Search results for "CYSTEINE"
showing 10 items of 550 documents
Phenotypic variation in hyperandrogenic women influences the findings of abnormal metabolic and cardiovascular risk parameters.
2005
In hyperandrogenic women, several phenotypes may be observed. This includes women with classic polycystic ovary syndrome (C-PCOS), those with ovulatory (OV) PCOS, and women with idiopathic hyperandrogenism (IHA), which occurs in women with normal ovaries. Where other causes have been excluded, we categorized 290 hyperandrogenic women who were seen consecutively for this complaint between 1993 and 2004 into these three subgroups. The aim was to compare the prevalence of obesity, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia as well as increases in C-reactive protein and homocysteine in these different phenotypes with age-matched ovulatory controls of normal weight (n = 85) and others matched for body…
Cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary endothelial dysfunction is partially suppressed by sildenafil.
2009
Abstract Cigarette smoke mediated oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction are important processes in the pathogenesis of several lung disorders. In this study we evaluated the effect of PDE5 inhibition on pulmonary artery endothelial dysfunction induced by cigarette smoke in vitro . Human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC) were incubated in the absence or presence of PDE5 inhibitor sildenafil (10 nM–1 μM), PKG agonist 8-Br-cGMP (1 mM), or the antioxidants dyphenyleneiodonium (DPI 1 μM) and N -acetylcysteine (NAC 1 mM) for 30 min. Then, cigarette smoke extract (CSE) was added for 24 h. CSE (2.5–10%)-induced ROS generation was suppressed by DPI, and partially reversed by sildenaf…
Mercury and Amino Acid Content Relations in Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) in Subarctic Lakes Along a Climate-Productivity Gradient
2023
Mercury is a highly toxic element for consumers, but its relation to amino acids and physiology of wild fish is not well known. The main aim of this study was to evaluate how total mercury content (THg) of northern pike (Esox lucius) is related to amino acids and potentially important environmental and biological factors along a climate-productivity gradient of ten subarctic lakes. Linear regression between THg and sixteen amino acids content [nmol mg−1 dry weight] from white dorsal muscle of pike from these lakes were tested. Lastly, a general linear model (GLM) for age-corrected THg was used to test which factors are significantly related to mercury content of pike. There was a positive r…
Synthesis and Molecular Modeling Studies of Derivatives of a Highly Potent Peptidomimetic Vinyl Ester as Falcipain-2 Inhibitors
2012
Herein we report the synthesis of a set of constrained peptidomimetics endowed with an electrophilic vinyl ester warhead and structurally related to a previously identified lead compound, a potent and irreversible inhibitor of falcipain-2 (FP-2). FP-2 is the main hemoglobinase of the malaria parasite P. falciparum. The new compounds were evaluated for their inhibition against FP-2, and the results were rationalized on the basis of docking experiments. These studies underscore the pivotal role of both the ester function at the P1' site and the trifluoromethyl group of the P3 side chain in determining the correct orientation of the Michael acceptor warhead in the catalytic site, and as a cons…
Metabotropic glutamate receptors activate phospholipase D in astrocytes through a protein kinase C-dependent and Rho-independent pathway.
2003
Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are G protein-coupled receptors that mediate phospholipase D (PLD) activation in brain, but the mechanism underlying this response remains unclear. Here we used primary cultures of astrocytes as a cell model to explore the mechanism that links mGluRs to PLD. Glutamate activated both phospholipase C (PLC) and PLD with equal potency and this effect was mimicked by L-cysteinesulfinic acid, a putative neurotransmitter previously shown to activate mGluRs coupled to PLD, but not PLC, in adult brain. PLD activation by glutamate was dependent on Ca(2+) mobilization and fully blocked by both protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors and PKC down-regulation, suggesti…
Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel peptidomimetics as rhodesain inhibitors
2016
Novel rhodesain inhibitors were developed by combining an enantiomerically pure 3-bromoisoxazoline warhead with a 1,4-benzodiazepine scaffold as specific recognition moiety. All compounds were proven to inhibit rhodesain with Ki values in the low-micromolar range. Their activity towards rhodesain was found to be coupled to an in vitro antitrypanosomal activity, with IC50 values ranging from the mid-micromolar to a low-micromolar value for the most active rhodesain inhibitor (R,S,S)-3. All compounds showed a good selectivity against the target enzyme since all of them were proven to be poor inhibitors of human cathepsin L. Novel rhodesain inhibitors were developed by combining an enantiomeri…
Discovery of a new class of sortase a transpeptidase inhibitors to tackle gram-positive pathogens: 2-(2-phenylhydrazinylidene)alkanoic acids and rela…
2016
A FRET-based random screening assay was used to generate hit compounds as sortase A inhibitors that allowed us to identify ethyl 3-oxo-2-(2-phenylhydrazinylidene)butanoate as an example of a new class of sortase A inhibitors. Other analogues were generated by changing the ethoxycarbonyl function for a carboxy, cyano or amide group, or introducing substituents in the phenyl ring of the ester and acid derivatives. The most active derivative found was 3-oxo-2-(2-(3,4dichlorophenyl)hydrazinylidene)butanoic acid (2b), showing an IC50 value of 50 µM. For a preliminary assessment of their antivirulence properties the new derivatives were tested for their antibiofilm activity. The most active compo…
Modelling the dependence on medium, ionic strength and temperature of N-acetyl-L-cysteine acid-base properties, and its interactions with Na+, Mg2+, …
2017
N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is the acetylated precursor of L-cysteine, and it is strictly related to glutathione activity. NAC is used in medicine since more than 30 years, primarily as a mucolytic, though its properties are exploited in the treatment of many diseases, such as acute poisoning by acetaminophen (restoring protective levels of glutathione), HIV, contrast-induced nephropathy, type-2 DM (diabetes mellitus), and it also looks promising in the treatment of several psychiatric disorders [1]. This resulted in a huge number of scientific contributions published during the years on NAC (searching in some scientific databases, more than 10000 papers appear). As expected, most of them are…
Dipeptidyl Enoates As Potent Rhodesain Inhibitors That Display a Dual Mode of Action
2015
Dipeptidyl enoates were prepared through a high-yielding two-step synthetic route. They have a dipeptidic structure with a 4-oxoenoate moiety as a warhead with multiple reactive sites. Dipeptidyl enoates were screened against rhodesain and human cathepsins B and L, and were found to be potent and selective inhibitors of rhodesain. Among them (S,E)-ethyl 5-((S)-2-{[(benzyloxy)carbonyl]amino}-3-phenylpropanamido)-7-methyl-4-oxooct-2-enoate (6) was the most potent, with an IC50 value of 16.4 nm and kinact/Ki=1.6×106 m−1 s−1 against rhodesain. These dipeptidyl enoates display a reversible mode of inhibition at very low concentrations and an irreversible mode at higher concentrations. Inhibition…
Papillomavirus assembly requires trimerization of the major capsid protein by disulfides between two highly conserved cysteines.
1998
ABSTRACT We have used viruslike particles (VLPs) of human papillomaviruses to study the structure and assembly of the viral capsid. We demonstrate that mutation of either of two highly conserved cysteines of the major capsid protein L1 to serine completely prevents the assembly of VLPs but not of capsomers, whereas mutation of all other cysteines leaves VLP assembly unaffected. These two cysteines form intercapsomeric disulfides yielding an L1 trimer. Trimerization comprises about half of the L1 molecules in VLPs but all L1 molecules in complete virions. We suggest that trimerization of L1 is indispensable for the stabilization of intercapsomeric contacts in papillomavirus capsids.