Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:4.6.1.2 (guanylate cyclase)
 8,497 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Nitric oxide (NO) functions as an endothelium-derived relaxation factor and regulates vascular resistance. Recent studies in this laboratory(Arch.Biochem.Biophys.323, 27-32, 1995) revealed that the lifetime of NO significantly increased at physiologically low levels of oxygen concentrations and, hence, this gaseous radical strongly inhibited mitochondrial electron transport for a fairly long duration at low oxygen concentrations. The present work describes the effect of oxygen concentration on NO-induced relaxation and guanylate cyclase (GC) activity of endothelium-denuded aorta of the rat. Both NO and 2,2 '-(hydroxynitrosohydrazono)bis-ethanamine (NOC18), an NO donor, induced the relaxation of endothelium-denuded helical segments of rat aorta which were contracted by norepinephrine. NO-dependent relaxation of arterial specimens was enhanced by lowering oxygen concentration in the medium with concomitant increase in their cGMP levels. Anoxia induced the relaxation of the aorta by some NO-enhanceable and methylene blue-insensitive mechanism. These results suggested that local concentrations of oxygen might play important roles in the regulation of NO-dependent GC activity and vascular tonus of resistance arteries.
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PMID:Oxygen concentration regulates NO-dependent relaxation of aortic smooth muscles. 1023 Aug 7

The distribution of cyclic GMP, cyclic AMP and related enzymes in the vertebrate retina, together with factors regulating their levels, are described. Photo-receptor cells in retinas from all species examined contain very high levels of cyclic GMP and high activities of both guanylate cyclase and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase. In more proximal regions of the retina, cyclic GMP is found at concentrations similar to that of brain. Guanylate kinase and GDP kinase, enzymes involved in GMP metabolism, also have increased activities in photoreceptor cell layers although their pattern of distribution does not exactly parallel that of cyclic GMP. The concentration of cyclic AMP is fairly uniform throughout the retina and at a level similar to that found in other areas of the CNS. However adenylate cyclase has an uneven distribution with particularly high activity in the inner plexiform layer. Cyclic nucleotide levels in retina may be modified by several factors. Light decreases both cyclic nucleotides in rod-dominant retinas, although we have not observed similar changes in cone-dominant retinas. Anoxia or ischemia elevates cyclic AMP and decreases cyclic GMP, similar to other areas of CNS, while incubation of retina in Ca(++)- free media markedly increases cyclic GMP levels, an effect opposite that seen in brain tissue. Depolarization of retina with high K(+) causes a modest elevation of cyclic AMP but has no effect on cyclic GMP, which is also significantly different from the response in brain. Cyclic AMP levels in retina however, can be elevated by dopamine which is an effect similar to that in striatum. These data indicate that there are probably multiple cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP systems in retina, some of which may be unique to this tissue.
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PMID:Localization and roles of cyclic nucleotide systems in retina. 2048 44