Search results for "Dipeptidase"
showing 10 items of 52 documents
Role of ARBs in the blood hypertension therapy and prevention of cardiovascular events
2009
Hypertension has a worldwide high incidence in the general population and undoubtedly it is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, in industrialized countries. In this Review we investigated the role of angiotensin II receptor antagonists (ARBs) therapy in the treatment of essential hypertension. We selected in the PubMed and in a list of selected sources the most significant clinical trials and meta-analysis carried out from 1999 to now, to assess, in adult patients populations, ARBs efficacy, safety and tolerability profile, in comparison with the efficacy of the other common antihypertensive drugs, with particular regard to both the prevention of disab…
Peptidases in Germinating Barley Grain: Properties, Localization and Possible Functions
2008
Barley grain contains about 10% insoluble reserve proteins. When the grain germinates the reserve proteins are hydrolysed to amino acids and transported to the growing tissues of the seedling. In the resting grain most of the reserve proteins are 'packed' into the non-living storage tissue, the starchy endosperm. During germination the internal pH of the starchy endosperm is about 5, and it contains high activities of proteinases (secreted by the living aleurone cells) and carboxypeptidases, all with pH optima between 4 and 6. As a whole the starchy endosperm of a germinating grain resembles a giant secondary lysosome. Adjacent to the starchy endosperm is a specialized absorptive and proces…
Mobilization of proline in the starchy endosperm of germinating barley grain.
1979
In germinating grains of barley, Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Himalaya, free proline accumulated in the starchy endosperm during the period of rapid mobilization of reserve proteins. When starchy endosperms were separated from germinating grains and homogenized in a dilute buffer of pH 5 (the pH of the starchy endosperm), the liberation of proline continued in these suspensions. The process was completely inhibited by diisopropylfluorophosphate, indicating that it was totally dependent on serine carboxy-peptidases. The carboxypeptidases present in the starchy endosperms of germinating grains were fractionated by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. Four peaks were obtained, all with different activi…
Unraveling the mechanisms of action of lactoferrin-derived antihypertensive peptides: ACE inhibition and beyond
2015
Hypertension is one of the most important causes of cardiovascular and renal morbidity and mortality, and it represents a serious health problem in Western countries. Over the last few decades scientific interest in food-derived antihypertensive peptides has grown as an alternative to drugs in the control of systemic blood pressure. Most of these peptides target the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) but emerging evidence points to other antihypertensive mechanisms beyond ACE inhibition. The milk protein lactoferrin (LF) is a good source of orally active antihypertensive peptides the characterization of which, including ex vivo functional assays and in vivo approaches, shows that they mi…
Clinical relevance of polymorphic markers of arterial thrombosis.
1997
Case-control and cross-sectional studies show that some common molecular variations (polymorphisms) of genes coding for proteins involved in atherosclerosis and thrombosis are often present in subjects who have experienced cerebrovascular or cardiovascular events. The clinical impact of the majority of polymorphic markers is disputed by prospective reports. In contrast, their pathophysiological implications and their role in monitoring parameters that are difficult to be checked by alternative means, are documented by the large majority of the reports. From the evidence available, there may be suggestion for further impact of polymorphic markers in vascular medicine. To substantiate this, n…
Verlaufsbeobachtung von Patienten mit chronischer Aortenklappeninsuffizienz unter ACE-Hemmer-Therapie (Follow-up of patients with chronic severe aort…
1997
In dieser Untersuchung wurde der Einflus einer 3monatigen ACE-Hemmer-Therapie mit Cilazapril (2,5–5 mg) bei 13 Patienten mit chronischer Aortenklappeninsuffizienz spiroergometrisch und echokardiographisch untersucht. Nach 3monatiger Therapie sanken der linksventrikulare enddiastolische Diameter-Index von 3,5 auf 3,1 cm/m2 (p = 0,005), der linksventrikulare endsystolische Diameter-Index von 2,3 auf 2,0 cm/m2 (p = 0,005). Der Wallstress reduzierte sich von 174 auf 150 dyn/cm2 (p = 0,01). Die linksventrikulare Muskelmasse nahm um 14% ab, von anfangs 570 g (= 295 g/m2) auf 488 g (= 253 g/m2) (p < 0,05). Die von apikal gemesesene Jetflache reduzierte sich von 10,1 auf 8,1 cm2 (p < 0,05). Weder d…
The Obesity Paradox Predicts the Second Wave of COVID-19 to Be Severe in Western Countries.
2021
While COVID-19 infection and mortality rates are soaring in Western countries, Southeast Asian countries have successfully avoided the second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic despite high population density. We provide a biochemical hypothesis for the connection between low COVID-19 incidence, mortality rates, and high visceral adiposity in Southeast Asian populations. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a gateway into the human body. Although the highest expression levels of ACE2 are found in people’s visceral adipose tissue in Southeast Asia, this does not necessarily make them vulnerable to COVID-19. Hypothetically, high levels of visceral adiposity cause s…
Thermodynamics of the Interaction between the Spike Protein of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 and the Receptor of Human Angiotensin-…
2020
Since the end of 2019, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused more than 1000000 deaths all over the world and still lacks a medical treatment despite the attention of the whole scientific community. Human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was recently recognized as the transmembrane protein that serves as the point of entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cells, thus constituting the first biomolecular event leading to COVID-19 disease. Here, by means of a state-of-the-art computational approach, we propose a rational evaluation of the molecular mechanisms behind the formation of the protein complex. Moreover, the free energy of binding between ACE2 and the active receptor binding domain of the SARS…
Is the Rigidity of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor-Binding Motif the Hallmark for Its Enhanced Infectivity? Insights from All-Atom Simulations
2020
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is setting the global health crisis of our time, causing a devastating societal and economic burden. An idiosyncratic trait of coronaviruses is the presence of spike glycoproteins on the viral envelope, which mediate the virus binding to specific host receptor, enabling its entry into the human cells. In spite of the high sequence identity of SARS-CoV-2 with its closely related SARS-CoV emerged in 2002, the atomic-level determinants underlining the molecular recognition of SARS-CoV-2 to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and, thus, the rapid virus spread into human body, remain unresolved. Here, multi-m…
Evaluation of soluble CD 14 and neopterin as serum parameters of the inflammatory activity of pulmonary sarcoidosis.
1992
CD14 represents the most specific marker for monocytes/macrophages. It has been demonstrated in vitro that monocytes/macrophages lose this antigen upon activation. Results of studies investigating the expression of membrane-bound CD14 on the surface of monocytes/macrophages in sarcoidosis patients are controversial. To investigate whether the soluble form of CD14 reflects monocyte/macrophage activation in sarcoidosis, serum levels of soluble CD14 were determined concurrently with other serum markers of monocyte/macrophage activation (neopterin, angiotensin-converting enzyme) in 50 consecutive patients with bioptically confirmed sarcoidosis. The patients were allocated to three groups accord…