The laboratory of transport ATPases was founded in 1982 with the purpose of raising the effectiveness of fundamental researches in the field of membranology and bioenergetics. The investigations directed to elucidation of the regulatory mechanisms of one of the key ion-transporting cell systems--Na+, K(+)-ATPase, have been conducted for this period. The regulatory role of Mg and Ca ions in the process of functioning of this membrane-bound enzyme is investigated in detail. It is established that the process of Na+, K(+)-ATPase inhibition with Mg-ions is combined and accompanied with the competition with Na+ for its binding sites, indirect influence on K-sites and relaxation of the intersubunit interactions. Ca ions are the next effective modulators of the enzyme catalytic activity and sensitivity to the specific inhibitor ouabain. Great attention was also focused in the laboratory on the employment of detergents as effective tools for the investigation of biomembrane, that made it possible not only to solubilize different membrane components, to study their protein and lipid composition but also to purify the integral membrane proteins, such as Na+, K(+)-ATPase, in functionally active state and study their structural and functional relationships in detail. Thus, the large amount of experimental data on the use of detergents for the purification of Na+, K(+)-ATPase and elucidation of the mechanisms of its functioning was obtained. Since 1987 the investigations of the catalytic properties of Na+, K(+)-ATPase isozymes had been conducting in the laboratory.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)