ReviewThe Journal of membrane biology2004
What are aquaporins for?
Review in The Journal of membrane biology, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 220 citations in OpenAlex.
- Population Genomics Provides Novel Insights Into Evolutionary Relationships and Local Adaptation of Two EcotypesEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Mitigating drought stress in fenugreek through synergistic effects of alanine and potassium-enriched biochar.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- How sterols affect protoplasts plasma membrane water permeability and their volume under osmotic shock.Journal of plant research · 2025Article
- Membrane tension-dependent conformational change of Isoleucine 106 of loop B diminishes water permeability in FaPIP2;1.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2024Article
- Metabolite transport across central nervous system barriers.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2024Review
- Genomic insights into the seawater adaptation in Cyprinidae.BMC biology · 2024Article
- Mechanosensitive aquaporins.Biophysical reviews · 2023Review
- Multi-omics Investigation of Freeze Tolerance in the Amur Sleeper, an Aquatic Ectothermic Vertebrate.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the aquaporin gene family reveals the role in the salinity adaptability in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).Genes & genomics · 2022Article
- Hydrostatic pressure as a driver of cell and tissue morphogenesis.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2022Review
- Dynamics and stabilization mechanism of mitochondrial cristae morphofunction associated with turgor-driven cardiolipin biosynthesis under salt stress conditions.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Cerebrospinal fluid production by the choroid plexus: a century of barrier research revisited.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2022Review
- Gandan Oral Liquid Improves Exudative Pneumonia by Upregulating Bacteria Clearance via Regulating AQP5 and MUC5AC in Rats.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- A PIP-mediated osmotic stress signaling cascade plays a positive role in the salt tolerance of sugarcane.BMC plant biology · 2021Article
- Overexpression of theInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- TheInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- Are Aquaporins Expressed in Stomatal Complexes Promising Targets to Enhance Stomatal Dynamics?Frontiers in plant science · 2020Article
- Review
- Water transport and homeostasis as a major function of erythrocytes.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2018Article
- Review
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The prime function of aquaporins (AQPs) is generally believed to be that of increasing water flow rates across membranes by raising their osmotic or hydraulic permeability. In addition, this applies to other small solutes of physiological importance. Notable applications of this 'simple permeability hypothesis' (SPH) have been epithelial fluid transport in animals, water exchanges associated with transpiration, growth and stress in plants, and osmoregulation in microbes. We first analyze the need for such increased permeabilities and conclude that in a range of situations at the cellular, subcellular and tissue levels the SPH cannot satisfactorily account for the presence of AQPs. The analysis includes an examination of the effects of the genetic elimination or reduction of AQPs (knockouts, antisense transgenics and null mutants). These either have no effect, or a partial effect that is difficult to explain, and we argue that they do not support the hypothesis beyond showing that AQPs are involved in the process under examination. We assume that since AQPs are ubiquitous, they must have an important function and suggest that this is the detection of osmotic and turgor pressure gradients. A mechanistic model is proposed--in terms of monomer structure and changes in the tetrameric configuration of AQPs in the membrane--for how AQPs might function as sensors. Sensors then signal within the cell to control diverse processes, probably as part of feedback loops. Finally, we examine how AQPs as sensors may serve animal, plant and microbial cells and show that this sensor hypothesis can provide an explanation of many basic processes in which AQPs are already implicated. Aquaporins are molecules in search of a function; osmotic and turgor sensors are functions in search of a molecule.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.