Preparing for what's ahead

With healthcare reform on the horizon, healthcare companies and providers are positioning themselves for a new environment in which cost-effective medical treatment is the Holy Grail. Not only will providers be required to measure the efficiency of their treatments, but all parties in the medical-care delivery system will need to share financial risk. In the following pages Modern Healthcare staff members look at how specific industry segments are preparing to face the changes expected during the rest of the 1990s. Industry experts also express their views.

Regional characterization of G-protein subunits in glomeruli, cortices and medullas of the rat kidney

We examined the types of guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory (G) protein subunits in isolated glomeruli, cortices excluding glomeruli and medullas of rat kidneys using bacterial toxin-catalyzed adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) ribosylation and specific immunoblots. ADP ribosylation catalyzed by cholera or pertussis toxin revealed the presence of stimulatory G (Gs) or inhibitory G (Gi) proteins in membranes of the 3 segments of the kidney. Immunoblots further demonstrated the existence of several G-protein subunits, two Gs-protein alpha-subunits (G alpha s: 45 and 52 kD), Gi-protein alpha 1, alpha 2 and alpha 3-subunits (G alpha i1, G alpha i2: 40-41 kD, G alpha i3: 40 kD), bacterial toxin-insensitive G-protein alpha q- and alpha 11-subunits (G alpha q/11: 42 kD) and G-protein beta-subunits (G beta: 35-36 kD), in membranes of the preparations. The predominant subspecies of G alpha s was a 52-kD protein in glomerular membranes and a 45-kD protein in membranes of cortices and medullas. All of the G-protein subunits examined, however, were not detected in cytosolic fractions of glomeruli, cortices and medullas. Thus, we conclude that detectable quantities of several G-protein subunits including the new G-protein subunit, G alpha q/11, are present in membranes of glomeruli, cortices not containing glomeruli and medullas from the rat kidney. Both the existence of G alpha i1 and/or G alpha i2 subunits in glomeruli and the presence of G alpha q/11 subunits in the 3 preparations are new evidence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)