Based on the discovery of a new amino acid transport system in Langerhans cells (LC), various aspects concerning the L-dopa uptake mechanism into human epidermal LC and the energy metabolism of epidermis have been examined and subsequently characterised. The system lacks any characteristics of other described amino acid transport systems in other cell types. The Falck/Hillarp histofluorescence met

Heat processing of vegetables involves the use of temperatures above the physiological limit which affect the cellular structures of the tissue and induce a series of events at cell level that will in turn be reflected in the transport properties of the tissue. One of the most important cellular structures from the mass transport point of view is the cell membrane since it represents the physical

Lymphocytes are important mediators of adaptive immune responses. Naive T lymphocytes circulate in the blood and lymph between different secondary lymphoid organs in search for their specific antigen. Upon activation, lymphocytes change their expression of adhesion molecules and chemokine receptors and become able to enter non-lymphoid tissues where they take part in fighting infections. Selective

The enzyme magnesium chelatase inserts magnesium into protoporphyrin IX (Proto) to produce to magnesium protoporphyrin IX, the first unique intermediate of the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway. Magnesium chelatase is composed of three distinct proteins termed I (molecular weight ~40 kDa), D (~70 kDa) and H (~140 kDa). Defining the individual properties and structure of the magnesium chelatase comp

A new energy regime has recently become accessible in collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Abundant in hadron collisions, the two-jet final state explores the structure of the constituents of matter and the possible emergence of new forces of nature, in the largest momentum transfer collisions produced. The results from searches for phenomena beyond the Standard Model in the dijet angu

In this thesis mechanisms of neuronal damage were investigated in an experimental stroke model i.e focal ischemia. The influence of SD-induced calcium transients on neuronal damage were studied in animals with reduced energy supply. The influence of bioenergetic failure on K+e concentration and Ca2+e homeostasis were also investigated in transient focal ischemia. Moreover, the free radical formati

The main scope of this thesis has been to study and develop new purification methods and also to further develop existing methods for purification to enhance their efficacy. Important parameters in the development of the methods are that they should be suitable for scale-up and possible to be integrated into recovery processes. The studies in this thesis describe that a hydrophobic peptide tag ca

Patients suffering from renal failure must remove extracellular water and waste products from their body in order to survive. One way of doing this is by treatment with peritoneal dialysis (PD). During PD treatment the abdominal cavity is filled and drained continuously with one to three liters of dialysis solution, often containing glucose, which act as an osmotic agent. Glucose creates a pressur

Aquaporins, or Major Intrinsic Proteins (MIPs), are integral proteins that facilitate transport of water and other small neutral solutes across biological membranes. They belong to a well conserved and ancient family of proteins, present in all organisms ranging from bacteria to plants and humans. The aquaporin family in plants is large, indicating complex and regulated water transport within the

Parkinson's disease is characterized by a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, leading to a loss of dopamine in the target structure striatum and development of motor symptoms, such as bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. New experimental treatment strategies for Parkinson's disease are aimed at either preventing the degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons, or a

Most cells are crowded with solutes, enzymes, nucleic acids, structural proteins and membranes. Crowding promotes macromolecular interactions and determines major properties of the cellular environment such as viscosity, diffusion and inhomogeneity. Macromolecular interactions that involve enzymes can affect the kinetic and regulatory properties of these, hence the interactions are part of the met

Plasma and urine concentrations of endogenous proteins are frequently used in the diagnosis of kidney diseases and in studies of glomerular filter function. The main issues addressed in these studies were: storage of urine samples for subsequent protein analysis, use of protein concentrations in urine and in plasma in health and as markers of glomerular diseases, and the application of renal plasm

For young persons with disabilities it is important to be as everyone else and not deviating from the normative in an unwanted way. Assistive devices are products that persons with disabilities can use to get accessibility to our society. Such products enable the person to participate in activities he or she wishes to take part in. However assistive devices are also a sign for disability, indicati

Acute otitis media (AOM) is a common complication after episodes of respiratory tract infections in childhood. Some children have recurrent episodes and they are often called otitis-prone. These children are prone not only to middle-ear diseases but also to other infectious diseases. The aims of the present study of otitis-prone children and controls were to describe the overall illness and need f

Streptomycetes are Gram-positive bacteria with a complex developmental life cycle. They form spores on specialized cells called aerial hyphae, and this sporulation involves alterations in growth, morphogenesis and cell cycle processes like cell division and chromosome segregation. Understanding the developmental mechanisms that streptomycetes have evolved for regulating for example cell division i

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is probably the most common source of treatable disability in the Western world. There are several disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), which have proven to be of therapeutic efficacy in RA, but the lack of a potent, reliable treatment for early RA is a major problem in modern medicine. An obvious line of approach in the quest for better antirheumatic drugs is

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are omega-3 fatty acids, which have health promoting effects. Since they are highly prone to oxidation, they should be protected, in particular DHA. Several lipids containing DHA were evaluated with respect to the ability of the lipids to protect DHA against peroxidation using an HPLC method developed as part of this research. Furthermore,

ECL cells are endocrine/paracrine cells located in the acid-producing part of the stomach. They are important regulators of gastric acid secretion in the stomach by virtue of their histamine synthesizing and secreting capacity. Histamine in turn stimulates parietal cells to secrete acid. The ECL cell also contains the endocrine polypeptide chromogranin A (CGA) and CGA-derived peptides such as panc

The insertion of Mg2+ into protoporphyrin IX represents the first committed step in the chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll biosynthetic pathways. The reaction is catalyzed by the multisubunit enzyme Mg-chelatase, which consists of three subunits, known as I (molecular weight ~40 kDa), D (~70 kDa), and H (~140 kDa). To fully understand this first step in chlorophyll biosynthesis each protein compo

The properties of the basic building blocks of nuclear matter, the quarks, and their interactions are not known in detail, largely because observations are complicated by the confinement of quarks in composite particles. New insights can be gained from the study of nuclear matter in a deconfined phase, like the form of matter that the Universe consited of early in its evolution according to the Bi