Defining the role of cyclic nucleotide-gated cation channels in adult lung fluid homeostasis.

定义环核苷酸门控阳离子通道在成人肺液稳态中的作用。

• 批准号: G0600821/1
• 负责人: Paul Kemp
• 金额: $ 67.63万
• 依托单位: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0600821%2F1
• 关键词: Defining; role; cyclic; nucleotide; gated

In the womb, the baby?s lungs are filled with fluid. At birth, this fluid is removed so that the baby can begin to breathe. The process of removing this fluid involves the opening of tiny, specialised molecules known as channels. As the child grows to adulthood, these channels must stay open in order to prevent the lung filling up totally with fluid. If they do not, the lung begins to fill with fluid again and breathing becomes very difficult, finally resulting in serious danger. This is what often happens in: 1) diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, smoking-related illness and infections where normal liquid movement is dramatically altered and; 2) heart failure, when excess fluid collects in the lung very frequently. Although we know a lot about the channels which open at birth, we know very little about how they work in the adult lung. In fact, we are still not certain which ones are important or where exactly they are situated within the lung. We will answer these important questions using our new methods of studying these channels and their effects in small pieces of lung and in whole lung. For the first time, these studies will allow us to find out which channels are present, how they behave and which parts of the lung are most important. Why do we need to know this? This new knowledge will tell us how the adult lung normally works and will help us to understand what happens when it goes wrong. Increasing our detailed knowledge of how the lung normally deals with fluid has the potential to be applied to all the conditions mentioned above and our results will help doctors design ways of helping people to recover more quickly. This might be by the new use of medicines already available or by stimulating manufacture of new drugs which will target the mechanism discovered by our research work.

在子宫里，婴儿的肺部充满液体。出生时，这种液体会被去除，以便婴儿可以开始呼吸。去除这种液体的过程涉及打开称为通道的微小特殊分子。当孩子长大成人时，这些通道必须保持开放，以防止肺部完全充满液体。如果不这样做，肺部就会再次充满液体，呼吸变得非常困难，最终导致严重危险。这种情况经常发生在： 1) 哮喘、慢性支气管炎、囊性纤维化、吸烟相关疾病和感染等正常液体运动发生显着改变的疾病； 2) 心力衰竭，当过量液体经常聚集在肺部时。尽管我们对出生时打开的通道了解很多，但我们对它们在成人肺部如何发挥作用却知之甚少。事实上，我们仍然不确定哪些是重要的，或者它们到底位于肺部的什么位置。我们将使用研究这些通道及其对小块肺和整个肺的影响的新方法来回答这些重要问题。这些研究将首次让我们了解存在哪些通道、它们的行为方式以及肺部的哪些部分最重要。为什么我们需要知道这一点？这些新知识将告诉我们成人肺的正常工作方式，并帮助我们了解当它出现问题时会发生什么。增加我们对肺部通常如何处理液体的详细了解有可能应用于上述所有疾病，我们的结果将帮助医生设计出帮助人们更快康复的方法。这可能是通过现有药物的新用途或刺激新药的生产，这些新药将针对我们研究工作发现的机制。