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

Using three antisera to oxytocin (OT Pitt Ab-1, OT Pitt Ab-2, and TOR OT Ab), we found comparable levels of OT in response to infant suckling and during infusion of synthetic OT, and identical standard curves with biological and synthetic standards of OT. Pitt Ab-1, but not Pitt Ab-2 or TOR OT Ab, measured increased OT in response to estrogen. Using an arginine vasotocin RIA (TOR AVT Ab), we found an increase in AVT immunoreactivity after estrogen treatment. Mean basal OT levels measured with OT Pitt Ab-2 in plasma of men [0.75 +/- 0.06 (+/- SEM) microU/ml] and women (0.8 +/- 0.09 microU/ml) were lower than OT measured with Pitt Ab-1 (1.7 +/- 0.09 microU/ml in men and 1.7 +/- 0.07 microU/al in women; P less than 0.001). Mean OT measured with Pitt Ab-2 in the plasma of women given estrogen chronically (0.8 +/- 0.04 microU/ml) and acutely (0.6 +/- 0.15 microU/ml) were not significantly different from basal levels. OT levels measured with Pitt Ab-1 in the same samples were 4.6 +/- 0.5 and 4.3 +/- 0.5 microU/ml, respectively, both significantly increased from basal levels (P less than 0.001) and significantly higher than OT measured with Pitt Ab-2 (P less than 0.001). Mean OT measured with Pitt Ab-1 in the plasma of pregnant women was 8.6 +/- 1.02 microU/ml, significantly higher than OT measured with Pitt Ab-2 (1.0 +/- 0.3 microU/ml; P less than 0.001). Men given 25 mg diethylstilbestrol had significant increases in OT measured with Pitt Ab-1 and in AVT measured with TOR AVT (P less than 0.01), but not in OT measured with Pitt Ab-2. Plasma from a man given diethylstilbestrol was prepared for high performance liquid chromatography and applied to a C18 muBondapak reverse phase column. The plasma contained two peaks of immunoreactivity detected as OT with Pitt Ab-1 and as AVT using TOR AVT Ab. The material was not detected by Pitt Ab-2 or TOR OT Ab and did not coelute with standards of OT, AVT, or AVP. Pregnancy plasma, thioglycolic acid, chymotrypsin, and trypsin reduced Pitt Ab-1, Pitt Ab-2, and TOR OT immunoreactivity of synthetic OT. The percent recovery of OT immunoreactivity was not significantly different with Pitt Ab-1 vs. Pitt Ab-2. A novel peptide, which is increased in response to administered estrogen, is present in human plasma and is detected by some antisera to OT and AVT. The observation explains the wide variability in OT levels in the estrogen-primed state and provides a new mechanism to study estrogen-related physiology and pathophysiology.
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PMID:A novel oxytocin-like and vasotocin-like peptide in human plasma after administration of estrogen. 396 93

Men with low hypoosmotic swelling test (HOST) scores (<50%) rarely achieve a pregnancy with intercourse or conventional intrauterine insemination (IUI) or even IVF. The defect seems to be related to a toxic factor attached to the sperm that can be transferred to the zona pellucida, which ultimately interferes with implantation. A small case series showed optimistic pregnancy outcome with treatment of the sperm with low HOST scores with chymotrypsin. However, the live pregnancy rate in 90 subsequent IUI cycles in men whose low HOST scores were improved by chymotrypsin was only 3.3%. IVF with ICSI remains the only highly effective treatment of this disorder.
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PMID:Treatment of sperm with subnormal host scores with chymotrypsin/viable pregnancy after IUI. 1186 29