species-specific. Here we aim to identify common and novel cardiovascular responses among vertebrates that encounter developmental hypoxia, and we discuss the possible med...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
This review focuses on the physiology of glymphatic solute transport and waste clearance, using evidence from experimental animal models as well as from human studies. Specific topics addressed include the biophysical characteristics of fluid and solute transport in the central nervous system, glymphatic-lymphatic coupling, as well as the role of c...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
The significance of the coupling delay, which is the time required for interactions between coupled oscillators, in various oscillatory dynamics has been investigated mathematically for more than three decades, but its biological significance has been revealed only recently. In the segmentation clock, which regulates the periodic formation of somit...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
The intertwined relationship between structure and function has been key to understanding human organ physiology and disease pathogenesis. An organ-on-a-chip (organ chip) is a bioengineered microfluidic cell culture device lined by living cells and tissues that recapitulates organ-level functions in vitro. This is accomplished by recreating organ-s...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
Laboratory rodents and cold-adapted animals in the wild use a significant amount of the energy derived from food intake for heat generation. Thermogenesis involving mitochondrial uncoupling in the brown adipose tissue differs quantitatively in mice, humans, and cold-adapted animals and could be an important ally to combat obesity if humans were pre...
Published in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
The mammalian liver must cope with various metabolic and physiological changes that normally recur every day and result primarily from rest-activity and fasting-feeding cycles. In this article, I present evidence supporting a temporal compartmentalization of rhythmic hepatic metabolic processes into four main clusters: regulation of energy homeosta...
