MscS opens as a result of membrane tension changes, thereby releasing small solutes and effectively acting as an osmotic safety valve.
The most direct experiments would involve investigations of axial force generation and/or membrane tension changes in individual stereocilia under somatic voltage clamp conditions with the MET channels blocked.
As LPC incorporates itself into the outer leaflet of a lipid bilayer, it introduces membrane tension, changes the lipid pressure profile, and triggers the MscL to open (Perozo et al., 2002a, 2002b).
Here we show that a planarizable push pull fluorescent probe called FliptR (fluorescent lipid tension reporter) can monitor changes in membrane tension by changing its fluorescence lifetime as a function of the twist between its fluorescent groups.
A consequence of the osmotic influx of water in vesicles embedded in hypotonic media is the build-up of lateral membrane tension due to changes in the balance of forces within the bilayer producing high energy states (compared to isotonic relaxed vesicles) (Needham and Nunn, 1990).
Altered cell shape leads to reorganization of the cytoskeleton as well as changes to membrane tension, curvature, and composition, changing the context in which intracellular signaling takes place.
The modulation of ion channels by other FATs (e.g., myristic and arachidonic acids) occurs through indirect effects that involve their metabolic conversion to active oxygenated metabolites and other direct effects [ 24] by accumulating FATs in the phospholipid membrane bilayer and modifying membrane tension, leading to conformational changes in ion channels and altering ion conductance [ 25].
Unlike the 3 other agents that alter electromotility (salicylate, lanthanides, membrane tension), chlorpromazine did not change peak capacitance (Cmpk), which varies directly with maximal electromotile gain.
As a membrane reserve, caveolae could affect the activation of mechanosensitive channels that regulate cell volume (like ICl,swell) by limiting increases in membrane tension for a given change in cell volume.
However, caveolae's property as a membrane reserve is also likely to be relevant to processes like volume regulation that depend on changes in membrane tension.
During swelling, ICl,swell is considered to be acting as a mechanosensor responding to changes in membrane tension, rather than to decreased intracellular osmolarity, because it can also be activated in response to other mechanical stimuli [9], [10].
