Osmotic regulation of bile acid transport, apoptosis and proliferation in rat liver.

Changes in mammalian cell volume as induced by either anisoosmolarity, hormones, nutrients or oxidative stress critically contribute to the regulation of metabolism, membrane transport, gene expression and the susceptibility to cellular stress. Osmosensing, i.e. the registration of cell volume changes, triggers signal transduction pathways towards effector pathways (osmosignaling) which link alterations of cell volume to changes in cell function. This review summarizes our own work on the understanding of how osmosensing and osmosignaling integrate into the overall context of bile acid transport, growth factor signaling and the execution of apoptotic programs.