Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.1.7 (acetylcholinesterase)
28,390 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Phosfolan, chlorpyrifos, and stirophos when applied to white mice at sublethal doses did not induce any delayed neurotoxic effect. On the other hand, Leptophos and EPN when administered orally at sublethal or lethal levels clearly produced a delayed neurotoxic ataxia in treated mice. The five tested organophosphorus insecticides were compared for their ability to inhibit cholinesterase, neurotoxic esterases and monoamine oxidase. I50 values were estimated for each case. The results revealed that all five compounds were inhibitors of cholinesterase, but only Leptophos and EPN were shown to be potent inhibitors for both neurotoxic esterase and monoamine oxidase in the mouse brain. Additional particular properties of both Leptophos and EPN were found in their ability to cause delayed neurotoxic ataxia in chickens and sheep fed once on sublethal doses of these compounds. It is believed that the phosphonate ester configuration of EPN and Leptophos has a specific mode of toxic action which is mainly located at the central nervous system. It is also postulated that these delayed neurotoxic agents might inhibit postganglionic sympathetic neurons, thus resulting in chronic paralytic effects.
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PMID:Neurotoxicity of organophosphorus insecticides Leptophos and EPN. 7 68

The higher inhibition of liver microsomal carboxylesterase (CEase) by EPN, as compared to that of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) may be, at least in part, explained by the present findings that NAD potentiated the anti-CEase, but not anti-AchE, action of EPN. This phenomenon was referred to as "NAD-effect" in this paper. NAD-effect was not due to the increased formation of oxygen analog of EPN (EPN=O) by NAD addition through liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 catalyzed monoxygenase, because the amounts of EPN=O formed during incubation in the presence and absence of NAD were not significantly changed as shown by gaschromatography-mass spectrometric estimations. In addition, HAD-effect could be observed in the experiments even under carbon monoxide atmosphere. Such NAD-effect was observed only when NAD, EPN and an unidentified component bound to liver microsomal membrane were co-existent in the incubation mixture.
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PMID:Potentiation of ethyl para-nitrophenyl phenyl-phosphonothioate (EPN)-induced inhibition of liver microsomal carboxylesterase by NAD in vitro in rats. 23 May 54

In addition to the cholinergic and adrenergic nervous systems, a new noncholinergic and nonadrenergic nervous system has recently been described, involving the afferent sensory nerves in the airways. Many irritants (dusts, chemicals) stimulate these sensory nerves to release neuropeptides. Among these neuropeptides, the "tachykinins" exist in sensory nerves of airways (substance P, neurokinin A). These tachykinins have the ability to affect multiple cells in the airways and to provoke many responses including smooth muscle contraction, mucus secretion, plasma extravasation and neutrophil adhesion. This series of effects is termed "neurogenic inflammation". Using the respiratory tract as experimental model, it has been shown that: a) substance P (SP) is widely distributed in afferent fibers in the vagus, b) SP-immunoreactivity has been demonstrated in the epithelium, in airway smooth muscle, near blood vessels and submucosal glands, c) substance P and other tachykinins are released from sensory nerve terminals during stimulation electrically and by capsaicin, d) local administration of substance P mimics the effect of sensory nerve stimulation, e) smooth muscle contraction, gland secretion and plasma leakage, normally induced by nerve stimulation or noxious stimulus, are absent in tissues pretreated with the substance P depleting agent capsaicin or with tachykinin antagonists. These findings indicate that peptidergic nerve fibers are involved in the local regulation of tone of smooth muscle, regulation of blood flow, vascular permeability, and mucus secretion. We released that degradative mechanisms could play an important role in modulating tachykinin effects, just as acetylcholinesterase modulates effects of acetylcholine released from nerve terminals. We discovered that a membrane-bound enzyme called enkephalinase (also called neutral endopeptidase, EC 3, 4, 24, 11), located on specific cells that contain tachykinin receptors, modulate the action of tachykinins by cleaving and thus inactivating them. Our studies demonstrate that viral infection or cigarette smoke potentiate various effects of tachykinins by decreasing tissue enkephalinase activity. Thus, down-regulation of enkephalinase activity in specific tissues can modify the extent of neurogenic inflammation, and this modification could be important in the pathogenesis of diseases in airways and other tissues that contain tachykinins.
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PMID:[The role of enkephalinase (neutral endopeptidase) in neurogenic inflammation of the respiratory tract]. 134 Apr 78

To elucidate the effect of endogenous tachykinins on neuro-effector transmission of vagal nerves, we performed in vitro experiments using guinea-pig tracheal smooth muscle. The subthreshold dose (the highest dose which did not induce any smooth muscle contraction) of capsaicin (10(-8) to 10(-7) M) increased the amplitudes of contractions evoked by electrical field stimulation (EFS) significantly, but not those by acetylcholine (ACh). The inhibitor of neutral endopeptidase, phosphoramidon (10(-7) to 10(-6) M), increased the contractions evoked by EFS significantly. The inhibitor of cholinesterase, physostigmine (10(-6) to 10(-5) M), induced smooth muscle contractions, but such contractions were inhibited by atropine, suggesting the spontaneous release of ACh from the vagal nerve terminals. The subthreshold dose of substance P or capsaicin increased the contractions evoked by physostigmine. These results indicated that endogenous tachykinins increase the spontaneous ACh release as well as the ACh release in response to vagal stimulation from the nerve terminals. Furthermore, it is suggested that the excitatory effects of the tachykinins on the vagal neuro-effector transmission may be modulated by neutral endopeptidase in the guinea pig.
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PMID:Effect of endogenous tachykinins on neuro-effector transmission of vagal nerve in guinea-pig tracheal tissue. 170 39

The mechanism by which substance P induces contraction of airway smooth muscle has been the subject of numerous reports. It has been suggested that in rabbit airways the action of substance P is indirect, via the release of endogenous acetylcholine, whereas this is not so in other species. The present detailed study investigated whether substance P-induced contraction in rabbit isolated bronchus and trachea is due to the release of endogenous acetylcholine or in bronchus is due to histamine release and whether substance P is metabolized by the enzymes enkephalinase and acetylcholinesterase. Isometric contraction to cumulative addition of substance P was measured in the presence of 10(-6) and 10(-4) M atropine, 10(-6) M pyrilamine, 10(-5) M phosphoramidon, or 3 x 10(-7) M neostigmine. Neither atropine nor pyrilamine had any effect on the substance P responses. Phosphoramidon, however, produced a 12-fold shift to the left in the response curve with a decrease in the 50% effective concentration from 7.0 x 10(-8) to 6.1 x 10(-9) M (n = 4 control and 5 treated; P less than 0.05). In contrast, neostigmine at a concentration that produced a sixfold shift to the left in the acetylcholine response curve had no effect on substance P responses. We conclude that, in rabbit airways in vitro, substance P-induced contraction is not mediated by release of endogenous acetylcholine or histamine. In addition, endogenous enkephalinase but not acetylcholinesterase may be involved in the degradation of substance P. Our results show that, in contrast to previous studies in rabbits, the mechanism of action of substance P may resemble that described in humans.
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PMID:Substance P-induced contraction of rabbit airways: mechanism of action. 170 58

In recent years, studies of the regulation of the airways have focused to an increasing degree on the roles of neuropeptides. Several peptides have been shown to be present in airways and mediate such diverse responses as ion transport, mucus secretion, bronchospasm or relaxation, edema, cough, changes in vascular permeability, and neutrophil chemotaxis. More recently, studies have described the roles of peptidases, most notably neutral endopeptidase (NEP, also known as enkephalinase, or E.C. 3.4.24.11) and kininase II (also known as angiotensin-converting enzyme, or E.C. 3.4.15.1) in modulating peptide-induced responses. The enzymes cleave a wide variety of peptides, generating metabolites that are inactive in the systems studied to date. Thus inhibitors of NEP potentiate responses to peptides that are cleaved by it. Therefore, NEP plays roles in modulating peptide-induced effects analogous to the role of acetylcholinesterase in modulating cholinergic neurotransmission. In several experimental respiratory diseases, the activity of neutral endopeptidase is decreased, resulting in increased responses to peptides. The therapeutic application of recombinant NEP protects the airways from the adverse actions of stimuli that release inflammatory peptides, and induction of the NEP gene expression by glucocorticoids suggest a possible mechanism for the action of these steroids in treating airway diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, or cystic fibrosis.
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PMID:Roles of neutral endopeptidase in airways. 201 45

Nonadrenergic, noncholinergic contractile responses of guinea pig hilar bronchi to transmural electrical stimulation (TES) have been suggested to be due to release of endogenous tachykinins from capsaicin-sensitive neurons (C-fibers). Thiorphan and phosphoramidon, inhibitors of neutral endopeptidase (NEP, the major enzyme responsible for degrading tachykinins), were found to potentiate contractile responses of this isolated airway segment to TES and exogenously applied capsaicin, substance P and neurokinin A. However, the magnitude of potentiation by either inhibitor was smaller for TES and capsaicin (less than 10-fold leftward shift) than for the substrate agonists (about 100-fold leftward shift). This quantitative difference in potentiation by NEP inhibitors does not appear to be due to an influence of vasoactive intestinal peptide or calcitonin gene-related peptide, two endogenous peptides that might be released concomitantly by TES. Neither peptide caused marked effects on contractile responses to TES or tachykinins when applied to the isolated tissues. Addition of inhibitors of serine proteases, aminopeptidases, acetylcholinesterase and angiotensin-converting enzyme failed to further potentiate responses to TES in the presence of thiorphan. Therefore, the contractile response does not appear to be further modified by the activity of these peptidases. Neuropeptide gamma, but not neuropeptide K, was potentiated by thiorphan. The data suggest that peptides that are not substrates for NEP (for example, neuropeptide K) may also be released by TES from capsaicin-sensitive neurons to cause contraction. This may, at least in part, explain the quantitative difference in potentiation by NEP inhibitors of contractile responses to TES and to exogenously applied NEP-sensitive tachykinins in the guinea pig hilar bronchus.
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PMID:Pharmacologic studies on the differential influence of inhibitors of neutral endopeptidase on nonadrenergic, noncholinergic contractile responses of the guinea pig isolated hilar bronchus to transmural electrical stimulation and exogenously applied tachykinins. 239 13

To determine the role of endogenous neutral endopeptidase (NEP), also called enkephalinase (EC 3.4.24.11), in regulating tachykinin-induced contraction of gut smooth muscle, we studied the effects of NEP inhibitors on the contractile responses to substance P (SP) in isolated longitudinal strips of ileum or duodenum in rats and ferrets. Leucine-thiorphan and phosphoramidon shifted the concentration-response curves of SP to lower concentrations in all tissues studied, but the sensitivity to SP was greater and the effect of leucine-thiorphan was less in the ferret, a finding that correlated with the observation that the ferret ileum contained substantially less NEP activity than rat ileum. Captopril, bestatin, MGTA, leupeptin, and physostigmine did not alter contractile responses to SP, suggesting that kininase II, aminopeptidases, carboxypeptidase N, serine proteinases, and acetylcholinesterase do not modulate the SP-induced effects. These studies suggest that, in the ileum and duodenum, NEP modulates the actions of SP and, furthermore, that the sensitivity of tissues may be determined, at least in part, by the amount of enzymatically active NEP present.
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PMID:Neutral endopeptidase inhibitors potentiate substance P-induced contraction in gut smooth muscle. 246 69

Hydrolytic "A"-esterase activities of various tissues of rat (plasma, liver, kidney, brain and intestinal mucosa) against selected OP esters of diverse structure as potential substrates (paraoxon, di-n-propyl paraoxon, di-n-butyl paraoxon, chlorpyrifos oxon, di-(4-phenyl butyl) phosphorofluoridate and the chiral isomers of ethyl 4-nitrophenyl phenylphosphonate) were studied. We have developed a sensitive and widely applicable assay depending on measuring decline in residual inhibitory power of any chosen OP against horse serum cholinesterase: for seven compounds examined so far I50s against BuChE ranged from 0.07 to 70 nM, and it is easy to monitor loss of OP starting from an initial 25 microM concentration. Progressive destruction rates were always highest in liver and plasma with activity sometimes detectable in kidney, brain but not in intestinal mucosa, but the ratios of activity between tissues differed for different substrates. At 25 microM/37 degrees/pH 7.2 hydrolysis rates ranged from 8500 nmol/min/g liver for di-(4-phenylbutyl) phosphorofluoridate down to 0.8 nmol/min for the butyl analogue of paraoxon; the rate for L(-) isomer of EPN oxon (23 nmol/min/g liver) was greater than 2x that for the D(+) isomer and for paraoxon. From our data we conclude that several OP hydrolases exist whose identity may be further characterised by use of selective substrates.
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PMID:Degradation by rat tissues in vitro of organophosphorus esters which inhibit cholinesterase. 271 24

Cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenases are known to activate phosphorothionate insecticides to their oxon (phosphate) analogs by oxidative desulfuration. These activations produced potent anticholinesterases, decreasing the I50 values to rat brain acetylcholinesterase almost 1000-fold (from the 10(-5) M range to the 10(-8) M range). Since the usual cause of death in mammals from organophosphorus insecticide poisoning is respiratory failure resulting, in part, from a failure of the respiratory control center of the brain, we investigated the ability of rat brain to activate and subsequently degrade two phosphorothionate insecticides, parathion (diethyl 4-nitrophenyl phosphorothioate) and EPN (ethyl 4-nitrophenyl phenylphosphonothioate). Microsomes from specific regions (cerebral cortex, corpus striatum, cerebellum, and medulla/pons) of the brains of male and female rats and from liver were incubated with the phosphorothionate and an NADPH-generating system. Oxon production was quantified indirectly by the amount of inhibition resulting in an exogenous source of acetylcholinesterase added to the incubation mixture as an oxon trap. The microsomal activation specific activity was low for brain when compared to liver [0.23 to 0.44 and 5.1 to 12.0 nmol.min-1.(g tissue)-1 respectively]. The mitochondrial fraction of the brain possessed an activation activity for parathion similar to that of microsomes [about 0.35 nmol.min-1.(g tissue)-1 for each fraction], but mitochondrial activity was slightly greater than microsomal activity for EPN activation [0.53 to 0.58 and 0.23 to 0.47 nmole.min-1.(g tissue)-1]. Whole homogenates were tested for their ability to degrade paraoxon and EPN-oxon (ethyl 4-nitrophenyl phenylphosphonate), quantitated by 4-nitrophenol production. Specific activity for oxon degradation in liver was greater than that in brain [31 to 74 and 1.1 to 10.7 nmole.min-1.(g tissue)-1 respectively]. Overall, the brain and liver had about 1.5- to 12-fold higher specific activities for degradation than activation depending on the compound used. These findings demonstrate that the brain possesses both phosphorothionate activation and oxon degradation abilities, both of which may be significant during exposures to organophosphorus insecticides.
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PMID:Activation and degradation of the phosphorothionate insecticides parathion and EPN by rat brain. 273 Jun 75


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