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Isometric exercise training (IET) has been recognized for its association with lowering resting blood pressure in adults with and without hypertension. While IET has been shown to lower blood pressure in many people, little is known about the effects of IET on blood pressure when performed by active cardiopulmonary rehabilitation patients.

Multidrug efflux is activated at fertilization in sea urchin eggs, but it is unclear how cortical reorganization initiates transport. Using structured illumination microscopy, we found that the multidrug transporter ABCB1a translocates along polymerizing actin filaments to the microvillar tips. This short-range (micrometer scale) translocation is necessary for up-regulation of efflux activity.

Ion selectivity of metazoan voltage-gated Na+channels is critical for neuronal signaling and has long been attributed to a ring of four conserved amino acids that constitute the ion selectivity filter (SF) at the channel pore. Yet, in addition to channels with a preference for Ca2+ions, the expression and characterization of Na+channel homologs from the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, a member of the early-branching metazoan phylum Cnidaria, revealed a sodium-selective channel bearing a noncanonical SF. Mutagenesis and physiological assays suggest that pore elements additional to the SF determine the preference for Na+in this channel. Phylogenetic analysis assigns the NematostellaNa+-selective channel to a channel group unique to Cnidaria, which diverged >540 million years ago from Ca2+-conducting Na+channel homologs. The identification of Cnidarian Na+-selective ion channels distinct from the channels of bilaterian animals indicates that selectivity for Na+in neuronal signaling emerged independently in these two animal lineages.