Effective method for activity assay of lipase from Chromobacterium viscosum.
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A method was devised for activity assay of the lipase [triacylglycerol acyl-hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.3] excreted from Chromobacterium viscosum into the culture medium; olive oil emulsified with the aid of Adekatol 45-S-8 (a non-ionic detergent, the ethoxylate of linear sec-alcohols having chain lengths of 10--16 carbon atoms) was used as the substrate. This method was specifically effective for Chromobacterium lipase acitvity assay, and was approximately twice as sensitive as the conventional method, in which polyvinyl alcohol is used for the emulsification of the substrate. (+info)
Effects of short chain alkanols on the inducible nitric oxide synthase in a glial cell line.
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1. Ethanol inhibits inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in C6 glioma cells by an unknown mechanism. Because relatively high concentrations are needed for inhibition in drug-naive cells (IC50 approximately = to 150 mM), suppression due to cytotoxicity is one possible mechanism that has not been ruled out. Therefore, the present study examined the effects of ethanol and other alkanols on C6 glioma cell viability and iNOS activity to better understand the mechanism for inhibition. 2. iNOS expression was induced in cell culture with lipopolysaccharide and phorbol ester treatment. Nitrite accumulation in culture medium, the in vitro conversion of [3H]-L-arginine to [3H]-L-citrulline, and immunoblotting were used to quantify iNOS induction and activity. Trypan blue exclusion, extracellular release of lactate dehydrogenase, and quantity of total cell protein were used as measures of viability. 3. Short chain alkanols, methanol through 1-heptanol, concentration-dependently inhibited nitrite accumulation. Longer chain alkanols, 1-octanol and 1-decanol, did not except at cytotoxic concentrations. Experiments indicated short chain alkanol inhibition was not due to direct actions on iNOS catalytic activity, but that it transpires during iNOS induction. Immunoblots showed reduced iNOS protein levels. 4. Correlation analysis ruled out iNOS inhibition as being due to decreased cell number, total cell protein, or cell viability. In contrast, there was significant correlation with physical measures of lipophilicity. 5. In conclusion, inhibition of iNOS expression by ethanol and other short chain alkanols is not due to cytotoxicity. Instead, the strong correlation with lipophilicity suggests the inhibition derives from an interaction with unknown hydrophobic cellular sites. (+info)
Plaunotol prevents indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats by inhibiting neutrophil activation.
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BACKGROUND: Activated neutrophils play a critical role in indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal injury. AIM: To investigate the effect of plaunotol, an anti-ulcer agent, on neutrophil activation in vitro and its effect on gastric mucosal injury and gastric accumulation of neutrophils in rats given indomethacin. METHODS: Human monocytes and neutrophils were isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy volunteers. We examined the effect of plaunotol on neutrophil elastase release, production of O2-, intracellular calcium concentration and expression of adhesion molecules CD11b and CD18 in activated neutrophils in vitro. The effect of plaunotol on TNF-alpha production by monocytes stimulated with endotoxin also was investigated in vitro. The effect of plaunotol (100 mg/kg, p.o.) on gastric mucosal injury and neutrophil accumulation was investigated in male Wistar rats given indomethacin (30 mg/kg, p.o.). RESULTS: Plaunotol inhibited the fMLP-induced release of neutrophil elastase from activated neutrophils, as well as the opsonized zymosan-induced production of O2- by neutrophils. Plaunotol significantly inhibited increased levels of intracellular calcium, a second messenger of neutrophil activation, in vitro. The fMLP-induced increases in CD11b and CD18 expression were also inhibited by plaunotol in vitro. Plaunotol inhibited monocytic production of TNF-alpha, a potent activator of neutrophils. Both gastric mucosal injury and gastric neutrophil infiltration in rats given indomethacin were significantly inhibited by the oral administration of plaunotol. CONCLUSIONS: Plaunotol inhibits indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal injury, at least in part by inhibiting neutrophil activation. (+info)
Interactions of 6-gingerol and ellagic acid with the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase.
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The inotropic/lusitropic effects of beta-adrenergic agonists on the heart are mediated largely by protein kinase A (PKA)-catalyzed phosphorylation of phospholamban, the natural protein regulator of the Ca2+ pump present in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membranes. Gingerol, a plant derivative, is known to produce similar effects when tested in isolated cardiac muscle. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of gingerol and another plant derivative, ellagic acid, on the kinetics of the SR Ca2+ pump with those of PKA-catalyzed phospholamban phosphorylation to elucidate their mechanisms of Ca2+ pump regulation. As previously demonstrated for PKA, 50 microM gingerol or ellagic acid increased Vmax(Ca) of Ca2+ uptake and Ca2+-ATPase activity assayed at millimolar ATP concentrations in light cardiac SR vesicles. Unlike PKA, which decreases Km(Ca), neither compound had a significant effect on Km(Ca) in unphosphorylated vesicles. However, gingerol increased Km(Ca) in phosphorylated vesicles, in which Ca2+ uptake was significantly increased further at saturating Ca2+ and remained unchanged at subsaturating Ca2+. An inhibition of Ca2+ uptake by gingerol at micromolar MgATP concentrations was overcome with increasing MgATP concentrations. The stimulation of Ca2+ uptake attributable to gingerol in unphosphorylated microsomes at saturating Ca2+ was 30% to 40% when assayed at 0.05 to 2 mM MgATP and only about 12% in phosphorylated microsomes as well as in rabbit fast skeletal muscle light SR. The present results support the view that an ATP-dependent increase in Vmax(Ca) of the SR Ca2+ pump plays an important role in mediating cardiac contractile responses to gingerol and phospholamban-dependent beta-adrenergic stimulation. (+info)
Steric hindrance is not required for n-alkanol cutoff in soluble proteins.
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A loss of potency as one ascends a homologous series of compounds (cutoff effect) is often used to map the dimensions of binding sites on a protein target. The implicit assumption of steric hindrance is rarely confirmed with direct binding measurements, yet other mechanisms for cutoff exist. We studied the binding and effect of a series of n-alkanols up to hexadecanol (C16) on two model proteins, BSA and myoglobin (MGB), using hydrogen-tritium exchange and light scattering. BSA binds the n-alkanols specifically and, at 1 mM total concentration, is stabilized with increasing potency up to decanol (C10), where a loss in stabilizing potency occurs. Cutoff in stabilizing potency is concentration-dependent and occurs at progressively longer n-alkanols at progressively lower total n-alkanol concentrations. Light scattering measurements of n-alkanol/BSA solutions show a smooth decline in binding stoichiometry with increasing chain length until C14-16, where it levels off at approximately 2:1 (alkanol:BSA). MGB does not bind the n-alkanols specifically and is destabilized by them with increasing potency until C10, where a loss in destabilizing potency occurs. Like BSA, MGB demonstrates a concentration-dependent cutoff point for the n-alkanols. Derivation of the number of methylenes bound at K(D) and the free energy contribution per bound methylene showed that no discontinuity existed to explain cutoff, rendering steric hindrance unlikely. The data also allow an energetic explanation for the variance of the cutoff point in various reductionist systems. Finally, these results render cutoff an untenable approach for mapping binding site sterics in the absence of complementary binding measurements, and a poor discriminator of target relevance to general anesthesia. (+info)
Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, a "two-hit" ischemia/reperfusion injury: evidence from an analysis of oxidative products.
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PURPOSE: Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA) remains a lethal condition despite improvements in perioperative care. The consequences of RAAA are hypothesized to result from a combination of two ischemia/reperfusion events: hemorrhagic shock and lower torso ischemia. Ischemia/reperfusion results in tissue injury by diverse mechanisms, which include oxygen free radical-mediated injury produced from activated neutrophils, xanthine oxidase, and mitochondria. Oxygen-free radicals attack membrane lipids, resulting in membrane and subsequently cellular dysfunction that contributes to postoperative organ injury/failure. The purpose of this investigation was to quantify the oxidative injury that occurs as a result of the ischemia/reperfusion events in RAAAs and elective AAAs. METHODS: Blood samples were taken from 22 patients for elective AAA repair and from 14 patients for RAAA repair during the perioperative period. Plasma F(2)-isoprostanes were extracted, purified, and measured with an enzyme immunoassay. Aldehydes and acyloins were purified and quantified. Neutrophil oxidative burst was measured in response to a receptor independent stimulus (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate) with luminol-based chemiluminescence. RESULTS: Plasma from patients with RAAAs showed significantly elevated F(2)-isoprostane levels on arrival at hospital and were significantly elevated as compared with the levels of patients for elective repair throughout the perioperative period (two-way analysis of variance, P <.0001). Multiple regression showed a significant relationship between the phagocyte oxidative activity and F(2)-isoprostane levels (P <.013). Total acyloin levels were significantly higher in patients with RAAAs as compared with the levels in elective cases. CONCLUSION: The F(2)-isoprostane levels, specific markers of lipid peroxidation, showed that patients with RAAAs had two phases of oxidative injury: before arrival at hospital and after surgery. The significant relationship between the postoperative increases in F(2)-isoprostane levels and the neutrophil oxidant production implicates neutrophils in the oxidative injury that occurs after RAAA. New therapeutic interventions that attenuate neutrophil-mediated oxidant injury during reperfusion may decrease organ failure and ultimately mortality in patients with RAAAs. (+info)
Effects of a lipoxygenase inhibitor, panaxynol, on vascular contraction induced by angiotensin II.
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We investigated whether a lipoxygenase inhibitor, panaxynol, affected the vascular contraction induced by angiotensin (Ang) II and the mean arterial pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Panaxynol suppressed dose-dependently the contractile responses induced by 30 nM Ang II in isolated intact and endothelial cell-denuded aorta in the hamster. IC50 values in the intact and endothelial cell-denuded aorta were 23 and 20 microM, respectively. In SHR, the mean arterial pressure after injection of 30 and 60 mg/kg panaxynol was reduced, and the maximum hypotensive values were 23 and 48 mmHg, respectively. Thus, lipoxygenase products may affect the renin-angiotensin system. (+info)
Effect of policosanol on cerebral ischemia in Mongolian gerbils.
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Policosanol is a mixture of higher aliphatic primary alcohols isolated from sugar cane wax, whose main component is octacosanol. An inhibitory effect of policosanol on platelet aggregation and cerebral ischemia in animal models has been reported. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of policosanol on cerebral ischemia induced by unilateral carotid ligation and bilateral clamping and recirculation in Mongolian gerbils. Policosanol (200 mg/kg) administered immediately after unilateral carotid ligation and at 12- or 24-h intervals for 48 h significantly inhibited mortality and clinical symptoms when compared with controls, whereas lower doses (100 mg/kg) were not effective. Control animals showed swelling (tissue vacuolization) and necrosis of neurons in all areas of the brain studied (frontal cortex, hippocampus, striatum and olfactory tubercle), showing a similar injury profile. In the group treated with 200 mg/kg policosanol swelling and necrosis were significantly reduced when compared with the control group. In another experimental model, comparison between groups showed that the brain water content of control gerbils (N = 15) was significantly higher after 15 min of clamping and 4 h of recirculation than in sham-operated animals (N = 13), whereas policosanol (200 mg/kg) (N = 19) significantly reduced the edema compared with the control group, with a cerebral water content identical to that of the sham-operated animals. cAMP levels in the brain of control-ligated Mongolian gerbils (N = 8) were significantly lower than those of sham-operated animals (N = 10). The policosanol-treated group (N = 10) showed significantly higher cAMP levels (2.68 pmol/g of tissue) than the positive control (1.91 pmol/g of tissue) and similar to those of non-ligated gerbils (2.97 pmol/g of tissue). In conclusion, our results show an anti-ischemic effect of policosanol administered after induction of cerebral ischemia, in two different experimental models in Mongolian gerbils, suggesting a possible therapeutic effect in cerebral vascular disorders. (+info)