Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.21.1 (chymotrypsin)
 10,938 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

When deplasticized Epon sections were treated with endo- and/or exopeptidases prior to incubation with antibodies, the neuropeptide immuno-reactivity of secretory nerves was often altered in a predictable way. Cleavage of neurosecretory material in octopus nerves by trypsin and carboxypeptidase-B enhanced enkephalin-like immunoreactivity, while Molluscan neuropeptide-like immunoreactivity was prevented by tryptic cleavage. The enzyme effects indicated the occurrence of a heptapeptide (Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met/Leu-Arg-Phe) that contains both the enkephalin and the Molluscan neuropeptide sequence. Vasopressin terminals of the rat neurohypophysis, which presumably contain enkephalin precursor sequences, exhibited enkephalin-like immunostaining after tryptic cleavage. ACTH/beta-endorphin cells of the rat intermediate pituitary, which synthesize the enkephalin sequence at the N-terminus of Beta-endorphin, exhibited enkephalin=like immunoreactivity when sections were treated with alpha-chymotrypsin or trypsin, but not after incubation with leucine-aminopeptidase or carboxypeptidase-B. Enkephalin-like immunostaining could not be induced in any way in ACTH/beta-endorphin cells of the anterior pituitary. Enzymatic cleavage may give additional information in immunocytochemical localization studies on neuropeptide sequences in secretory nerves and hormonal granules.
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PMID:Enzymatic cleavage prior to antibody incubation as a method for neuropeptide immunocytochemistry. 628 42

Evidence is presented showing that alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) inhibits a novel prohormone thiol protease (PTP) involved in processing the enkephalin precursor. Colocalization of ACT immunoreactivity with PTP within isolated secretory vesicles of bovine adrenal medulla and pituitary indicated that endogenous ACT could regulate PTP in vivo. The endogenous 60 kDa bovine ACT (bACT)-like protein was purified from pituitary by chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose, chromatofocusing, butyl-Sepharose, and Sephacryl S-200. Characterization showed that the bACT-like protein was a potent inhibitor of PTP (Ki,app value of 2.2 nM) as well as an effective inhibitor of chymotrypsin (Ki,app value of 2.3 nM). Furthermore, the bACT-like protein formed sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable complexes with chymotrypsin, which is typical of serpin protease inhibitors. Importantly, PTP formed sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable complexes with human ACT, suggesting that PTP's cleavage specificity may resemble the reactive center of ACT. PTP cleavage of enkephalin-containing peptides at the NH2-terminal side of paired basic residues (Lys-Arg, Arg-Arg, Lys-Lys), flanking the COOH terminus of (Met)enkephalin (Tyr-Gly-GLy-Phe-Met), indicates methionine at the P1 position. PTP cleavage of peptide-methylcoumarin amide and peptide-p-nitroanilide substrates demonstrated specificity for paired basic and monobasic residues, as well as a role for methionine in PTP's cleavage site. These results showing PTP's ability for processing at a methionine residue which resembles the P1 specificity of ACT are compatible with inhibition of PTP by ACT. These findings are the first demonstration of the involvement of a protease inhibitor in neuropeptide precursor processing. The known developmental regulation of ACT in brain and significant amounts of ACT in amyloid plaques of Alzheimer's disease suggest a possible role for PTP in the maturation of peptidergic neurons.
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PMID:Purification and characterization of alpha 1-antichymotrypsin-like protease inhibitor that regulates prohormone thiol protease involved in enkephalin precursor processing. 837 11

A method is presented for the analysis of peptides in plasma at picomole to femtomole levels. Peptides are isolated from plasma by solid-phase extraction, the peptide of interest is purified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and selectively digested using immobilized trypsin or chymotrypsin to yield specific di- or tripeptides. These di- and tripeptides are esterified using heptafluorobutyric anhydride, alkylated with pentafluorobenzyl bromide, then quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with negative ion chemical ionization. This method has been evaluated for a model synthetic heptapeptide, using a deuterium labeled analog as an internal standard. The half-life of the heptapeptide in human plasma was found to be 2 min. Extraction efficiencies of a tritiated peptide of similar size to the heptapeptide, [3H]DSLET, from plasma using either C18 or strong cation-exchange columns were 85+/-3 and 70+/-2%, respectively. Quantitation of fragments from the heptapeptide indicated that the analysis was linear from 1-50 ng of the heptapeptide per ml of plasma. This method was subsequently employed for pharmacokinetic studies of the biologically active peptide Met-enkephalin-Arg-Gly-Leu, where linearity was obtained from 50 to 1000 ng/ml in rat plasma. This method demonstrated negligible side reaction by-products due to autolysis, and has potential for extensive use given the wide availability of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
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PMID:Quantitative analysis of exogenous peptides in plasma using immobilized enzyme cleavage and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with negative ion chemical ionization. 939 Jul 10