Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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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) is now recognized as a transduction molecule in many biological systems, and is known to promote the synthesis of cGMP by activating the soluble guanylate cyclase. NO synthase which fully accounts for all the neuronal activity of NADPH diaphorase catalyzes L-arginine to NO and L-citrulline. In the present study, the localization of NO-related substances, L-arginine, NO synthase, L-citrulline and cGMP in the enteric plexus and dorsal root ganglia was demonstrated with immuno- or enzyme-histochemical methods. L-Arginine was proved accumulated in glial cells, while NO synthase and L-citrulline were found in neurons. Cyclic GMP was predominantly observed in glial cells. These results reveal L-arginine-NO-cGMP pathway may be present in the enteric plexus and dorsal root ganglion as in the brain, and provide visible evidence that NO mediates neuron-glia communications in this pathway.
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PMID:Localization of nitric oxide-related substances in the peripheral nervous tissues. 840 87

Ten years ago, the term "oxidative stress" (sigma -O2) was created to define oxidative damage inflicted to the organism. This definition brings together processes involving reactive oxygen species production and action such as free radical production during univalent reduction of oxygen within mitochondria, activation of NADPH-dependent oxidase system on the membrane surface of neutrophils, flavoprotein-catalyzed redox cycling of xenobiotics and exposure to chemical and physical agents in the environment. Since the discovery of the nitric oxide biosynthetic pathway, the deleterious effects of uncontrolled nitric oxide generation are generally classified as oxidative stress. Indeed, products of the reaction of NO and superoxide lead to oxidants such as peroxinitrite, nitrogen dioxide and hydroxyl radical, which are involved in mechanisms of cell-mediated immune reactions and defence of the intracellular environment against microbiol invasion. However NO can also regulate many biological reactions and signal transduction pathways that lead to a variety of physiological responses such as blood pressure, neurotransmission, platelet aggregation, endothelin generation or smooth muscle cell proliferation. Then the uncontrolled NO production can lead to a variety of physiological and pathophysiological responses similar to a Nitric Oxide Stress: activation of guanylate cyclase and production of cGMP: overstimulation of the inducible L-arginine to L-citrulline and NO pathway by bactericidal endotoxins and cytokines has been shown to promote undesired increases in vasodilatation, which may account for hypotension in septic shock and cytokine therapy. stimulation of auto-ADP-ribosylation and modification of SH-groups of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in a cGMP-independent mechanism: by this way, NO in excess can strongly inhibits this important glycolytic enzyme and reduce the cellular energy production. inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase: extensive inhibition of this key enzyme in DNA synthesis in the presence of large amounts of NO could lead to important antiproliferative effects; inhibition of cytochrome P450-dependent metabolism: in Kupffer cells and hepatocytes, LPS-induced overproduction of NO has been shown to inhibit cytochrome P450-dependent metabolism and to mediate the suppression of hepatic metabolism. Moreover, NO synthetized in the peripheral nervous system is known to mediate nonadrenergic noncholinergic (NANC) neurotransmission. Overstimulation of NO synthases might therefore contribute to pathophysiological states such as: gastrointestinal motility, reflux oesophagitis, asthma, adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and chronic pulmonary artery hypertension. To these NO-mediated biological functions, one could add the biological effects of NO-derivatives such as N-nitrosocompounds, which act as carcinogenic agents, or C-nitrosocompound which were recently used as "zinc-ejecting" agents to inhibit HIV-1 infectivity of human T-lymphocytes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:[Does nitric oxide stress exist?]. 852 Oct 87

To investigate whether L-arginine/nitric oxide (NO) pathway activated after treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) could relax the gastric fundus smooth muscle, we made functional examinations and measured NO synthase activity by the conversion of radiolabelled L-arginine to L-citrulline in rat gastric fundus strips treated with LPS in vitro. L-arginine caused a relaxation of the mucosa-free gastric fundus strips which had been treated with LPS for 6 h in vitro and then contracted by PGF2alpha beforehand. This relaxation was partially reversed by N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor) or methylene blue (a soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor). Ca(2+)-independent NO synthase activity was induced after LPS-treatment. Co-incubation with LPS and cycloheximide for 6 h inhibited the relaxation to L-arginine and the induction of NO synthase. On the other hand, Ca(2+)-dependent NO synthase activity was decreased after LPS-treatment. These results strongly suggest that Ca(2+)-independent NO synthase is induced by endotoxin in the gastric fundus muscle, resulting in inhibition of the contractile response.
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PMID:Nitric oxide synthase induction and relaxation in lipopolysaccharide-treated gastric fundus muscle of rats. 862 15

Nitric oxide (NO) was discovered to be a potent vasodilator, inhibitor of platelet aggregation, and active species of nitroglycerin before the discovery of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) in 1980. Subsequent studies revealed that EDRF is NO, and is synthesized by mammalian cells from L-arginine through a complex oxidation reaction catalyzed by the flavo-hemoprotein NO synthase (NOS). NOS catalyzes the NADPH- and oxygen-dependent oxygenation of L-arginine to NO plus L-citrulline in a reaction that requires at least six cofactors including NADPH, FAD, FMN, tetrahydrobiopterin, heme, and calmodulin. NO elicits its known physiological actions by activating cytosolic guanylate cyclase, which converts GTP to cyclic GMP. Endothelial NOS and neuronal NOS are constitutively present and activated by increases in intracellular calcium triggered by endogenous chemicals. NO then diffuses into nearby target cells to elevate cyclic GMP levels and thereby trigger cell function. NOS activity can also be regulated by a negative feedback mechanism involving NO itself. Much greater quantities of NO are produced pathophysiologically by a distinct form of NOS that can be induced in vascular endothelium, smooth muscle and macrophages by endotoxin and cytokines. This high-output production of NO is not regulated by calcium and is cytotoxic by mechanisms involving interaction with iron-containing proteins.
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PMID:Physiology and pathophysiology of nitric oxide. 874 1

Nitric oxide (NO) acts as an autocrine- and paracrine-acting signaling autacoid that, among other functions, has been shown to regulate cardiac contractile responsiveness to beta-adrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic agonists. Nitric oxide (NO) is formed by the oxidation of one of two equivalent guanidino nitrogens in L-arginine by O2 to form NO and L-citrulline. This reaction is catalyzed by a family of enzymes termed NO synthases. Three distinct isoforms of NOS have been identified, each the product of a separate gene. Cellular constituents of cardiac muscle, including ventricular myocytes as well as microvascular endothelial cells, have been shown to express the "endothelial constitutive" isoform of NO synthase (ecNOS or NOS3) in vivo, and both cell types also express the NO synthase isoform induced by specific inflammatory cytokines (iNOS or NOS2) in vivo and in vitro. While NO-dependent intracellular signalling in cardiac myocytes clearly involves the activation of guanylate cyclase and downstream signalling by cGMP, there is accumulating evidence that non-cGMP-dependent regulatory signalling events are also initiated by NO. In addition, decreased contractile responsiveness of cardiac myocytes to beta-adrenergic agonists, following induction of NOS2 by inflammatory cytokines, requires the presence of insulin and the co-induction of enzymes responsible for production of tetrahydrobiopterin, a NOS co-factor. Inappropriate or excessive production of NO by cardiac myocytes and by microvascular endothelial cells likely contributes to the cardiac contractile dysfunction characteristic of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome and cardiac allograft rejection.
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PMID:The role of the NO pathway in the control of cardiac function. 895 72

We have previously reported that plasma apolipoprotein (apo) E-containing high density lipoprotein particles have a potent anti-platelet action, apparently by occupying saturable binding sites in the cell surface. Here we show that purified apoE (10-50 microg/ml), complexed with phospholipid vesicles (dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, DMPC), suppresses platelet aggregation induced by ADP, epinephrine, or collagen. This effect was not due to sequestration of cholesterol from platelet membranes; apoE x DMPC chemically modified with cyclohexanedione (cyclohexanedione-apoE x DMPC) did not inhibit aggregation but nevertheless removed similar amounts of cholesterol as untreated complexes, about 2% during the aggregation period. Rather we found that apoE influenced intracellular platelet signaling. Thus, apoE x DMPC markedly increased cGMP in ADP-stimulated platelets which correlated with the resulting inhibition of aggregation (r = 0.85; p < 0.01, n = 10), whereas cyclohexanedione-apoE x DMPC vesicles had no effect. One important cellular mechanism for up-regulation of cGMP is through stimulation of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, the NO generated by conversion of L-arginine to L-citrulline, binds to and activates guanylate cyclase. This signal transduction pathway was implicated by the finding that NO synthase inhibitors of distinct structural and functional types all reversed the anti-platelet action of apoE, whereas a selective inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase, 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (100 nM), had a similar reversing action. Direct confirmation that apoE stimulates NO synthase was obtained by use of L-[3H]arginine; platelets pretreated with apoE x DMPC produced markedly more L-[3H]citrulline (0.71 +/- 0.1 pmol/h/10(9) platelets) than controls (0.18 +/- 0.03; p < 0.05). In addition, hemoglobin which avidly binds NO also suppressed the anti-aggregatory effect, indicating that apoE stimulated sufficient production of NO by platelets for extracellular release to occur. We conclude that apoE inhibits platelet aggregation through the L-arginine:NO signal transduction pathway.
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PMID:Apolipoprotein E inhibits platelet aggregation through the L-arginine:nitric oxide pathway. Implications for vascular disease. 899 32

Nitric oxide is produced by nitric oxide synthase enzymes, which cleave the amino acid L-arginine to form nitric oxide and the amino acid L-citrulline. Many of the biologic actions of nitric oxide occur because nitric oxide activates guanylate cyclase, which in turn synthesizes a second-messenger molecule, cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP). The increased concentration of cGMP activates cGMP-dependent protein kinase, reducing intracellular concentrations of calcium and relaxing smooth muscle. Nitric oxide also has many important effects that may not be mediated through increases of pulmonary cGMP activity. These include the ability to scavenge oxygen free radicals, reduce oxygen toxicity, and inhibit platelet and leukocyte aggregation. Nitric oxide is metabolized and excreted via a number of diverse pathways that may modify the toxicity of the molecule.
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PMID:The biologic basis for inhaled nitric oxide. 939 Sep 16

Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is a modular enzyme which consists of a flavin-containing reductase domain and a heme-containing oxygenase domain, linked by a stretch of amino acids which contains a calmodulin (CaM) binding site. CaM binding to nNOS facilitates the transfer of NADPH-derived electrons from the reductase domain to the oxygenase domain, resulting in the conversion of L-arginine to L-citrulline with the concomitant formation of a guanylate cyclase activating factor, putatively nitric oxide. Numerous studies have established that peroxynitrite-derived nitrogen oxides are present following nNOS turnover. Since peroxynitrite is formed by the diffusion-limited reaction between the two radical species, nitric oxide and O2.-, we employed the adrenochrome assay to examine whether nNOS was capable of producing O2.- during catalytic turnover in the presence of L-arginine. To differentiate between the role played by the reductase domain and that of the oxygenase domain in O2.- production, we compared its production by nNOS against that of a nNOS mutant (CYS-331), which was unable to transfer NADPH-derived electrons efficiently to the heme iron under special conditions, and against that of a flavoprotein module construct of nNOS. We report that O2.- production by nNOS and the CYS-331 mutant is CaM-dependent and that O2.- production can be modulated by substrates and inhibitors of nNOS. O2.- was also produced by the reductase domain of nNOS; however, it did not display the same CaM dependency. We conclude that both the reductase and oxygenase domains of nNOS produce O2.-, but that the reductase domain is both necessary and sufficient for O2.- production.
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PMID:Involvement of the reductase domain of neuronal nitric oxide synthase in superoxide anion production. 939 56

Human and rat plasma and rat hypothalamus contain a cytochemically detectable substance, the concentration of which rises with an increase in salt intake. The plasma concentration of this material is also raised in essential hypertension and in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), the Milan hypertensive rat, and the reduced renal mass (RRM) hypertensive rat. In the normal rat, the greatest concentration is found in the hypothalamus of the SHR and the RRM hypertensive rat. The physicochemical characteristics of this cytochemically detectable hypothalamic hypertensive factor (HHF), including chromatographic behavior and molecular weight range, suggest that it may share features common to a substituted guanidine that is present in established nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors. It was therefore decided to determine the effect on NOS activity of the HHF obtained from mature SHR. The ability of HHF to inhibit NOS activity was studied on (1) NOS extracted from bovine aorta, rat brain, and human platelets by measuring the conversion of radiolabeled L-arginine to L-citrulline and (2) rat liver NOS measured indirectly with a cytochemical technique based on the stimulation of soluble guanylate cyclase activity in hepatocytes by NO. HHF showed a biphasic inhibitory action on platelet NOS activity that was greater with HHF obtained from SHR than from Wistar-Kyoto rats. HHF also had a biphasic inhibitory effect on hepatocyte NOS activity that was more potent when obtained from SHR. It is proposed that the increase in HHF, a novel form of NOS inhibitor that is elevated in SHR, may be involved in the rise in arterial pressure.
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PMID:Hypothalamic hypertensive factor: an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase activity. 940 72

1. The effect of Tityus serrulatus scorpion venom and its toxin components on the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum was investigated by use of a bioassay cascade. 2. Tityus serrulatus venom (3-100 microg), acetylcholine (ACh; 0.3-30 nmol) and glyceryl trinitrate (GTN; 0.5-10 nmol) dose-dependently relaxed rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum preparations precontracted with noradrenaline (3 microM). The selective soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor 1H-[1,2,4] oxadiazolo [4,3,-alquinoxalin-1-one] (ODQ; 30 microM) increased the basal tone of the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum and abolished the relaxations induced by the agents mentioned above. Methylene blue (30 microM) also inhibited the relaxations induced by Tityus serrulatus venom but, in contrast to ODQ, the inhibition was irreversible. 3. The non-selective NO synthase (NOS) inhibitors Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 10 microM) and NG-iminoethyl-L-ornithine (L-NIO; 30 microM) also increased the tone of the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum and markedly reduced both ACh- and Tityus serrulatus venom-induced relaxations without affecting those evoked by GTN. The inhibitory effect was reversed by infusion of L-arginine (300 microM), but not D-arginine (300 microM). The neuronal NOS inhibitor 1-(2-trifluoromethylphenyl) imidazole (TRIM, 100 microM) did not affect either the tone of the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum or the relaxations induced by ACh, bradykinin (Bk), Tityus serrulatus venom and GTN. TRIM was approximately 1,000 times less potent than L-NAME in inhibiting rabbit cerebellar NOS in vitro, as measured by the conversion of [3H]-L-arginine to [3H]-L-citrulline. 4. The protease inhibitor aprotinin (Trasylol; 10 microg ml[-1]) and the bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist Hoe 140 (D-Arg-[Hyp3,Thi5,D-Tic7, Oic8]-BK; 50 nM) did not affect the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum relaxations induced by Tityus serrulatus venom. The ATP-dependent K+ channel antagonist glibenclamide (10 microm) and the Ca2+-activated K+ channel antagonists apamin (0.1 microM) and charybdotoxin (0.1 microM) also failed to affect the venom-induced relaxations. Similarly, the K+ channel blocker tetraethylammonium (TEA; 10 microM) had no effect on the venom-induced relaxations. 5. Capsaicin (3 and 10 nmol) relaxed the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum in a dose-dependent and non-tachyphylactic manner. Ruthenium red (30 microM), an inhibitor of capsaicin-induced responses, markedly reduced the relaxations caused by capsaicin, but failed to affect those induced by Tityus serrulatus venom. L-NAME (10 microM) had no effect on the capsaicin-induced relaxations of the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum. 6. The sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX; 1 microM) abolished the relaxations of the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum induced by Tityus serrulatus venom without affecting those evoked by capsaicin, ACh and GTN. Tetrodotoxin (1 microM) also promptly reversed the response to the venom when infused during the relaxation phase. 7. The bioassay cascade of the toxin components purified from Tityus serrulatus venom revealed that only fractions X, XI and XII caused dose-dependent relaxations of the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum and these were markedly reduced by either TTX (1 microM) or L-NAME (10 microM). 8. Our results indicate that Tityus serrulatus scorpion venom (and the active fractions X, XI and XII) relaxes rabbit corpus cavernosum via the release of NO. This release is specifically triggered by the activation of capsaicin-insensitive cavernosal non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) fibres, that may possibly be nitrergic neurones. Tityus serrulatus venom may therefore provide an important tool for understanding further the mechanism of NANC nitrergic nerve activation.
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PMID:Effect of Tityus serrulatus scorpion venom on the rabbit isolated corpus cavernosum and the involvement of NANC nitrergic nerve fibres. 950 84


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