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)

Heme oxygenase (HO) proteins are members of the HSP30 family and consist of 2 isozymes identified to date, termed HO-1 and HO-2. Separate genes encode the isozymes and protein products which are immunochemically distinct, share less than 50% similarity at the amino acid sequence level. Each form, however, shows greater than 90% similarity among species, including human and the rat (reviewed in ref.). Furthermore, these isozymes function in a well-defined role to carry out oxidation of the heme molecule (Fe-protoporphyrin IX) in concert with NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase. The oxidation of heme is isomer specific and results in the formation of bile pigments, carbon monoxide, and iron. The heme molecule constitutes the prosthetic moiety of hemoproteins, such as hemoglobin, myoglobin, catalase, soluble guanylate cyclase, cytochrome b5, cytochromes P450 and NO synthase. HO-1 also known as heat shock protein (HSP) 32 is encoded by a gene which is exquisitely stress-responsive and a host of stimuli that mediate oxidative stress cause induction of the protein both in vivo and in vitro. The HO-2 form shows a unique pattern of regulation from that of HO-1. HO-2 is a constitutive protein and its expression is not affected by the inducers of HO-1 tested to date; rather, the only known regulator of HO-2 yet identified is adrenal glucocorticoids. The two isozymes display vast differences in tissue distribution and under normal conditions HO-1 is present in the whole brain at the limit of immunodetection and is discreetly localized in select neuronal populations. HO-1 protein (approximately 32 kDa) and its approximately 1.8 kb transcript are increased, however, in response to stressful stimuli primarily in non-neuronal cell populations. The heme oxygenase system serves in both a catabolic and anabolic capacity in the cell. In the former capacity, it down-regulates cellular heme and hemoprotein levels. And, as such it inactivates the most effective catalyst for formation of free radicals, the heme molecule. In its anabolic role, as noted above, heme oxygenase produces bile pigments, carbon monoxide, and iron, all of which are biologically active: bile pigments function as antioxidants; the carbon monoxide generated by HO activity has been correlated with the generation of cGMP; and iron regulates expression of various genes, including that of HO-1 itself, as well as transferrin receptors, ferritin, and NO synthase. We used rabbit anti-rat HO-2 polyclonal antibody and HO-2 cDNA to localize HO-2 immunoreactive protein and the 1.3- and 1.9 kb homologous transcripts, respectively, in rodent brain as visualized by histochemical staining procedures. These protocols provide the first detailed description of methodologies successfully used to define the pattern of HO-2 expression at the transcriptional and translational levels in the adult rat brain and glucocorticoid-treated newborn rats. The procedures described herein have the virtue of being non-radioactive, as well as applicability to the systemic organs, such as the cardiovascular system and the male reproductive organs. Visualization of cellular HO-2 expression aids in assessment of potential sites of carbon monoxide, iron, and bilirubin production within the nervous system.
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PMID:Histochemical localization of heme oxygenase-2 protein and mRNA expression in rat brain. 938 81

Carbon monoxide (CO), an activator of soluble guanylate cyclase and generated enzymatically by heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2), is thought to function as an intra- and intercellular neurotransmitter in the central and peripheral nervous system. In the present study, the distribution of HO-2 in airway nerves from both humans and guinea pigs was assessed. HO-2 was found in all neuronal perikarya of the intrinsic ganglia of guinea-pig airways and in all ganglion nerve cell bodies localized to the trachea and bronchi of humans. By contrast, nerve fibers innervating the smooth muscle, lamina propria, and epithelium of the airways in both species were devoid of HO-2 immunoreactivity. HO-1, the inducible isoform of heme oxygenase, was not found in airway nerves. The pattern of distribution of HO-2 observed suggests that CO might serve as a modulator of synaptic neurotransmission in the lung and airways rather than as a bona fide neurotransmitter in the smooth muscle, vasculature, or glands. Consistent with this hypothesis, 8-bromo-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) (30 microM), a stable, pharmacologically active analog of cGMP, markedly inhibited vagally-mediated cholinergic contractions of the isolated guinea-pig trachea. In subsequent studies, however, neither inhibiting heme oxygenase with zinc protoporphyrin-IX (30 microM) nor inhibiting the soluble isoform of guanylate cyclase with ODQ (3 microM) had measurable effects on vagally-mediated cholinergic contractions of the trachea. These results indicate that CO could play a modulatory role in efferent (parasympathetic) synaptic neurotransmission in the airways, but under normal conditions may not be activated to an appreciable extent during periods of elevated vagal activity.
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PMID:Localization of heme oxygenase-2 immunoreactivity to parasympathetic ganglia of human and guinea-pig airways. 947 16

This study was performed in the opossum lower esophageal sphincter (LES) smooth muscle strips to determine the action of the heme oxygenase inhibitor zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP IX) on the relaxant effect of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and isoproterenol, which are known to stimulate adenylate cyclase (AC) via G protein coupling, and of the direct activator of AC catalytic subunit forskolin. To investigate the cGMP pathway, we examined the effect of atrial natriuretic factor known to activate the receptor linked to the particulate guanylate cyclase via G protein coupling and that of sodium nitroprusside [nitric oxide (NO) donor], authentic NO and carbon monoxide, which stimulate the intracellular soluble fraction of GC. The smooth muscle relaxation caused by nonadrenergic noncholinergic (NANC) nerve stimulation also was investigated. ZnPP IX caused concentration-dependent attenuation of the relaxant effect of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, isoproterenol and atrial natriuretic factor without any effect on that of forskolin, sodium nitroprusside, NO and CO. Interestingly, ZnPP IX had no significant effect on the LES relaxation caused by NANC nerve stimulation and the smooth muscle contraction by bethanechol. From these results, we conclude that ZnPP IX attenuates the LES smooth muscle relaxation caused by the stimulation of G protein-coupled receptors to particulate AC and guanylate cyclase. The lack of effect of ZnPP IX on the NANC nerve-mediated LES relaxation suggests either lack of a role of heme oxygenase pathway in the response or an upregulation of NOS leading to normal LES relaxation.
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PMID:Inhibitory effect of zinc protoporphyrin IX on lower esophageal sphincter smooth muscle relaxation by vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and other receptor agonists. 958 May 85

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenously produced gas sharing many properties with nitric oxide (NO), notably activating soluble guanylate cyclase and relaxing blood vessels. The brain can generate high quantities of CO from a constitutive enzyme, haem oxygenase (HO-2). To determine whether CO is involved in the regulatory mechanisms of cerebral blood flow (CBF), two conditions associated with a reproducible CBF increase were studied in rats: epileptic seizures induced by kainate, and hypercapnia. The HO inhibitor tin protoporphyrin (Sn-PP) did not modify the basal level of CBF, significantly reduced the increase in CBF during status epilepticus, and did not affect the cerebrovascular response to hypercapnia. It is concluded that CO participates in the regulation of CBF in specific conditions, notably those associated with glutamate release.
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PMID:Carbon monoxide regulates cerebral blood flow in epileptic seizures but not in hypercapnia. 969 25

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenously generated gas that may play an important physiological role in the circulation. CO is generated by vascular cells as a byproduct of heme catabolism, in which heme oxygenase (HO) catalyzes the degradation of heme to biliverdin, iron and CO. Two distinct isoforms of HO have been identified in vascular tissue. The HO-2 isoform is constitutively expressed and likely mediates the release of CO under normal physiologic conditions. In contrast, the HO-1 isoform is strongly induced in vascular cells by various stress-associated agents and markedly increases CO synthesis during pathological conditions. The release of CO by vascular cells exerts both paracrine and autocrine effects on vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) and circulating blood cells. CO regulates blood flow and blood fluidity by inhibiting vasomotor tone, SMC proliferation, and platelet aggregation. These vascular effects of CO are mediated via the activation of soluble guanylate cyclase and the consequent rise in intracellular guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate levels in target tissues. CO may also play a role in various cardiovascular disorders, including endotoxin shock, ischemia-reperfusion, hypertension, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. This review will focus on the recent progress made in understanding the regulation and function of CO in the vasculature.
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PMID:Carbon monoxide and vascular cell function (review). 985 96

Carbon monoxide (CO) has been suggested as a novel messenger molecule in the brain. We now report on the cellular localization and hormone secretory function of a CO-producing constitutive heme oxygenase (HO-2) in mouse islets. Islet homogenates produced large amounts of CO which were suppressed dose-dependently by the HO inhibitor zincprotoporphyrin-IX (ZnPP-IX). We also show, for the first time, that glucose markedly stimulates the HO activity (CO production) in intact islets. A further potentiation was induced by the HO substrate hemin. Western blot showed that islet tissue expressed HO-2, and confocal microscopy revealed that HO-2 resided in insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide cells. ZnPP-IX dose-dependently inhibited, whereas hemin enhanced, both insulin and glucagon secretion from glucose-stimulated islets. Stimulation or inhibition of CO production was accompanied by corresponding changes in islet cGMP levels. Exogenously applied CO stimulated insulin and glucagon release from isolated islets, whereas exogenous nitric oxide (NO) inhibited insulin and stimulated glucagon release. Islets stimulated by glucose or L-arginine displayed a marked increase in their NO-synthase (NOS) activity. Such an increase was suppressed by hemin, conceivably because NOS activity was inhibited by hemin-derived CO. Consequently, hemin enhanced L-arginine-induced insulin secretion. Insulin release stimulated by either hemin-derived CO or exogenous CO was strongly inhibited by the guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ, but it was unaffected by ZnPP-IX. Glucagon release induced by CO (but not by hemin) was inhibited by ODQ and partly inhibited by ZnPP-IX. We propose that the islets of Langerhans are equipped with a heme oxygenase-carbon monoxide pathway, which constitutes a novel regulatory system of physiological importance for the stimulation of insulin and glucagon release. This pathway is stimulated by glucose, is at least partly dependent on the cGMP system, and displays interaction with islet NOS activity.
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PMID:Heme oxygenase and carbon monoxide: regulatory roles in islet hormone release: a biochemical, immunohistochemical, and confocal microscopic study. 989 24

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical produced actively by mammalian cells, including neurons. Low levels of NO can function in intercellular signaling, but high levels are cytotoxic. This cytotoxic potential suggests that cells at risk for NO damage, such as neurons, might have NO resistance mechanisms to prevent cell death, and adaptive resistance to NO-releasing compounds has been reported for some non-neuronal cell types. Here we show that immortalized mouse motor neurons (NSC34 cells) respond to sub-lethal fluxes of pure NO by activating adaptive resistance mechanisms that counteract cytotoxic NO exposure. This adaptive NO resistance is reversible and is paralleled by the induction of the oxidative stress enzyme heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1). An inhibitor of both HO-1 and heme-dependent guanylate cyclase (tin-protoporphyrin IX) greatly sensitized NO-pretreated NSC34 cells to the NO challenge. However, readdition of cyclic GMP (in the form of the 8-bromo derivative) restored rather little resistance, and a more selective guanylate cyclase inhibitor, 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-alpha]quinoxaline-1-one (at 10 microM), did not have the sensitizing effect. Therefore, the inducible HO-1 pathway contributes substantially to adaptive NO resistance, while cyclic GMP seems to play at most a small role. A similar adaptive resistance to NO was observed in primary rat spinal chord motor neurons. The activation of NO resistance in motor neurons may counteract age- or disease-related neurodegeneration.
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PMID:Adaptive resistance to nitric oxide in motor neurons. 1023 42

Macrophage activation and the resulting inflammatory response may be a major component of tissue injury upon hypoxia and re-oxygenation. Activation of the haem oxygenase (HO)/carbon monoxide (CO) pathway may be an important regulator of the inflammatory response, through production of cyclic 3', 5'-monophosphate (cGMP). We have assessed whether HO contributes to the increased production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-6 in re-oxygenated rat peritoneal macrophages.Hypoxia/re-oxygenation markedly increased levels of HO-1 mRNA and cGMP. The increase in cGMP was reduced by the HO-1 inhibitor tin-protoporphyrin (SnPP-9) given during re-oxygenation. Hypoxia and re-oxygenation also increased IL-6 and TNF-alpha mRNA expression, as well as IL-6 and TNF-alpha concentrations in the cell supernatant. These increases were nullified by SnPP-9 and by Methylene Blue, an inhibitor of guanylate cyclase, but were not affected by L-NNA, an inhibitor of NO synthesis. The inhibitory effect of SnPP on the synthesis of cytokines was reversed by co-administration of the stable analogue of cGMP, 8-Br-cGMP. Our results indicate that activation of haem oxygenase and of the CO/cGMP pathway is a major stimulus for the synthesis and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in re-oxygenated macrophages. This pathway may play a central role in pathological situations in which local tissue hypoxia/re-oxygenation triggers a systemic inflammatory response, for example in patients with shock.
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PMID:Induction of haem oxygenase contributes to the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines in re-oxygenated rat macrophages: role of cGMP. 1032 72

Perfusion of hippocampal slices with an inhibitor nitric oxide (NO) synthase blocked induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) produced by a one-train tetanus and significantly reduced LTP by a two-train tetanus, but only slightly reduced LTP by a four-train tetanus. Inhibitors of heme oxygenase, the synthetic enzyme for carbon monoxide (CO), significantly reduced LTP by either a two-train or four-train tetanus. These results suggest that NO and CO are both involved in LTP but may play somewhat different roles. One possibility is that NO serves a phasic, signaling role, whereas CO provides tonic, background stimulation. Another possibility is that NO and CO are phasically activated under somewhat different circumstances, perhaps involving different receptors and second messengers. Because NO is known to be activated by stimulation of NMDA receptors during tetanus, we investigated the possibility that CO might be activated by stimulation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Consistent with this idea, long-lasting potentiation by the mGluR agonist tACPD was blocked by inhibitors of heme oxygenase but not NO synthase. Potentiation by tACPD was also blocked by inhibitors of soluble guanylyl cyclase (a target of both NO and CO) or cGMP-dependent protein kinase, and guanylyl cyclase was activated by tACPD in hippocampal slices. However, biochemical assays indicate that whereas heme oxygenase is constitutively active in hippocampus, it does not appear to be stimulated by either tetanus or tACPD. These results are most consistent with the possibility that constitutive (tonic) rather than stimulated (phasic) heme oxygenase activity is necessary for potentiation by tetanus or tACPD, and suggest that mGluR activation stimulates guanylyl cyclase phasically through some other pathway.
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PMID:On the respective roles of nitric oxide and carbon monoxide in long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. 1048 62

Challenge of guinea pig mast cells with antigen under aerobic conditions induced the expected release of histamine and led to a significant increase in intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. Prior exposure to CO decreased the immunological histamine release. This effect was accompanied by a decrease in the levels of [Ca2+]i and by an increase in the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels. The exposure of mast cells to nitrogen (N2) did not modify the release of histamine. The CO-mediated inhibition of the immunological release of histamine was reversed by the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor (1 H-[1.2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one, ODQ) and by oxyhaemoglobin (HbO2). Incubation of mast cells for 4 h with hemin, a heme oxygenase (HO) inducer, resulted in an increase in HO activity, measured as bilirubin production. Hemin abated the immunological release of histamine, in similar fashion to exogenous CO, and increased the cGMP levels. These effects were reversed by ODQ and HbO2. It is proposed that CO from an exogenous or endogenous source stimulates guanylyl cyclase and causes cGMP formation which then induces calcium to be sequestrated so that the [Ca2+]i concentration falls and histamine release is inhibited.
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PMID:Modulation of the immunological response of guinea pig mast cells by carbon monoxide. 1043 58


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