Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.4.3 (phospholipase C)
 18,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have recently reported (D.L. Stevens, K.A. Maier, B.M. Laine, and J.E. Mitten, J. Infect. Dis. 155:220-228, 1987) that clindamycin, rifampin, and tetracycline were more efficacious than penicillin in the treatment of fulminant gas gangrene in mice caused by Clostridium perfringens. We hypothesize that antibiotic efficacy correlated with bactericidal or toxin-suppressing properties of these agents. To investigate the possibility that penicillin is only bacteriostatic against C. perfringens, we performed macrobroth dilution MIC and MBC determinations using C. perfringens ATCC 13124. Mean MICs were equal to MBCs for the following antibiotics (micrograms per milliliter): clindamycin, 0.07; tetracycline, 0.05; rifampin, 0.03; metronidazole, 0.69; and penicillin, 0.27. The MIC/MBCs of chloramphenicol were 1.50/3.10 (micrograms/ml). Because antibiotic efficacy did not correlate with bactericidal activity, we measured alpha-toxin activity and found complete suppression of alpha-toxin activity by tetracycline, metronidazole, rifampin, clindamycin, and chloramphenicol at concentrations equal to the MIC. In contrast, alpha-toxin activity persisted at concentrations of penicillin equal to and above the MIC. The dynamics of bacterial killing and kinetics of alpha-toxin production were next studied in log-phase cultures of C. perfringens with antibiotic concentrations 10 times the MIC. Clindamycin, metronidazole, and rifampin all caused rapid reductions in viability, turbidity, and alpha-toxin activity by 15 to 45 min. In contrast, penicillin demonstrated slower bacterial killing, increased turbidity (62.6% of control), and persistent alpha-toxin activity (80% of control values) for 2 h. Tetracycline and chloramphenicol were the least effective in reducing viability; however, the turbidity of cultures did not increase, and alpha-toxin activity was not detectable. Toxin suppression and rapid bacterial killing may in part explain the observed superior therapeutic efficacy of clindamycin, rifampin, and metronidazole compared with penicillin in the treatment of experimental gas gangrene.
 ...
PMID:Effect of antibiotics on toxin production and viability of Clostridium perfringens. 288 31

Recent evidence shows that neurotrophins are not only involved in neuronal survival and differentiation during development but also in modulating synaptic strength in the mature brain. To understand how neurotrophins alter this synaptic modification, we have investigated the effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on long-term depression (LTD) at Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses in rat hippocampal slices. The slices treated with BDNF for 5 min showed significantly less LTD in response to a 1-Hz tetanus compared with controls but displayed normal LTD when the afferents were tetanized at 10 Hz. Because BDNF enhanced long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by a 30-Hz tetanus, the synaptic modification threshold (theta(m)) as defined in the 'BCM' theory of Bienenstock Cooper & Monroe [Bienenstock et al. (1982), J. Neurosci., 2, 32-48] was not shifted. BNDF is likely to alter the capability of the plastic changes in synaptic efficacy, i.e. to produce an upward shift in the BCM curve. The suppressive effect of BDNF on LTD was prevented by either the tyrosine kinase (Trk) receptor inhibitor K252a or the phospholipase C inhibitor U73122. Thus, TrkB activation may attenuate LTD through phospholipase C signalling pathway.
 ...
PMID:BDNF attenuates hippocampal LTD via activation of phospholipase C: implications for a vertical shift in the frequency-response curve of synaptic plasticity. 1215 39

We have purified a new toxin (BmK 17[4]) from Asian scorpion (Buthus martensii Karsch) venom that possesses a distinctive structural motif in its N-terminal (positions 8-12) that is similarly found in two other previously described alpha-like toxins. BmK 17[4] prolongs action potentials (APs) in frog nerve and was purified using gel filtration, ion exchange, fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). BmK 17[4] significantly prolonged frog APs but it did not alter APs from an insect ventral nerve cord at similar doses. When applied to voltage-clamped frog muscle single fibers, BmK 17[4] prolonged fast inactivation. Because the polypeptide prolongs APs when both K+ and Ca2+ channels were blocked, BMK 17[4] acts to selectively alter Na+ channel inactivation. The N-terminal sequence of BmK 17[4] was found to be VRDAYIAKPENCVYXC --. The molar mass of BmK 17[4] was determined by LC/MS/MS to be 7097 Daltons. The N- terminal motif (KPENC), which introduces a reverse turn in residues 8-12, does not appear in previously characterized BmK alpha-toxins and may be characteristic of alpha-like toxins. Sequence similarity database searches were used to test whether the N-terminal sequences of alpha-like polypeptide toxins from B. martensii Karsch possess a distinctive structural motif in its 5-residue reverse turn (alpha-turn) that is conserved. Sequence similarities with putative polypeptides encoded by cDNAs obtained from a cDNA library [Zhu, S. Y., Li, W. X., Zenq, X. C., et al. (2000) Nine novel precursors of Buthus martensii scorpiox alpha-toxin homologues. Toxicon 38, 1653-1661] from BmK venom glands showed that an active polypeptide toxin cleaved from the putative propolypeptide toxin BmK M9 is likely identical to BmK 17[4]. Sequence comparisons with toxins and putative toxins from B. martensii Karsch and other species revealed that a group of these toxins possess a common structural motif in their alpha-turn. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic analysis suggests that there are two phylogenetic sister groups of related BmK polypeptides; one possesses the KPENC motif and the other possesses a modifed version (KPHNC) of it.
 ...
PMID:Scorpion toxins from Buthus martensii Karsch all possess a predicted alpha-tight-turn. 1262 26

Phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) activity is a potential virulence factor and is exhibited only by the Listeria species Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria ivanovii. A chromogenic substrate for the direct detection of PI-PLC activity is available in a new medium (BCM L. monocytogenes plating agar). The use of a chromogenic substrate offers a mechanism with which to directly screen for L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii other than the esculin used in Oxford (OXF) and Palcam (PAL) agars, which screen for all Listeria species. The specificity levels of BCM plating agar and of BCM confirmation and rhamnose agars were evaluated with 107 Listeria and 10 Bacillus species isolates. In addition, BCM L. monocytogenes plating agar was compared with standard Listeria selective agars (OXF and PAL agars) with regard to the recovery of L. monocytogenes from 2,000 food and environmental samples obtained from eight participating laboratories. A Listeria species was isolated from at least one of the agars in 209 analyses, and L. monocytogenes was isolated in 135 of these analyses. In 27 of the analyses in which L. monocytogenes was isolated, one or more of the selective differential agars used failed to isolate L. monocytogenes, and therefore the results of these analyses were discrepant. Relative to a reference method involving the use of all three agars (OXF, PAL, and BCM agars), the OXF-BCM, PAL-BCM, and OXF-PAL combinations had sensitivities of 99.3, 99.2, and 90.2%, respectively. In statistical analyses of the different combinations of agars, the OXF-BCM and BCM-PAL combinations were found to be superior to the OXF-PAL combination for the detection of L. monocytogenes.
 ...
PMID:Evaluation and interlaboratory validation of a selective agar for phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C activity using a chromogenic substrate to detect Listeria monocytogenes from foods. 1263 98

In recent years a number of selective chromogenic plating media for pathogenic Listeria spp. have been developed and marketed. Their advantages are direct detection and enumeration of pathogenic Listeria spp. utilizing cleavage of substrates by the virulence factor phosphatidylinositol-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) and, to a lesser extent, by phosphatidylcholin-phospholipase C (PC-PLC). There are two groups of such media: the first utilizes cleavage by PI-PLC of L-alpha-phosphatidyl-inositol, forming a white precipitation zone around the colony, combined with the chromogenic substrate 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoxyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside for detection of beta-d-glucosidase, which occurs in all Listeria spp. All Listeria spp. produce turquoise colonies on these media which include ALOA , CHROMagar Listeria, BBL CHROMagar Listeria, and OCLA. The second group of media utilizes 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoxyl-myoinositol-1-phosphate, forming blue-turquoise colonies of pathogenic Listeria spp. and white colonies of non-pathogenic Listeria spp. BCM trade mark Listeria monocytogenes plating medium, Rapid'L.mono and LIMONO-Ident-Agar belong to this group. Selective chromogenic L. monocytogenes plating media offer the attraction of rapid economic detection and enumeration of pathogenic Listeria spp. within 24 or 48 h of incubation at 36+/-1 degrees C. This overview summarises the characteristics of these chromogenic plating media, reviews important evaluations, and focuses on replacement of conventional by these chromogenic plating media, particularly for applications in the food industry.
 ...
PMID:New chromogenic plating media for detection and enumeration of pathogenic Listeria spp.--an overview. 1524 69