A randomized, double-blind, comparative trial of a new oral combination of artemether and benflumetol (CGP 56697) with mefloquine in the treatment of acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Thailand.
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CGP 56697, a new oral fixed combination of artemether and benflumetol, was tested in a double-blinded, randomized trial in 252 adult patients treated either with CGP 56697 (4 x 4 tablets each containing 20 mg of artemether and 120 mg of benflumetol, given at 0, 8, 24, and 48 hr), or with mefloquine (three tablets of 250 mg at initial diagnosis, followed by two tablets of 250 mg at 8 hr). Baseline data of the two groups were comparable. The 28-day cure rate with CGP 56697 was lower than with mefloquine (69.3% versus 82.4%; P = 0.002). However, CGP 56697 was more effective than mefloquine in parasite clearance time (43 hr versus 66 hr; P < 0.001) fever clearance time (32 hr versus 54 hr; P < 0.005), and gametocyte clearance time (152 hr versus 331 hr; P < 0.001). This study revealed that CGP 56697 is effective against multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Thailand, but higher doses will probably be needed to improve the cure rate. (+info)
Effect of detergents on the N-and ring-hydroxylation of 2-acetamidofluorene by hamster liver microsomal preparations.
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Effects of detergents such as cholate, deoxycholate and Triton X-100 were studied on N-and ring-hydroxylation of 2-acetamidofluorene by reconstituted and unresolved microsomal systems from livers of hamsters pretreated with 3-methylcholanthrene. Triton X-100 (2.5 mg/nmol of cytochrome P-448) inhibited N-and ring-hydroxylation by wholemicrosomal preparations by 40 and 90% respectively Deoxycholate at the same concentration inhibited both hydroxylations completely, whereas cholate inhibited N-and ring-hydroxylation by 40 and 50% respectively. In reconstitution studies, the presence of Triton X-100(0.5-1.0mg/nmol of cytochrome P-448) along with unsolubilized cytochrome P-448 fraction and solubilized reductase fraction increased N-hydroxylation to an appreciable extent compared with ring-hydroxylation. Both cholate and deoxycholate at 0.5-1.0 mg concentrations had a greater stimulatory effect on ring-than on N-hydroxylation activity in such a reconstituted system. (+info)
Purification and characterization of N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene sulfotransferase from rat liver.
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N-Hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-OH-2-AAF) sulfotransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the sulfate transfer from the active sulfate, 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS), to N-OH-2-AAF to form a highly reactive product acetylaminofluorene N-sulfate. It has been purified about 2000-fold with a yield of over 12% from adult Sprague-Dawley male rat livers by an eight-step procedure. The final preparation was homogeneous on analytrical disc gel electrophoresis. The purified enzyme had activity toward p-nitrophenol with an approximately 1600-fold increase in specific activity over the crude homogenate, but it had almost no detectable activity toward steroids such as estrone, beta-estradiol, testosterone, dehydroisoandrosterone, and corticosterone. There was also very little sulfation activity toward serotonin and L-tyrosine methyl ester. The optimal pH for the enzyme activity is approximately 6.3 when measured in sodium phosphate buffer. Mg2+ at 6 to 9 mM could increase the enzyme activity up to 30%. Mn2+ activated the enzyme only slightly at very low concentrations. Zn2+, Co2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+ were all strongly inhibitory, but Ca2+ had very little effect. Thiol compounds were found to have a stabilizing effect and thiol-blocking reagents were potent inhibitors for this enzyme. The pure enzyme was very unstable especially in diluet solutions. The isoelectric point (pl) of the enzyme is 5.66 +/- 0.07. The molecular weight of the native enzyme was 68,000 +/- 500 as estimated by Sephadex G-100 and G-200 gel filtrations. A single component with molecular weight of 38,250 +/- 1,350 was observed on sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis in the absence and presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. Comparison of the enzyme activity in mail and female rat livers at each stage of purification revealed that there was only a trace amount of N-OH-2-AAF sulfotransferase present in the female rat liver. (+info)
Foliar modifications induced by inhibition of polar transport of auxin.
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The effects of auxin polar transport inhibitors, 9-hydroxy-fluorene-9-carboxylic acid (HFCA); 2, 3, 5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) and trans-cinnamic acid (CA) on leaf pattern formation were investigated with shoots formed from cultured leaf explants of tobacco and cultured pedicel explants of Orychophragmus violaceus, and the seedlings of tobacco and Brassica chinensis. Although the effective concentration varies with the inhibitors used, all of the inhibitors induced the formation of trumpet-shaped and/or fused leaves. The frequency of trumpet-shaped leaf formation was related to the concentration of inhibitors in the medium. Histological observation of tobacco seedlings showed that there was only one main vascular bundle and several minor vascular bundles in normal leaves of the control, but there were several vascular bundles of more or less the same size in the trumpet-shaped leaves of treated ones. These results indicated that auxin polar transport played an important role on bilateral symmetry of leaf growth. (+info)
Diverse oxygenations catalyzed by carbazole 1,9a-dioxygenase from Pseudomonas sp. Strain CA10.
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Carbazole 1,9a-dioxygenase (CARDO) from Pseudomonas sp. strain CA10 is a multicomponent enzyme that catalyzes the angular dioxygenation of carbazole, dibenzofuran, and dibenzo-p-dioxin. It was revealed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance analyses that xanthene and phenoxathiin were converted to 2,2',3-trihydroxydiphenylmethane and 2,2',3-trihydroxydiphenyl sulfide, respectively. Thus, for xanthene and phenoxathiin, angular dioxygenation by CARDO occurred at the angular position adjacent to the oxygen atom to yield hetero ring-cleaved compounds. In addition to the angular dioxygenation, CARDO catalyzed the cis dihydroxylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and biphenyl. Naphthalene and biphenyl were converted by CARDO to cis-1, 2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydronaphthalene and cis-2,3-dihydroxy-2, 3-dihydrobiphenyl, respectively. On the other hand, CARDO also catalyzed the monooxygenation of sulfur heteroatoms in dibenzothiophene and of the benzylic methylenic group in fluorene to yield dibenzothiophene-5-oxide and 9-hydroxyfluorene, respectively. These results indicate that CARDO has a broad substrate range and can catalyze diverse oxygenation: angular dioxygenation, cis dihydroxylation, and monooxygenation. The diverse oxygenation catalyzed by CARDO for several aromatic compounds might reflect the differences in the binding of the substrates to the reaction center of CARDO. (+info)
Hydrophobic photolabeling as a new method for structural characterization of molten globule and related protein folding intermediates.
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Recent advances in attempts to unravel the protein folding mechanism have indicated the need to identify the folding intermediates. Despite their transient nature, in a number of cases it has been possible to detect and characterize some of the equilibrium intermediates, for example, the molten globule (MG) state. The key features of the MG state are retention of substantial secondary structure of the native state, considerable loss of tertiary structure leading to increased hydrophobic exposure, and a compact structure. NMR, circular dichroism, and fluorescence spectroscopies have been most useful in characterizing such intermediates. We report here a new method for structural characterization of the MG state that involves probing the exposed hydrophobic sites with a hydrophobic photoactivable reagent--2[3H]diazofluorene. This carbene-based reagent binds to hydrophobic sites, and on photolysis covalently attaches itself to the neighboring amino acid side chains. The reagent photolabels alpha-lactalbumin as a function of pH (3-7.4), the labeling at neutral pH being negligible and maximal at pH 3. Chemical and proteolytic fragmentation of the photolabeled protein followed by peptide sequencing permitted identification of the labeled residues. The results obtained indicate that the sequence corresponding to B (23-34) and C (86-98) helix of the native structure are extensively labeled. The small beta-domain (40-50) is poorly labeled, Val42 being the only residue that is significantly labeled. Our data, like NMR data, indicate that in the MG state of alpha-lactalbumin, the alpha-domain has a greater degree of persistent structure than the beta-domain. However, unlike the NMR method, the photolabeling method is not limited by the size of the protein and can provide information on several new residues, for example, Leu115. The current method using DAF thus allows identification of stable and hydrophobic exposed regions in folding intermediates as the reagent binds and on photolysis covalently links to these regions. (+info)
Topographical characterization of the ubiquinone reduction site of glucose dehydrogenase in Escherichia coli using depth-dependent fluorescent inhibitors.
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Membrane-bound glucose dehydrogenase in Escherichia coli possesses a binding site for ubiquinone as well as glucose, metal ion and pyrroloquinoline quinone. To probe the depth of the ubiquinone binding site in the membrane environment, we synthesized two types of fluorenyl fatty acids which bear an inhibitor mimic moiety (i.e., specific inhibitor capsaicin) close to the fluorene located at different positions in the alkyl tail chain; one close to the polar carbonyl head group (alpha-(3, 4-dimethoxyphenyl)acetyloxy-7-nonyl-2-fluoreneacetic acid, alpha-DFA), and the other in the middle of the chain (theta-(3, 4-dimethoxyphenyl)acetyloxy-7-ethyl-2-fluorenenonanoic acid, theta-DFA). Mixed lipid vesicles consisting of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and alpha-DFA or theta-DFA were prepared by sonication method, and fluorescent quenching against a hydrophilic quencher, iodide anion, was examined. The vesicles containing alpha-DFA were more susceptible to quenching than those containing theta-DFA, indicating that the fluorene and consequently capsaicin mimic moiety are located at different depths in the lipid bilayer depending upon the position of attachment to the alkyl tail chain. The purified glucose dehydrogenase was reconstituted into PC vesicles which consisted of PC and alpha-DFA or theta-DFA with various molar ratios. For both types of reconstituted vesicles, the extent of inhibition of short-chain ubiquinone reduction activity increased with increases in the molar ratio of fluorenyl fatty acid to PC. The ubiquinone reduction activity was more significantly inhibited in the reconstituted vesicles containing alpha-DFA compared to those containing theta-DFA. Our findings strongly suggested that the ubiquinone reduction site in glucose dehydrogenase is located close to the membrane surface rather than in the hydrophobic membrane interior. (+info)
Role of human N-acetyltransferases, NAT1 or NAT2, in genotoxicity of nitroarenes and aromatic amines in Salmonella typhimurium NM6001 and NM6002.
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Human NAT1 and NAT2 genes were subcloned into pACYC184 vector and the plasmids thus obtained were introduced into Salmonella typhimurium O-acetyltransferase-deficient strain NM6000 (TA1538/1, 8-DNP/pSK1002), establishing new strains NM6001 and NM6002, respectively. We compared the sensitivities of these two strains with those of NM6000 towards carcinogenic nitroarenes and aromatic amines in the SOS/umu response. The induction of umuC gene expression by these chemicals in the presence and absence of the S9 fraction was assayed by measuring the cellular beta-galactosidase activity expressed by the umuC"lacZ fusion gene in the tester strains. 2-Nitrofluorene and 2-aminofluorene induced umuC gene expression more strongly in the NM6001 strain than in the NM6002 strain. In contrast, induction of umuC gene expression by 1, 8-dinitropyrene, 6-aminochrysene and 2-amino-3,5-dimethylimidazo[4, 5-f]quinoline was weaker in the NM6001 strain than in the NM6002 strain. 1-Nitropyrene, 2-amino-6-methyl-dipyrido[1,2-a:3', 2'-d]imidazole, 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole, 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine and 2-amino-3-methyl-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole were found to induce umuC gene expression at similar extents in both strains. These results suggest that the newly developed strains can be employed for the studies on mechanisms of genotoxicity of a variety of nitroarenes and aromatic amines, along with the assessment of cancer risk to humans. (+info)