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)

In an attempt to determine the mechanism by which the tripeptide l-prolyl-l-leucyl-glycine amide (PLG, MIF-I) exerts its antiparkinsonian effect, the action of this substance on various postsynaptic components of striatal dopaminergic nerves was studied. It was shown that injection of rats with MIF-I (1 mg/kg, IPX5, 24 hr intervals) did not alter tyrosine hydroxylase, dopa decarboxylase, choline acetyltransferase and glutamic acid decarboxylase activities in the striatum under the conditions tested. The activities of adenylate cyclase, dopamine-stimulated adenylate cyclase, and guanylate cyclase were not altered in vitro by various concentrations of MIF-I (0.1 to 1000 micrometer), although VIP and neurotensin had some effect. Also the rate of uptake of 3H-dopamine by rat striatal synaptosomes was unchanged, as was the binding of 3H-dopamine and 3H-spiperone to beef caudate membranes. This series of studies indicates that MIF-I does not act directly on the striatal dopamine postsynaptic receptor under the conditions tested, although it is possible that MIF-I could act indirectly at this or another site in vivo by releasing or activating some other factor.
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PMID:MIF-I and postsynaptic receptor sites for dopamine. 3 65

Different brain regions were removed post mortem from three patients with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome and were examined for alterations in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT), adenine phosphoribosyl transferase, and biochemical indexes of norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and acetylcholine neuron function, as compared with age-matched controls. The level of HGPRT activity in the material from patients with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome was less than 1 per cent of control levels, whereas adenyl phosphoribosyl transferase was not significantly altered. All biochemical aspects of the function of dopamine-neuron terminals in the striatum (except dihydroxyphenylacetic acid levels) were decreased to 10 to 30 per cent of the control values. Serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels were increased, striatal choline acetyltransferase levels were low, and striatal glutamic acid decarboxylase and guanylate cyclase activities were unaltered. The disruption of the balance between the functions of GABA, dopamine, and acetylcholine neurons in the extrapyramidal system probably accounts for some of the symptoms observed in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (e.g., choreoathetosis).
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PMID:Biochemical evidence of dysfunction of brain neurotransmitters in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. 611 11

Whole brain spheroids provide a suitable model to study neurodevelopment. In the literature a role for the nitric oxide (NO)-cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) signalling pathway during development has frequently been suggested. In this study we investigated whether functional cGMP pathways were present in differentiated spheroids. In 3-week-old spheroids soluble guanylate cyclase was stimulated with N-methyl D-aspartic acid or sodium nitroprusside (NO donor). The results showed that the NO synthase-cGMP pathway is present in the culture system. Soluble guanylate cyclase-dependent cGMP formation was found in NO synthase containing neurons, in neurons of the GABAergic, glutamatergic and cholinergic system, and in astroglia and oligodendroglia. Activation of particulate guanylate cyclase by atrial natriuretic peptide also triggered an increase in cGMP production. Particulate guanylate cyclase was found in astroglia and in microglia as well as in glutamic acid decarboxylase and calbindin containing structures and neuronal NO synthase containing neurons. Chronic inhibition of NO synthase during culture development had no effect on soluble or particulate guanylate cyclase functioning. Similarly, inhibition of soluble guanylate cyclase during culture development did not have any effect on NO synthase and particulate guanylate cyclase functioning. It is concluded that NO synthase and both soluble and particulate guanylate cyclase are present in whole brain spheroid cultures and that their activity can be influenced by several stimuli. The spheroid culture system constitutes a suitable model to study the NO-cGMP pathway during brain development in mammals.
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PMID:Whole brain spheroid cultures as a model to study the development of nitric oxide synthase-guanylate cyclase signal transduction. 1115 66

Rats treated with iminodipropionitrile develop a neurobehaviour syndrome with dyskinesia. Searching for the molecular correlates, we have examined the expression of selected genes involved in neurotransmission in motor regions using hybridization histochemistry. Frontal cortical and thalamic vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) expression, and striatal dynorphin, enkephalin (ENK) and substance P expression were increased. No change in cortical cholecystokinin (CCK), ENK, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and somatostatin (SRIF) expression, in striatal GAD, SRIF, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and guanylate cyclase expression, and in thalamic CCK, GAD and thyrotropin-releasing hormone expression was found. NOS expression in the subthalamic nucleus as well as tyrosine hydroxylase, GAD and CCK expression in the substantia nigra were unchanged. These results confirm the involvement of striatal projection neurons in dyskinesia and suggest a novel role for VIP.
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PMID:Expression of neurotransmitter genes in motor regions of the dyskinetic rat after iminodipropionitrile. 1286 38

The pineal gland serves the function of a neuroendocrine transducer converting information about day length into the nocturnal release of melatonin. Melatonin acts on the brain, particularly on the hypothalamus, to affect several biological rhythms. By employing autoradiography and 2-[(125)I]melatonin as a radioligand, the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the pars tuberalis of the adenohypophysis have been identified as sites for melatonin binding exhibiting dissociation constants (K(d)s) in the 10(?10) M range. These sites were also revealed in test-tube binding assays employing crude membrane fractions. Additionally, studies in either membrane or cytosol fractions using tritiated or radioiodine-labelled melatonin indicated location of another population of presumptive melatonin binding sites with K(d)s in the 10(?8) ?10(?9) M range in several other brain areas, including the hippocampus, cerebral and cerebellar cortexes, as well as the pineal gland. Signal transduction processes for melatonin presumably involve interaction with G proteins to inhibit adenylate cyclase. Also, a decrease of Ca(2+) uptake, stimulation of guanylate cyclase and inhibition of cyclooxygenase occur at 10(?8) M melatonin concentrations. The time of administration of melatonin is critical for hormone action. In rodents and humans, a major late afternoon-early evening period of sensitivity is found for several central and peripheral effects of melatonin. Results in rats suggest that central synapses employing ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as an inhibitory transmitter are a target for pineal melatonin activity because: (a) pinealectomy (Px) disrupts circadian rhythmicity of brain GABA and benzodiazepine (BZP) binding; (b) low doses of melatonin counteract Px-induced modifications of BZP and GABA binding; (c) chronic melatonin treatment increases brain BZP and GABA binding; (d) melatonin administration accelerates brain GABA turnover rate; (e) melatonin increases glutamic acid decarboxylase activity and Cl(?) ion conductance in the medial basal hypothalamus-preoptic area, with maximal activity in the evening. As BZP, melatonin could affect circadian rhythmicity by modifying GABAergic mechanisms in the endogenous oscillator. Additionally, the epileptoid state described after Px and the mild sedation and torpor that follow administration of pharmacological amounts of melatonin can be explained by an effect on central GABAergic circuits.
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PMID:Central gabaergic mechanisms as targets for melatonin activity in brain. 2050 37