Foreword to the special issue on water channel proteins (aquaporins and relatives) in health and disease: 25 Years after the discovery of the first water channel protein, later called aquaporin 1

摘要

The importance of discovery of the water channel proteins (WCPs) for biology has been very well emphasized by Wolburg et al. (2011): "The detection of water-specific membrane channels in red blood cells belongs to the fundamental discoveries in biology of the twentieth century (Benga et al., 1986a; Denker et al., 1988; Preston et al, 1992)." In the over 25 years that passed since the first discovery in the red blood cell membrane of the first water channel protein (Benga et al., 1986a,b) this domain of science became a very hot area of research in molecular cell biology, biochemistry and biophysics, with increasing physiological and medical implications. As thousands of publications appeared on these topics there is a need for overviews of structure-function relationships and medical implications of water channel proteins (WCPs) at the molecular level. This Special Issue of "Molecular Aspects of Medicine" has this aim.