Studies of a Catecholamine Transporter in Catecholamine     Storage Granules
{'Code': '08090200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'IOS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems'}}
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Neurotransmitters are chemicals which allow nerves to communicate               with other nerves and organelles.  Adrenaline (epinephrine) is a                catecholamine type of neurotransmitter stored in the adrenal                    gland and released in times of stress.  The adrenaline is stored                inside chromaffin cells in small vesicles known as chromaffin                   granules.  The concentration of free adrenaline in the cytosol of               the cell is low (micromolar range).  In contrast, the inside of                 the chromaffin cell is packed with adrenaline molecules at                      concentrations as high as 0.5 M.  When the nerve is stimulated,                 the granules migrate to the cell membrane, fuse with the membrane               and release contents into the bloodstream.  The long range                      objective of this project is to determine the mechanism by which                adrenaline is transported into these chromaffin granules.  What                 is known so far is that a transporter molecule located in the                   membrane of the chromaffin granule acts to shuttle adrenaline                   across the chromaffin granule membrane against a high                           concentration gradient.  Not much is known about this molecule at               all, except that it needs energy to function.  This energy is                   provided by a Mg-ATPase enzyme.  The Mg-ATPase enzyme uses the                  energy produced from the hydrolysis of ATP to shuttle protons to                the inside of the granule.  These protons act to produce a pH                   gradient between the inside of the granule and the cytosol.  In                 addition, the protons act to produce a positive charge on the                   inside of the granule resulting in a membrane potential.  The                   driving force for the transport process appears to be both the                  membrane potential and the pH gradient.  Major questions to be                  addressed are:  What are the characteristics of the transporter                 molecule? How does this membrane potential and pH gradient act to               drive the transporter?  Is this transporter regulated directly by               some chemical or is the synthesis of the transporter regulated?                 How do the characteristics of this transporter compare to those                 of other transporter molecules transporting adrenaline, other                   biogenic amines or molecules in general?  Biogenic amines                       (neurotransmitters similar in structure to adrenaline) are stored               in vesicles in the brain, and are transported into platelets; the               biogenic amine histamine is stored in mast cells.  Is the                       transporter in these vesicles different from that in the                        chromaffin granule?  Knowledge of transporter molecules in                      general is limited.  Studies on the adrenaline transporter will                 provide added insight into the general methods by which cells                   transport chemicals across biological membranes.  One of the                    first steps necessary for studying the transporter is to purify                 the transporter and to identify the gene which codes for the                    transporter.  The studies proposed in this research project are                 initial steps needed for the purification of the transporter and                identification of the gene coding for the transporter.
[{'FirstName': 'Jean', 'LastName': 'Deupree', 'EmailAddress': None, 'StartDate': '08/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}, {'FirstName': 'Marvin', 'LastName': 'Pankaskie', 'EmailAddress': None, 'StartDate': '08/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Co-Principal Investigator'}, {'FirstName': 'Pat', 'LastName': 'Iversen', 'EmailAddress': None, 'StartDate': '08/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Co-Principal Investigator'}, {'FirstName': 'Theodore', 'LastName': 'Mahowald', 'EmailAddress': None, 'StartDate': '08/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Co-Principal Investigator'}]
{'Name': 'University of Nebraska Medical Center', 'CityName': 'Omaha', 'ZipCode': '681987835', 'PhoneNumber': '4025597456', 'StreetAddress': '987835 Nebraska Medical Center', 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Nebraska', 'StateCode': 'NE'}
{'Code': '1192', 'Text': 'NEURONAL AND GLIAL MECHANISMS'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8800887.xml'}