Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.23 (beta-galactosidase)
 14,648 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A lambda gt11 expression library containing cDNA inserts prepared from porcine endometrial mRNA was immunologically screened by using an antiserum developed against porcine uteroferrin (Uf), a glycoprotein that has been strongly implicated in transplacental iron transport in the pregnant pig. Antibody reactive clones (lambda 4a3, 13.1, and 2.2) were isolated after screening 1.5 x 10(5) recombinant phages. Clones 4a3 and 13.1 expressed Uf antigenic determinants in beta-galactosidase fusion proteins and specifically selected antibody which reacted with Uf in immunoblots prepared from uterine cytosolic extracts. In addition, all three cDNA clones collectively contained DNA sequences that encoded an 85-amino acid peptide which corresponded to a region within the carboxyterminal portion of the Uf protein. Northern blot hybridization of these cDNAs to RNAs extracted from whole uterine tissue of pregnant pigs revealed a single uterine poly(A)+ RNA of approximately 1.7 kilobases in length, which was not found in liver and mammary tissue RNAs. The concentration of the Uf mRNA changed in a temporal fashion during pregnancy in a manner that was distinct from that of the progesterone receptor mRNAs. Highest levels of Uf mRNA were found at mid and late pregnancy (days 45-110) and were about 50-fold greater than at day 30 of pregnancy. By contrast, RIA analysis of the uterine tissue extracts showed that maximum amounts of Uf were present at day 60 and then declined sharply. Thus the pattern of Uf mRNA present in the uterus did not parallel the amount of Uf polypeptide that could be recovered from the tissue. The tissue specific and temporal regulation of Uf gene expression emphasizes that the protein plays an important role in uterine activity and/or fetal development.
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PMID:Molecular cloning and temporal expression during pregnancy of the messenger ribonucleic acid encoding uteroferrin, a progesterone-induced uterine secretory protein. 296 54

Extracts of the pathogenic ameba Naegleria fowleri, prepared by freeze-thawing and sonication, were analyzed for their content of various hydrolytic enzymes that have acid pH optima. The organism is rich in acid phosphatase activity as well as a variety of glycosidases which include beta-glucosidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-fucosidase, alpha-mannosidase, hexosaminidase, arylsulfatase A, and beta-glucuronidase. The crude extract contained only negligible levels of sphingomyelinase, neuraminidase, or arylsulfatase B. All of the hydrolases exhibited higher activity at pH 5.5 than at 7.0, indicating that they are truly "acid" hydrolases. In general, after centrifugation (100,000 g, 1 h), except for arylsulfatase B, more than half of the activity of each of the various hydrolases was recovered in the supernatant fraction. The acid phosphatase in the high-speed supernatant was purified 45-fold (32% yield) by chromatography on QAE-Sephadex and Sephadex G-200 and shown to have the following properties: pH optima, 5.5; Km (4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate), 0.60 mM; molecular weight (estimated by gel filtration chromatography), 92,000; inhibited by heteropolymolybdate complexes but not by L(+) sodium tartrate (0.5 mM) or sodium fluoride (0.5 mM). In addition, unlike the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase of Leishmania donovani, the major acid phosphatase of N. fowleri is less than 5% as effective in inhibiting superoxide anion production by f-Met-Leu-Phe-stimulated human neutrophils. The finding of high levels of a number of acid hydrolases in Naegleria fowleri raises several questions that merit further study: Do the hydrolases perform a housekeeping function in this single cell eukaryote or do they play some role in the pathogenic process that ensues when the organism infects a suitable host?
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PMID:Demonstration of various acid hydrolases and preliminary characterization of acid phosphatase in Naegleria fowleri. 301 38

In porcine areolar placental epithelia, the following enzymes were demonstrated by histochemical methods after 30, 58, 80, 100, and 110 d of pregnancy, respectively: beta-N-acetyl-hexosaminidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-glucuronidase, alpha-mannosidase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, nonspecific esterases, cytochrome oxidase, 5-nucleotidase, leucine aminopeptidase, adenosine triphosphatase, diaphorases (NADH, NADPH), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase (NAD, NADP), beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, glycero-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, NAD-glycero-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase (NAD, NADP), lactate dehydrogenase. The results show that the enzyme activities remained almost unchanged during the period of investigation. Of the dehydrogenases, the diaphorases as well as succinate and lactate dehydrogenase demonstrated generally an intensive activity within the epithelia. The activity of the other dehydrogenases was only low. The activity of unspecific esterase was very intensive within the uterine epithelia but remarkably low within chorionic epithelia. Contrarily, the reaction of adenosine triphosphatase was more intensive within chorionic than uterine epithelia. All investigated glucosidases reacted distinctly positive within chorionic epithelia, but only beta-N-acetyl-hexosaminidase and beta-galactosidase in uterine epithelia. The high activity of acid phosphatase, especially within the chorionic epithelium, seems to be connected with uteroferrin, an iron-binding protein. The histochemical results are discussed in context with the function of the areolae in histiotrophic nutrition and iron transport.
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PMID:[Enzyme-histochemical studies of the pig placenta. II. Histotopics of enzymes in the areolar placenta epithelium]. 392 41

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-II have powerful, well defined effects on osteoblastic cells, stimulating their proliferation and inducing collagen synthesis, but the role of IGF-I and -II in modulating osteoclast differentiation and activity remains unclear. We first examined the bone-resorptive effects of IGF-I and IGF-II by assessing 45Ca2+ release from neonatal mouse calvarial bones. Both IGFs dose dependently stimulated bone resorption, with an EC50 of 8 x 10(-9) M for IGF-I and 2 x 10(-8) M for IGF-II. We then tested the effects of the IGFs on bone resorption by rat isolated osteoclasts cultured on ivory slices. Neither IGF-I nor IGF-II stimulated isolated osteoclast activity. However, in the presence of either primary mouse osteoblasts or human osteosarcoma MG 63 cells, both IGFs enhanced osteoclast resorptive activity, with an EC50 of 5 x 10(-10) M for IGF-I and 10(-9) M for IGF-II. Stimulation was not mediated by BALB/c/3T3 cells, a nonosteoblastic cell line. The effects of the IGFs were blocked by alpha IR-3, an antibody to the type I IGF receptor, but not by beta-galactosidase, a lysosomal enzyme that competes with IGF-II for the type II IGF receptor. We then examined the effects of the IGFs on the formation of osteoclast-like multinucleate cells (MNCs) in mouse bone marrow cultures. IGF-I and -II dose dependently increased the number of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive MNCs, although their effects were less than that of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (a hormone that induces osteoclast differentiation). No TRAP-positive MNCs appeared in the absence of these hormones. Like authentic osteoclasts, the TRAP-positive MNCs formed in response to IGF-I and -II bound [125I]salmon calcitonin. When mouse bone marrow cells were cultured on ivory slices in the presence of either IGF-I or IGF-II for 10 days, numerous resorption lacunae were formed. beta-Galactosidase had no effect on IGF-mediated osteoclast formation. These results are strong evidence that both IGF-I and IGF-II stimulate bone resorption in vitro by enhancing osteoclast formation and function. Our data also suggest that the IGFs act through the intermediary of osteoblastic cells to stimulate osteoclast activity and that the type I, but not the type II, IGF receptor is involved in their responses. We propose that the local production of IGF-I and IGF-II may modulate both osteoblast-osteoclast interactions and osteoclast formation and play an important role in bone remodeling.
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PMID:Osteoblasts mediate insulin-like growth factor-I and -II stimulation of osteoclast formation and function. 782 21

Progress in the field of osteoclast gene regulation has been hampered significantly by the lack of such cell lines. In this study, mouse osteoclast precursor cells were elicited in an osteoclast-inductive coculture system and immortalized using SV40 large T antigen. One of the osteoclast precursor cell lines (MOCP-5) forms 95% tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase positive (TRAP+) multinuclear osteoclast-like cells (OCLs) in the coculture system. The yield of TRAP+ OCLs was 4.5-7x10(4) cells per 10 cm2 dish. Expression of SV40 large T antigen was visualized in the nucleus of MOCP-5 cells and OCLs by immunohistochemistry. MOCP-5 cells were positive for MoMa-2 antigen and nonspecific esterase but negative for F4/80 antigen. OCLs derived from MOCP-5 cells were positive for able to form extensive resorption bone pits on bone slices. The resorbing activity of the OCLs was comparable to that of authentic mouse osteoclasts. Pit formation was inhibited by salmon calcitonin (CT). Acid production by OCLs was demonstrated by vital staining with acridine orange. The OCLs expressed cathepsin K and CT receptors. MOCP-5 cells could be transfected by a construct that carries the beta-galactosidase gene. Transfected MOCP-5 cells expressing beta-galactosidase retain the ability to differentiate into OCLs, indicating a useful model for osteoclast gene regulation. To date, the MOCP-5 cell line has been maintained in continuous culture for 23 months and has maintained the capacity to differentiate into osteoclasts throughout this time. In summary, these data show that a stable immortalized osteoclast precursor cell line has been established and that the immortalization with SV40 large T oncogene does not prevent osteoclast precursor cell differentiation.
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PMID:Generation of mouse osteoclastogenic cell lines immortalized with SV40 large T antigen. 966 Oct 75

Phenotypes associated with Msx1 mutations have established the prominent role of this divergent homeogene in skeletal patterning. Previous studies have been achieved during antenatal development in relation with the early death of null mutant mice. Therefore, the present study is devoted to Msx1 homeogene in the postnatal craniofacial, axial, and appendicular skeleton. A knock-in transgenic mouse line was studied from the first postnatal week until 15 months. Whole-mount beta-galactosidase enzymology identified Msx1 protein expression pattern. Maintained expression of Msx1 was observed in growing and adult mice, specifically in the sites where Msx1 plays an early morphogenetic role during initial skeletal patterning. These included the craniofacial sutures, autopodium, mandible, and alveolar bone. Furthermore, active membranous and endochondral bone formation involved Msx1 in the entire skeleton. Histologic sections showed that progenitor as well as differentiating and differentiated cells of all the bone cell lineages could express the Msx1 protein (chondrocytes, osteoblasts, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase positive osteoclasts and chondroclasts). Recent developments in the genetic and developmental biology of skeletal morphogenesis demonstrate that genes critical for development are jointly expressed in discrete embryonic signalling and growth centers, the enamel knot in teeth, the cranial suture in skull morphogenesis, and the progress zone in the limb buds. The present study suggests that these signalling pathways are jointly important throughout the entire lifetime with an exquisite site-specificity spatially related to early patterning.
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PMID:Postnatal Msx1 expression pattern in craniofacial, axial, and appendicular skeleton of transgenic mice from the first week until the second year. 1135 89

Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase (beta-gal), encoded by the lacZ gene, has become an essential tool in studies of gene expression and function in higher eukaryotes. lac-Z is widely used as a marker gene to detect expression of transgenes or Cre recombinase driven by tissue-specific promoters. The timing and location of promoter activity is easily visualized in whole embryos or specific tissues using the cleavable, chromogenic substrate, 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-D-galactopyranoside (X-gal). The tissue specificity of promoters in transgenic constructs is routinely tested by using a promoter of choice to drive lacZ. Alternatively, the targeted expression of Cre recombinase to perform in vivo recombination of loxP sites can be visualized by beta-gal staining in mice carrying a Cre-activated lacZ transgene, such as the ROSA26 strain. In the course of our investigations, we examined beta-gal activity in bone tissue from genetically normal mice using standard detection methodology and found very high endogenous activity in bone-resorbing osteoclasts. This was true in frozen, paraffin, and glycol methacrylate sections. X-gal staining colocalized with the osteoclast marker, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). beta-gal activity was present in osteoclasts in long bones, in the mandible, and in both neonatal and more mature animals. We present this brief article as a caution to those testing genetic models of skeletal gene expression using beta-gal as a marker gene.
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PMID:False-positive beta-galactosidase staining in osteoclasts by endogenous enzyme: studies in neonatal and month-old wild-type mice. 1698 55