35 research outputs found
Extracellular K(+) rapidly controls NaCl cotransporter phosphorylation in the native distal convoluted tubule by Cl(-) -dependent and independent mechanisms.
High dietary potassium (K(+) ) intake dephosphorylates and inactivates the NaCl cotransporter (NCC) in the renal distal convoluted tubule (DCT). Using several ex vivo models, we show that physiological changes in extracellular K(+) , similar to those occurring after a K(+) rich diet, are sufficient to promote a very rapid dephosphorylation of NCC in native DCT cells. Although the increase of NCC phosphorylation upon decreased extracellular K(+) appears to depend on cellular Cl(-) fluxes, the rapid NCC dephosphorylation in response to increased extracellular K(+) is not Cl(-) -dependent. The Cl(-) -dependent pathway involves the SPAK/OSR1 kinases, whereas the Cl(-) independent pathway may include additional signalling cascades.
A high dietary potassium (K(+) ) intake causes a rapid dephosphorylation, and hence inactivation, of the thiazide-sensitive NaCl cotransporter (NCC) in the renal distal convoluted tubule (DCT). Based on experiments in heterologous expression systems, it was proposed that changes in extracellular K(+) concentration ([K(+) ]ex ) modulate NCC phosphorylation via a Cl(-) -dependent modulation of the with no lysine (K) kinases (WNK)-STE20/SPS-1-44 related proline-alanine-rich protein kinase (SPAK)/oxidative stress-related kinase (OSR1) kinase pathway. We used the isolated perfused mouse kidney technique and ex vivo preparations of mouse kidney slices to test the physiological relevance of this model on native DCT. We demonstrate that NCC phosphorylation inversely correlates with [K(+) ]ex , with the most prominent effects occurring around physiological plasma [K(+) ]. Cellular Cl(-) conductances and the kinases SPAK/OSR1 are involved in the phosphorylation of NCC under low [K(+) ]ex . However, NCC dephosphorylation triggered by high [K(+) ]ex is neither blocked by removing extracellular Cl(-) , nor by the Cl(-) channel blocker 4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2'-stilbenedisulphonic acid. The response to [K(+) ]ex on a low extracellular chloride concentration is also independent of significant changes in SPAK/OSR1 phosphorylation. Thus, in the native DCT, [K(+) ]ex directly and rapidly controls NCC phosphorylation by Cl(-) -dependent and independent pathways that involve the kinases SPAK/OSR1 and a yet unidentified additional signalling mechanism
Triassic rift-related meta-granites in the Internal Hellenides, Greece
The Serbo-Macedonian Massif is a basement complex in the Internal Hellenides of northern Greece, situated between the Vardar Zone to the west and the Rhodope Massif to the east. The Serbo-Macedonian Massif comprises several distinct basement units interpreted as terranes, the largest of which is the Gondwana-derived Vertiskos Terrane in the northwestern and central parts of the massif. A series of leucocratic meta-granites intrude the Silurian orthogneiss basement of the Vertiskos Terrane. No similar granites are found in any of the other units of the Internal Hellenides. The meta-granites have a pronounced crustal within-plate signature which is visible in lithology, major- and trace-element geochemistry and the Sr isotopic compositions. These intrusions were dated using the Pb-Pb single-zircon evaporation method, and yielded a Triassic age of between 240.7 ± 2.6 Ma and 221.7 ± 1.9 Ma on 17 samples, with a mean age of 228.3 ± 5.6 Ma. The zircons are purely magmatic, indicating that ages are primary crystallization ages. A Rb-Sr errorchron of the whole-rock samples of the Arnea granite yielded an age of 231.6 ± 9.9 Ma (MSWD = 82), and a mean 87Sr86Sr initial ratio is 0.7142, indicating a crust-dominated source, and suggesting an A-type origin for the granites. The A-type meta-granites together with mafic intrusive bodies (amphibolites) in the Vertiskos Terrane may be evidence of Triassic rifting that led to the formation of a branch of Neotethys (Vardar-Meliata Ocean). Similar rock associations are also exposed in the Cyclades, and in massifs of the wider eastern Mediterranean realm related to the Gondwana-derived Hun Terrane, indicating that the Arnea-type granites are representatives of a major regional rifting event in Triassic times. © 2009 Cambridge University Press
Late Proterozoic and Silurian basement units within the Serbo-Macedonian Massif, northern Greece: The significance of terrane accretion in the Hellenides
The Serbo-Macedonian Massif (SMM) is a large, elongate basement complex in the Internal Hellenides, which stretches from Serbia to the Chalkidiki Peninsula in northern Greece. As a result of similarities in lithology and structural grain, the SMM has long been considered part of the adjacent Rhodope Massif. Recent work, however, based on precise geochronological and geochemical data, has revealed that the SMM is not a homogeneous crustal entity but made up of several crustal units, only one of which is related to the Rhodope Massif. One of these units, the Pirgadikia Unit, occurs as a tectonic sliver in a mélange zone bordering the western margin of the SMM that separates it from the adjacent Vardar Zone. The Pirgadikia Unit consists of leucocratic mylonitic para- and orthogneisses. According to trace-element and Sr-isotope data, the orthogneisses originated in a magmatic arc setting. Dating of this unit by the Pb-Pb single-zircon evaporation method yielded Pan-African ages of 555.8 ± 2.6 Ma on a paragneiss collected near the village of Taxiarchis, and two ages of 570.0 ± 7.0 Ma and 587.6 ± 3.4 Ma on orthogneisses from the quayside at Pirgadikia village. The rocks enveloping this Late Precambrian basement complex are gneisses of the Vertiskos Unit. This unit, which is regarded as a distinct terrane, occupies the northwestern part of the Greek SMM and consists of Silurian orthogneisses with a magmatic arc signature and subordinate metasediments. Orthogneisses of the Vertiskos Unit adjacent to the mylonites of the Pirgadikia Unit gave Pb-Pb ages of between 428.2 ± 1.2 Ma and 433.0 ± 2.1 Ma. One of these samples was additionally dated by the conventional U-Pb method. This sample has three concordant zircon grains confirming a Silurian intrusion age and two inherited cores pointing to an older basement into which precursor rocks to the Silurian gneisses were intruded. The upper intercept of a Concordia plot yielded an age of c. 2.5 Ga, which is a common age in the cratons of Gondwana. The Pan-African age of the Pirgadikia Unit and the inherited ages of the Vertiskos Unit support the notion that these units are terranes derived from Gondwana. They were finally accreted to the Hellenic orogen during the closure of one of the branches of the Tethys Ocean. The presence of exotic terranes in the Internal Hellenides contradicts the hypothesis that this part of the Hellenides formed a stable hinterland during the Alpine phase and thus the Hellenides can be considered an accretionary orogen. © The Geological Society of London 2006
Serbo-Macedonian revisited: A Silurian basement terrane from northern Gondwana in the Internal Hellenides, Greece
New geochronological and geochemical data on basement orthogneisses from the Vertiskos Unit of the Serbo-Macedonian Massif (SMM), Internal Hellenides, northern Greece, are used in order to constrain the pre-Alpine tectonic history of the basement units in the metamorphic hinterland of the Hellenides. The prevailing rock types in the Vertiskos crystalline basement are coarse-grained biotite augengneisses with subordinate leucocratic muscovite gneisses and two-mica gneisses. Zircon Pb-Pb and U-Pb ages on 20 samples range from 425.9 ± 4.2 Ma to 443.4 ± 5.5 Ma with a mean of 432.2 ± 3.2 Ma and are interpreted as primary crystallisation ages of the basement granites on the basis of the magmatic internal structure of the zircon grains. Trace-element and isotope geochemistry of the gneisses show that they originated in a magmatic-arc setting, but also contain material from pre-existing continental crust. The rocks are slightly peraluminous and some leucocratic gneisses are strongly depleted in incompatible trace elements. The zircon ages document an early Silurian magmatic phase in the Internal Hellenides. The association of lithologies and ages is distinctly different from that of the adjacent basement massifs. This difference in basement provenance and the fact that the Vertiskos Unit is bordered by ophiolitic material both to the west and to the east leads to the conclusion that this part of the SMM is an exotic terrane of northern Gondwanan origin, which was finally accreted to its present position during the Alpine orogeny. The Vertiskos Terrane may have been part of the Hun Superterrane, which evolved at the northern active continental margin of Gondwana in the early Palaeozoic and rifted away from it during the opening of the Rheic Ocean in the Cambrian to Silurian. Parts of this superterrane such as the Vertiskos Terrane are present throughout the Variscan and Alpine orogens. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Late Proterozoic and Silurian basement units within the Serbo-Macedonian Massif, northern Greece: The significance of terrane accretion in the Hellenides
The Serbo-Macedonian Massif (SMM) is a large, elongate basement complex in the Internal Hellenides, which stretches from Serbia to the Chalkidiki Peninsula in northern Greece. As a result of similarities in lithology and structural grain, the SMM has long been considered part of the adjacent Rhodope Massif. Recent work, however, based on precise geochronological and geochemical data, has revealed that the SMM is not a homogeneous crustal entity but made up of several crustal units, only one of which is related to the Rhodope Massif. One of these units, the Pirgadikia Unit, occurs as a tectonic sliver in a mélange zone bordering the western margin of the SMM that separates it from the adjacent Vardar Zone. The Pirgadikia Unit consists of leucocratic mylonitic para- and orthogneisses. According to trace-element and Sr-isotope data, the orthogneisses originated in a magmatic arc setting. Dating of this unit by the Pb-Pb single-zircon evaporation method yielded Pan-African ages of 555.8 ± 2.6 Ma on a paragneiss collected near the village of Taxiarchis, and two ages of 570.0 ± 7.0 Ma and 587.6 ± 3.4 Ma on orthogneisses from the quayside at Pirgadikia village. The rocks enveloping this Late Precambrian basement complex are gneisses of the Vertiskos Unit. This unit, which is regarded as a distinct terrane, occupies the northwestern part of the Greek SMM and consists of Silurian orthogneisses with a magmatic arc signature and subordinate metasediments. Orthogneisses of the Vertiskos Unit adjacent to the mylonites of the Pirgadikia Unit gave Pb-Pb ages of between 428.2 ± 1.2 Ma and 433.0 ± 2.1 Ma. One of these samples was additionally dated by the conventional U-Pb method. This sample has three concordant zircon grains confirming a Silurian intrusion age and two inherited cores pointing to an older basement into which precursor rocks to the Silurian gneisses were intruded. The upper intercept of a Concordia plot yielded an age of c. 2.5 Ga, which is a common age in the cratons of Gondwana. The Pan-African age of the Pirgadikia Unit and the inherited ages of the Vertiskos Unit support the notion that these units are terranes derived from Gondwana. They were finally accreted to the Hellenic orogen during the closure of one of the branches of the Tethys Ocean. The presence of exotic terranes in the Internal Hellenides contradicts the hypothesis that this part of the Hellenides formed a stable hinterland during the Alpine phase and thus the Hellenides can be considered an accretionary orogen. © The Geological Society of London 2006
The basement of the Mount Athos peninsula, northern Greece: insights from geochemistry and zircon ages
The basement of the Mount Athos peninsula, northern Greece: Insights from geochemistry and zircon ages
The Mount Athos Peninsula is situated in the south-easternmost part of the Chalkidiki Peninsula in northern Greece. It belongs to the Serbo-Macedonian Massif (SMM), a large basement massif within the Internal Hellenides. The south-eastern part of the Mount Athos peninsula is built by fine-grained banded biotite gneisses and migmatites forming a domal structure. The southern tip of the peninsula, which also comprises Mount Athos itself, is built by limestone, marble and low-grade metamorphic rocks of the Chortiatis Unit. The northern part and the majority of the western shore of the Mount Athos peninsula are composed of highly deformed rocks belonging to a tectonic mélange termed the Athos-Volvi-Suture Zone (AVZ), which separates two major basement units: the Vertiskos Terrane in the west and the Kerdillion Unit in the east. The rock-types in this mélange range from metasediments, marbles and gneisses to amphibolites, eclogites and peridotites. The gneisses are tectonic slivers of the adjacent basement complexes. The mélange zone and the gneisses were intruded by granites (Ierissos, Ouranoupolis and Gregoriou). The Ouranoupolis intrusion obscures the contact between the mélange and the gneisses. The granites are only slightly deformed and therefore postdate the accretionary event that assembled the units and created the mélange. Pb-Pb- and U-Pb-SHRIMP-dating of igneous zircons of the gneisses and granites of the eastern Athos peninsula in conjunction with geochemical and isotopic analyses are used to put Athos into the context of a regional tectonic model. The ages form three clusters: The basement age is indicated by two samples that yielded Permo-Carboniferous U-Pb-ages of 292.6 ± 2.9 Ma and 299.4 ± 3.5 Ma. The main magmatic event of the granitoids now forming the gneiss dome is dated by Pb-Pb-ages between 140.0 ± 2.6 Ma and 155.7 ± 5.1 Ma with a mean of 144.7 ± 2.4 Ma. A within-error identical age of 146.6 ± 2.3 Ma was obtained by the U-Pb-SHRIMP method. This Late Jurassic age is also known from the Kerdillion Unit and the Rhodope Terrane. The rather undeformed granites are interpreted as piercing plutons. The small granite stocks sampled have Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary ages of 66.8 ± 0.8 Ma and 68.0 ± 1.0 Ma (U-Pb-SHRIMP)/62.8 ± 3.9 Ma (Pb-Pb). The main accretionary event was according to these data in the Late Jurassic since all younger rocks show little or no deformation. The age distribution together with the geochemical and isotopic signature and the lithology indicates that the eastern part of the Mount Athos peninsula is part of a large-scale gneiss dome also building the Kerdillion Unit of the eastern SMM and the Rhodope Massif. This finding extends the area of this dome significantly to the south and indicates that the tectonic boundary between the SMM and the Rhodope Massif lies within the AVZ. © 2011 Springer-Verlag