Brismar group - Bioimaging

"We continuously work towards higher resolution, better quantification and around bleaching limits, through technological breakthroughs and in a tight colaboration with the Karolinska Institute."

Prof. Hjalmar Brismar, Head of Bioimaging

A new role for an old enzyme

Na,K-ATPase as a signal transducer:
Na,K-ATPase (NKA) is, in addition to its well known function as an ion transporter, also a signal transducer. When activated by ouabain, or other ligands, it binds to the inositol 1,4, 5 triphosphate receptor (IP3R), triggers intracellular calcium oscillations, activates NF-κB, increases BclxL expression and protects from apoptosis. Other downstream effects include stimulation of cell proliferation. Low doses of ouabain are found to protect from renal damage in rat models of kidney disease and from adverse developmental programming of rat embryonic kidney. Current projects range from studies of intra-molecular allosteric modulation of the NKA catalytic subunit, to mouse models of interrupted NKA-IP3R interaction and rat and mouse models of renal disease. Signaling function and downstream effects of a novel neuron specific ligands are examined in hippocampus.