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Effect of Calf Serum on Sodium Pump Density in HeLa Cells

Nature New Biology volume 242, pages 115–117 (1973)Cite this article

Abstract

THE cardiac glycoside ouabain binds specifically to the Na pump on cell membranes, so that under defined conditions it can be used to estimate the number of these sites1. When the Na pump of cultured cells is partially blocked by ouabain2 or by ethacrynate (Table 1) the cells respond by increasing their number of pump sites. Our hypothesis for this effect is that the rise in [Na]1 which follows partial blocking of the pumps causes new pumps to be produced or exposed2. The present experiments were started to test this hypothesis in another way, by producing cells with a high [Na]1 by growing them in a low potassium medium. Rather to our surprise we found that this produced a large drop in the number of Na pump sites in these cells. We think this is mainly due to an effect of the dialysed serum in these experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiology Department, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife

    J. F. LAMB, LESLEY J. BOARDMAN, J. P. NEWTON & J. F. AITON

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  1. J. F. LAMB
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  2. LESLEY J. BOARDMAN
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  3. J. P. NEWTON
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  4. J. F. AITON
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LAMB, J., BOARDMAN, L., NEWTON, J. et al. Effect of Calf Serum on Sodium Pump Density in HeLa Cells. Nature New Biology 242, 115–117 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio242115a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio242115a0

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