Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.11.31 (AMP-activated protein kinase)
 13,065 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neuropsychiatric disorder of complex pathogenesis caused by acute or chronic liver failure. We studied the etiology of cerebral dysfunction in a murine model of HE induced by either bile duct ligation or thioacetamide administration. We report that stimulation of cerebral AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a major intracellular energy sensor, is a compensatory response to liver failure. This function of AMPK is regulated by endocannabinoids. The cannabinoid system controls systemic energy balance via the cannabinoid receptors CB-1 and CB-2. Under normal circumstances, AMPK activity is mediated by CB-1 while CB-2 is barely detected. However, CB-2 is strongly stimulated in response to liver failure. Administration of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) augmented AMPK activity and restored brain function in WT mice but not in their CB-2 KO littermates. These results suggest that HE is a disease of energy flux. CB-2 signaling is a cerebral stress response mechanism and makes AMPK a promising target for its treatment by modulating the cannabinoid system.
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PMID:Cannabinoids ameliorate cerebral dysfunction following liver failure via AMP-activated protein kinase. 1743 Oct 95

As a common complication of glycemic control in patients with diabetes, hypoglycemia often leads to brain dysfunction or damage. To identify new mechanisms underlying hypoglycemic brain injury, we determined the difference of protein expression profiles in brains between hypoglycemic rats and sham hypoglycemic controls by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) analysis. Among the 89 deregulated proteins, DJ-1 protein (Park7) was verified to be upregulated following hypoglycemia insult in vivo and glucose deprivation in an astrocyte cell line (CTX-TNA2) cultured in vitro. Further studies indicated the pro-survival role of autophagy activation and impaired autophagy flux in CTX-TNA2 cells short of glucose. DJ-1 knockdown hindered the initiation of the autophagy process via the AMPK/mTOR pathway and aggravated cell death induced by glucose deficiency. Taken together, our results show that responsive overexpression of DJ-1 plays a protective role against hypoglycemic astrocyte injury partly mediated by the regulation of autophagy.
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PMID:Identification of the Protective Role of DJ-1 in Hypoglycemic Astrocyte Injury Using Proteomics. 2605 6