Search results for "arginine"

Discovery of novel pathways of microbial arginine biosynthesis

2012

The amino acid L-arginine is an essential component of all living organisms. Its importance resides in the variety of functions that arginine itself, along with some intermediary metabolites involved in its de novo synthesis in the cell. In many prokaryotes, fungi, and plants the de novo biosynthesis of arginine proceeds from glutamate in eight enzymatic steps (Figure 2). The first committed step of this pathway is the N-acetylation of glutamate. Acetylation of the early precursors of arginine distinguishes them from the analogous intermediates in the biosynthesis of proline. Although each and every step of the pathway is essential for its completion, transcarbamylation of ornithine to prod…

L-Arginine, Na-Boc-L-Arginine and L-Alanyl-L-Arginine complexes of Organotin(IV) ions. Synthesis and structural investigations

2007

Endogenous nitric oxide inhibits leukotriene B4 release from rat alveolar macrophages

1997

Effects of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) on the release of mediators of the lipoxygenase and cyclo-oxygenase pathway from rat alveolar macrophages were studied. Alveolar macrophages, freshly isolated or after 18-h culture, were incubated in (amino acid-free) Krebs medium and labelled with [3H]arachidonic acid. The release of [3H]leukotriene B4 and [3H]prostanoids (separated by high performance liquid chromatography) was determined. A 23187 was used as stimulus, as rising intracellular Ca2+ activates directly the phospholipase A2 and lipoxygenase pathway. A 23187 (10 microM) enhanced [3H]leukotriene B4 release from freshly prepared alveolar macrophages about 65-fold, but only 5- to 6-fold fro…

Modulation of Nitric Oxide Production by Tetracyclines and Chemically Modified Tetracyclines

1999

Chemically modified tetracyclines (CMTs) dose-dependently decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and, consequently, nitric oxide (NO) formation by the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated J774 line. The inhibitory effect was due to a specific reduction in the iNOS protein content in the cells, as attested by Western blot analysis and by the inhibition of iNOS mRNA accumulation. Furthermore, CMTs cause a dose-dependent increase in cell death in the J774 line mediated by the NO-independent apoptotic mechanism.

The macrophage-activating tetrapeptide tuftsin induces nitric oxide synthesis and stimulates murine macrophages to kill Leishmania parasites in vitro.

1994

The macrophage-activating tetrapeptide tuftsin was able to activate, in a dose-dependent manner, murine macrophages to express nitric oxide (NO) synthase and to produce NO. Tuftsin required lipopolysaccharides for the optimal induction of NO production and synergized with gamma interferon in the induction of NO synthesis. Tuftsin-dependent NO production was sensitive to inhibition by dexamethasone and the NO synthase specific inhibitor LGN-monomethylarginine (L-NMMA). Murine peritoneal macrophages activated by tuftsin were able to kill the amastigotes of the intracellular protozoan parasite Leishmania major in vitro.

Inability of rat alveolar macrophages to recycle l-citrulline to l-arginine despite induction of argininosuccinate synthetase mRNA and protein, and i…

1998

In the present study it was tested whether rat alveolar macrophages (AMphi) convert L-citrulline to L-arginine to maintain nitric oxide (NO) synthesis under conditions of limited availability of L-arginine. Rat AMphi (0.5 x 10(6) cells/well, cultured for 20 h in the absence or presence of 1 microg/ml lipopolysaccharides, LPS), were incubated for 6 h in amino acid-free Krebs solution and nitrite accumulation was determined as a measure of NO synthesis. After culture in the absence of LPS, nitrite in the incubation media was at the detection limit, independent of the addition of L-arginine or L-citrulline. AMphi, cultured in the presence of LPS, produced about 4 nmol per 10(6) cells and 6 h n…

Glycyrrhetinic Acid Reverses the Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Hypocontractility to Noradrenaline in Rat Aorta: Implications to Septic Shock

2014

Abstract.: Septic shock and associated vascular hyporeactivity to vasoconstrictor agonists remain a major problem of critical care medicine. Here we report that glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), the active component of licorice, effectively restores vascular contractility in the model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated rat aorta. GA was as effective as the NO synthase inhibitor NG-nitroarginine methylester. GA did not affect the vascular NO levels (measured by EPR spin trapping) and relaxations to l-arginine in LPS-treated rings as well as relaxation to S-nitroso-Nacetylpenicillamine in control rings. Thus, GA may represent an interesting alternative to NO synthase inhibitors in sepsis-associated …

Expressional downregulation of neuronal-type NO synthase I in guinea pig skeletal muscle in response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide

1997

AbstractWe have investigated the expression of neuronal-type NO synthase I (NOS I) and inducible-type NOS II in guinea pig skeletal muscle (diaphragm). Expression of NOS I mRNA and protein was highest in muscle of specific pathogen-free animals, lower in normally bred animals, and lowest in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated animals. NOS II mRNA and protein levels were highest in muscle of LPS-treated animals. Elevated NOS activity in muscle from LPS-treated animals was less susceptible to the NOS I-selective inhibitor NG-nitro-l-arginine. Expressional downregulation of NOS I in sepsis may have implications for contractile function of skeletal muscle.

Nitric oxide synthase activity is inducible in rat, but not rabbit alveolar macrophages, with a concomitant reduction in arginase activity

1995

Alveolar macrophages were obtained by broncho-alveolar lavage of isolated rat and rabbit lungs and cultured (2.5 × 106 cells/dish) for 18 h in the absence or presence of bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) alone or in combination with cytokines. Thereafter, accumulation of 3H-citrulline (NO synthase activity) and 3H-ornithine (arginase activity) were determined. During incubation of rat alveolar macrophages with 3H-arginine clear amounts of 3H-citrulline and 3H-ornithine (3.8 and 4.6% of the added 3H-arginine, respectively) were formed and most of these metabolites appeared in the incubation medium (ratios extra-/intracellular of 17 and 70 for 3H-citrulline and 3H-ornithine, respectively). …

Cationic Proteins Inhibit l-Arginine Uptake in Rat Alveolar Macrophages and Tracheal Epithelial Cells

1999

Eosinophil-derived cationic proteins play an essential role in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. We tested whether cationic proteins interfere with the cationic amino-acid transport in alveolar macrophages (AMPhi) and tracheal epithelial cells, and whether L-arginine-dependent pathways were affected. The effect of cationic polypeptides on cellular uptake of [(3)H]-L-arginine, nitrite accumulation, and the turnover of [(3)H]-L-arginine by nitric oxide (NO) synthase and arginase (formation of [(3)H]-L-citrulline and [(3)H]-L-ornithine, respectively) were studied. Poly-L-arginine reduced [(3)H]-L-arginine uptake in rat AMPhi and tracheal epithelial cells in a concentration-dependent manner…