Issues

JGP study reveals that low temperatures reduce force production in mammalian skeletal muscle by trapping myosin motors in a refractory state unable to bind actin.

Rudnick and Sandtner review the history of serotonin transporter research in light of structural and electrophysiological advances.

Evidence on two- and three-state models of the calcium regulation models of muscle contractions remain in favor of three-state models.

The active force of mammalian skeletal muscle is reduced at low temperatures. Caremani et al. reveal that this is due to the rise of a population of myosin motors captured in a refractory state insensitive to muscle activation.

This paper describes the first extensive study of voltage-clamp recordings from WT and mutant mouse cone photoreceptors made from dark-adapted retinas without fluorescent markers. Cones can continue to adapt rapidly in bright light, even without known mechanisms of transduction modulation.

Purkinje neurons express voltage-gated Na channels and auxiliary proteins that facilitate rapid firing. White et al. find that Na current in isolated Purkinje cells is unaffected by loss of Na_Vβ4 subunits, but transient current is briefer and resurgent current is reduced without the FGF14 protein.

Meyer et al. establish the suitability of the sodium-sensitive indicator dye CoroNaGreen for fluorescence lifetime imaging inside cells. This approach represents a valuable tool for quantitative and dynamic determination of intracellular sodium concentrations independent of dye concentration.