Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.6.5.2 (NQO1)
 6,196 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is often administered to respiratory patients with histories of exposure to noxious agents (e.g. cigarette smoke and atmospheric pollutants), which are known to act as glutathione (GSH) depletors and as cancer initiators and/or promoters. Since NAC is a precursor of intracellular GSH, we investigated its effects on GSH metabolism and on the biotransformation of carcinogenic and/or mutagenic compounds. In vitro, NAC induced a significant increase in oxidized glutathione (GSSG) reductase activity in rat liver preparations and counteracted the mutagenicity of direct-acting compounds (such as epichlorohydrin, hydrogen peroxide, 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide and dichromate), as a result of its reducing and scavenging properties. At high concentrations, the drug completely inhibited the mutagenicity of procarcinogens (cigarette smoke condensate, tryptophan pyrolysate, cyclophosphamide, 2-aminofluorene, benzo(a)pyrene and aflatoxin B1) by binding their electrophilic metabolites. In contrast, their metabolic activation was stimulated by decreasing NAC concentrations, especially when liver preparations from enzyme-induced rats were used. Lung and liver subcellular preparations of rats treated in vivo with NAC, in various combinations with enzyme inducers and/or GSH depletors, also affected the mutagenicity of a number of compounds. NAC generally increased intracellular GSH and restored its levels following depletion. It did not affect the levels nor the spectral properties of cytochromes P-450 in pulmonary and hepatic microsomes, whereas it stimulated, especially in Aroclor-pretreated animals, cytosolic enzyme activities involved in NADP or GSSG reduction (G6PD, 6PGD and GSSG reductase) and in the reductive detoxification of xenobiotics (DT diaphorase). When administered with the diet, at a nontoxic posology (120 mg/kg b.w.), NAC markedly inhibited the induction of lung tumors in mice by a potent carcinogen (urethane).
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PMID:Metabolic, desmutagenic and anticarcinogenic effects of N-acetylcysteine. 380 42

A histochemical method is described for the localization of triphosphopyridine nucleotide diaphorase using a recently synthesized tetrazolium salt (Nitro-BT). By virtue of the favorable histochemical properties of this reagent, it has been possible to demonstrate that whereas DPN diaphorase is usually restricted to the mitochondria, the TPN diaphorase activity of corresponding cells was distributed throughout the cytoplasm in granules too fine to be considered mitochondria. Furthermore, although the diaphorase alone is responsible for the passage of electrons from TPNH to the tetrazole, it has been found that sites of activity of different TPN-linked dehydrogenases can be visualized in tissue sections, and characteristic loci for each enzyme may be observed. For example, whereas TPN diaphorase and isocitric dehydrogenase have an extensive distribution in the kidney cortex, 6-phosphogluconic dehydrogenase is limited to the cells of the macula densa.
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PMID:The histochemical localization of triphosphopyridine nucleotide diaphorase. 1356 53