April 22, 2004
UW papers fill journal
Three groups of researchers based at the UW had papers announcing their results in the March 25 issue of the journal Neuron.
A group led by Dr. William Catterall, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, developed a model for a gating hinge in sodium ion channels. The model uses the bacterial sodium channel NaChBac, with a gating hinge at glycine 219.
Dr. Daniel Storm, professor of pharmacology, led a group of researchers at the UW and University of Colorado which found that olfactory sensory neurons can be rescued from apoptosis, or destruction and replacement, by being exposed to odorants. The neurons can then be sensitized to odorants through repeated exposure, rather than being replaced by new neurons that have not been sensitized.
A group led by Dr. James Hurley, professor of biochemistry, found that visual pigment phosphorylation, through cytoplasmic calcium ions, can contribute to light adaptation in the cones of zebrafish. Cytoplasmic calcium also regulates the extent of phosphorylation of unbleached cone pigments, the group found, but neither light nor calcium affects the localization of transducin in cones.
All three articles are available online at the Neuron Web site, http://www.neuron.org.
