Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.22.56 (caspase-3)
 35,750 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In the funnel web spider Agelena labyrinthica (Agelenidae; A. l.), sheet web spider Linyphia triangularis (Linyphiidae; L. t.) and wolf spider Xerolycosa nemoralis (Lycosidae; X. n.) from two differently polluted meadow sites in southern Poland, we studied the relations between antioxidant parameters (glutathione, GSH; glutathione peroxidases, GPOX, GSTPx; catalase, CAT; stress proteins-Hsp70, metallothioneins Mts), the intensity of apoptosis and necrosis, and heavy metal burdens of the midgut gland. Cellular reactions against stress caused by pollutants seemed to be sex-dependent. The concentrations of Zn and Cu in the midgut glands of male A. l. and X. n. were more than double that of the females, from both study sites. In male spiders from the heavily polluted site, both negative correlations (activity of caspase-3-like proteins vs Cu, Zn concentration; number of depolarized mitochondria vs Cu concentration) and positive correlations (number of necrotic cells vs Cu concentrations; activity of CAT vs Zn ) were noted. The defense of males against high metal content and its prooxidative effects is based mainly on GSH and CAT. In females the antioxidative reactions are species-specific and depend mainly on high peroxidase activity and on stress protein level. The increase in the number of apoptotic cells in the midgut gland of female spiders from the heavily polluted site suggests the defensive role of this process in maintaining the proper functioning of this organ.
 ...
PMID:Cellular stress reactions assessed by gender and species in spiders from areas variously polluted with heavy metals. 1746 54

As yet European strains of Raphidiopsis raciborskii (previously Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii) have not been found to produce known cyanotoxins although their extracts have caused adverse effects in mammals, as shown using in vitro and in vivo experimental models. The present study investigated whether R. raciborskii isolated from Western Poland and Ukraine can affect fish cells using in vitro exposures of hepatocytes and red blood cells (RBC), and brain homogenates obtained from common carp (Cyprinus carpio) to 1.0% and 0.1% extracts of 7 strains. The studied extracts evoked different responses of catalase activity in hepatocytes with both increase and decrease observed under low and high concentrations. The cellular thiol pool was also altered with most extracts inducing a decrease in the activity of glutathione-S-transferase, and Ukrainian strains leading to an increase in glutathione level and a decrease in metallothionein content. All the studied extracts induced comparable reactive oxygen species formation, lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation and DNA fragmentation in hepatocytes, and all but one increased the activity of caspase-3. Only one extract caused lysosomal membrane destabilization as measured by neutral red retention in RBC. In contrast to extracts of Ukrainian isolates, exposure of brain homogenates to extracts of Polish strains induced an increase in acetylcholinesterase activity suggesting the neurotoxic action of their exudates. The results indicate that both Polish and Ukrainian strains of R. raciborskii may pose a toxicological risk to freshwater fish, and further, that Polish strains may produce compound(s) evoking neurotoxic effects.
 ...
PMID:Is the presence of Central European strains of Raphidiopsis (Cylindrospermopsis) raciborskii a threat to a freshwater fish? An in vitro toxicological study in common carp cells. 3047 79