Recent advances in aquaporin / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

Aquaporins are small integral membrane proteins that selectively transport water and some small solutes in mammals, plants and lower organisms. Continued studies of the aquaporins are providing detailed tissue localization and the important physiological roles of aquaporins in urinary, respiratory, digestive and nervous systems. Based on the importance of aquaporin studies in the field of structural chemistry in biomembranes, American scientist Peter Agre won the 2003 Chemistry Nobel Prize for the discovery of water channels.