Adv Exp Med Biol
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We recently reported that volatile anaesthetics directly depress the isolated glomus cell response to hypoxia, halothane more so than sevoflurane, in a manner mimicking the action of these agents on the human hypoxic ventilatory response. We wished to extend these investigations to action of another agent (isoflurane), and we planned to examine the effects of this agent and halothane on background K(+) channels. In an isolated rat pup glomus cell preparation intracellular calcium [Ca(2+)]i (measured using indo-1 dye), halothane and isoflurane (0.45-2.73 MAC) depressed the Ca(2+) transient response to hypoxia (p = 0.028), halothane more than isoflurane (p < 0.001). ⋯ When glomus cells were exposed to a depolarising stimulus using 100 mM K(+), both halothane and isoflurane modestly reduced the magnitude of the resulting Ca(2+) transient (by 44% and 10% respectively, p < 0.001). We conclude that the effect of volatile anaesthetics on the glomus cell response to hypoxia is mediated at least in part by their effect on background K(+) channels, and that this plausibly explains their whole-body effect. An additional effect on voltage-gated Ca(2+) is also possible.
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We have recently developed transgenic X. laevis models of retinitis pigmentosa based on the rhodopsin P23H mutation in the context of rhodopsin cDNAs derived from several different species. The mutant rhodopsin in these animals is expressed at low levels, with levels of export from the endoplasmic reticulum to the outer segment that depend on the cDNA context. ⋯ Rescue of light dependent retinal degeneration by dark rearing is in turn dependent on the capacity of the mutant rhodopsin to bind chromophore. Our results indicate that rhodopsin chromophore can act in vivo as a pharmacological chaperone for P23H rhodopsin, and that light-dependent retinal degeneration caused by P23H rhodopsin is due to reduced chromophore binding.