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 gas (NO) increased guanylate cyclase [GTP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.1.2] activity in soluble and particulate preparations from various tissues. The effect was dose-dependent and was observed with all tissue preparations examined. The extent of activation was variable among different tissue preparations and was greatest (19- to 33-fold) with supernatant fractions of homogenates from liver, lung, tracheal smooth muscle, heart, kidney, cerebral cortex, and cerebellum. Smaller effects (5- to 14-fold) were observed with supernatant fractions from skeletal muscle, spleen, intestinal muscle, adrenal, and epididymal fat. Activation was also observed with partially purified preparations of guanylate cyclase. Activation of rat liver supernatant preparations was augmented slightly with reducing agents, decreased with some oxidizing agents, and greater in a nitrogen than in an oxygen atmosphere. After activation with NO, guanylate cyclase activity decreased with a half-life of 3-4 at 4 degrees but re-exposure to NO resulted in reactivation of preparations. Sodium azide, sodium nitrite, hydroxylamine, and sodium nitroprusside also increased guanylate cyclase activity as reported previously. NO alone and in combination with these agents produced approximately the same degree of maximal activation, suggesting that all of these agents act through a similar mechanism. NO also increased the accumulation of cyclic GMP but not cyclic AMP in incubations of minces from various rat tissues. We propose that various nitro compounds and those capable of forming NO in incubations activate guanylate cyclase through a similar but undefined mechanism. These effects may explain the high activities of guanylate cyclase in certain tissues (e.g., lung and intestinal mucosa) that are exposed to environmental nitro compounds.
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PMID:Nitric oxide activates guanylate cyclase and increases guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate levels in various tissue preparations. 2 Jun 23

Cytosolic guanylate cylase activity in cell-free preparations of the rabbit renal cortex was increased 3- to 5-fold by catecholamines. The plasma membrane-bound enzyme was not activated, although hormone receptors were present. Stimulation was augmented by NaN3, which by itself had little effect on the soluble enzyme activity. With a partially purified enzyme, activity was enhanced by 0.1 muM 1-epinephrine and activated half-maximally by about 1 muM. In decreasing potency, epinephrine greater than isoproterenol greater than norepinephrine greater than dopamine greater than catechol. Phenylephrine and metanephrine did not stimulate. 1-Epinephrine-stimulation of the enzyme was reversed by dialysis and the deactivated enzyme was reactivatable by a second exposure to the catecholamine. Activation by catecholamines was not stereospecific. Epinephrine-stimulated guanylate cyclase activity in the crude cytosolic fraction was partially inhibited by alpha-adrenergic antagonists, but neither alpha- nor beta-blockers inhibited when the partially purified enzyme was used; thus, leaving open the question of a role for typical alpha- or beta-adrenergic mechanisms in this regulation of the soluble enzyme. Adrenochrome was the most potent activator of the partially purified guanylate cyclase, being approximately 10-times more effective than epinephrine. Epinephrine and adrenochrome activated in the presence of reducing agents, i.e., ascorbate, DTT and N2, although the enzyme in a more SH-reduced form and in an oxygen-deficient medium had a decreased sensitivity to both effectors. Epinephrine activated soluble guanylate cyclase in several tissues, including cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, lung, heart, liver, ductus deferens and colon. Although the precise mechanism by which low concentrations of catecholamines stimulated guanylate cyclase activity is unknown and the physiological significance of the activation remains to be established, these findings direct attention to an interesting interaction of catecholamines with the cytosolic enzyme system and stress the need for further studies.
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PMID:The stimulation by catecholamines of guanylate cyclase activity in a cell-free system. 2 3

Alterations in endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) production or mechanism of action may be involved in the responses of the developing pulmonary vasculature to changes in oxygenation. In this study the effects of acute changes in in vitro oxygen tension on EDRF production were determined in isolated segments of ovine fetal intrapulmonary arteries (4th generation) obtained at 125-135 days of gestation (term 144 +/- 4 days). EDRF production was assessed by measuring segment guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) accumulation in the presence of a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. Basal (nonstimulated) cGMP production and cGMP production with acetylcholine (ACh) stimulation were dependent on the presence of the endothelium, on the availability of L-arginine, and on soluble guanylate cyclase activity, confirming that they were indicative of EDRF production. cGMP production with sodium nitroprusside (SNP) was used to discriminate changes in the sensitivity of soluble guanylate cyclase with varying conditions. With decreasing oxygen tension, basal and ACh-stimulated cGMP production were attenuated, whereas cGMP production with SNP was not, indicating oxygen modulation of EDRF production. Studies of endothelium-dependent relaxation yielded comparable findings in that the response to ACh was attenuated, but that to SNP was not altered by decreased oxygenation. In addition, the decline in endothelium-dependent relaxation with decreased oxygen tension was rapidly reversed when oxygenation was increased. Parallel experiments examining cGMP production in similarly sized mesenteric arteries revealed that the effect of oxygen on pulmonary artery EDRF production may be specific to that vascular bed. These findings indicate that oxygen selectively modulates EDRF production and endothelium-dependent relaxation in ovine fetal pulmonary arteries. Direct effects of oxygen on EDRF production may at least partially underlie the responses of the developing pulmonary circulation to changes in oxygenation.
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PMID:Oxygen modulates endothelium-derived relaxing factor production in fetal pulmonary arteries. 131 28

Previous studies have demonstrated hepatic cytochrome P-450-dependent biotransformation of organic nitrates. We assessed whether this biotransformation resulted in the formation of an activator of guanylyl cyclase using the 100,000 x g supernatant of rat aorta as a source of crude enzyme. Incubation of aortic supernatant with rat hepatic microsomes and glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) resulted in concentration-dependent increases in guanylyl cyclase activity provided that the incubations were performed anaerobically and that reduced nicotinamide adenine phosphate was added. Cysteine-dependent activation of guanylyl cyclase by GTN was greater under anaerobic compared to aerobic conditions. Guanylyl cyclase activation by GTN was increased using hepatic microsomes from phenobarbital-treated but not beta-naphthoflavone (BNF)-treated rats and was decreased when microsomes from cimetidine-treated rats were used. The hepatic microsome-dependent activation of guanylyl cyclase by GTN was inhibited by in vitro treatment of microsomes with carbon monoxide, SKF 525A, metyrapone and cimetidine, but not by ranitidine. The sensitivity of isolated rat aorta to the relaxant effects of GTN was increased under low oxygen conditions or when aortae were obtained from phenobarbital- or beta-naphthoflavone-treated rats. Treatment of rats with cimetidine did not affect GTN-induced relaxation. The vascular biotransformation of GTN was increased greater than 3-fold when performed anaerobically, and this increase was prevented by pretreatment of the tissues with carbon monoxide. Together, these data provide strong evidence for the involvement of hepatic cytochromes P-450 in the formation from GTN of an activator of guanylyl cyclase (presumably NO or some closely related compound), and suggest that at least a portion of the vascular biotransformation of GTN is mediated by hemoproteins.
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PMID:Hepatic cytochrome P-450-mediated activation of rat aortic guanylyl cyclase by glyceryl trinitrate. 134 46

1. Relaxant responses to nitroprusside were examined on U46619-contracted pulmonary artery ring preparations from rats exposed to hypoxia, in chambers containing 10% oxygen, for 1, 3, or 14 days, or for 14 days followed by 12 days in room air. Control rats were housed in room air. 2. After 3 days of hypoxia (but not 1 day), rats had elevated pulmonary artery pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy and polycythemia. After 14 days of hypoxia there was, in addition, hypertrophy of the pulmonary artery. In rats returned to room air for 12 days after 14 days of hypoxia, there was still some right ventricular and vascular hypertrophy but no increase in pulmonary artery pressure or polycythemia. 3. The potency (neg log EC50) of nitroprusside on pulmonary arteries taken from rats after 3 or 14 days of hypoxia was significantly less than on preparations from control rats (3 and 11 fold, respectively). This was not seen after 1 day of hypoxia or after 14 days of hypoxia followed by 12 days in room air. Removal of the endothelium from the preparations had no effect on the potency of nitroprusside in control or hypoxic rats (14 days). 4. In preparations from hypoxic, but not control, rats (14 days), the maximum response to nitroprusside was > 100% (177% reversal of the U46619 contraction) in the absence, but not in the presence, of the endothelium, indicating that pulmonary arteries from hypoxic rats had inherent tone which could be counteracted by a relaxing factor from the endothelium. 5. Exposure of rats to hypoxia (14 days) did not affect the potency of nitroprusside on aorta or trachea.6. It is concluded that exposure of rats to hypoxia results in reversible desensitization of the vascular smooth muscle of pulmonary artery to nitroprusside. The time course of this desensitization suggests that it is probably associated with the elevated pulmonary artery pressure or maintained hypoxaemia rather than with the vascular hypertrophy.7. It is postulated that the increase in pulmonary artery pressure and/or the maintained hypoxaemia may cause chronic release of nitric oxide from the pulmonary vascular endothelium or smooth muscle resulting in desensitization of soluble guanylate cyclase to the action of nitroprusside.
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PMID:Reduced relaxant potency of nitroprusside on pulmonary artery preparations taken from rats during the development of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. 142 89

Nitroglycerin and the long-acting nitrates are widely used in all of the anginal syndromes and have proven effectiveness in relieving or preventing myocardial ischemia. Recent developments into nitrate mechanisms of action provide new insights as to the many anti-ischemic effects of these agents. Important concepts relating to coronary arterial endothelial function are germane to nitrate therapy. Endothelial-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) is presently believed to be nitric oxide (NO), which exerts vasodilatory and/or antiplatelet actions by increasing intracellular cyclic guanosine monophosphate as a result of activation of the enzyme guanylate cyclase. In the setting of coronary atherosclerosis, or even hyperlipidemia without histologic vascular disease, endothelial dysfunction may be present, promoting a vasoconstrictor/proplatelet aggregatory milieu. Nitroglycerin and the organic nitrates are NO donors; NO is the final product of nitrate metabolism, and in the vascular smooth muscle NO induces relaxation, resulting in vasodilation of arteries and veins. In the presence of inadequate EDRF production and/or release, it appears that nitroglycerin may partially replenish EDRF-like activity. Nitrates have long been known to have major peripheral circulatory actions resulting in a marked decrease in cardiac work. Venodilation and arterial relaxation result in a decrease in intracardiac chamber size and pressures, with a resultant decrease in myocardial oxygen consumption. In addition, a variety of direct coronary circulatory actions of the nitrates have been documented. These include not only epicardial coronary artery dilation, but the prevention of coronary vasoconstriction, enhanced collateral flow, and coronary stenosis enlargement. Recent work suggests that the nitrates may also act by preventing distal coronary artery or collateral vasoconstriction, which can reduce blood flow downstream from a total coronary obstruction. Thus, there are many anti-ischemic mechanisms of action by which nitroglycerin and the organic nitrates may be beneficial in both acute and chronic ischemic heart disease syndromes. The unique salutory effects of the nitrates in subjects with left ventricular dysfunction or congestive heart failure make these drugs particularly attractive for patients with abnormal systolic function and intermittent myocardial ischemia. Finally, the emergent role of intravenous nitroglycerin in acute myocardial infarction offers new prospects that nitrate therapy may prove to be beneficial in acute myocardial infarction as well as postmyocardial infarction for the reduction of left ventricular remodeling.
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PMID:Mechanisms of action of the organic nitrates in the treatment of myocardial ischemia. 152 24

Acetylcholine evokes the simultaneous release of endothelium-derived relaxing and contracting factors in aortas from spontaneously hypertensive rats. Only relaxing factors are released in aortas from normotensive controls. Experiments were designed to determine whether inhibitors of endothelium-dependent relaxations modify endothelium-dependent contractions. Rings of thoracic aortas of normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats, with and without endothelium, were suspended in organ chambers for isometric tension recording. Oxyhemoglobin (a scavenger of endothelium-derived relaxing factor) and NG-monomethyl L-arginine (an inhibitor of nitric oxide formation) augmented the contractions to acetylcholine. Methylene blue (an inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase) and superoxide dismutase (a scavenger of superoxide anions) did not modify these contractions. The contractions in the presence of oxyhemoglobin or NG-monomethyl L-arginine, like those in untreated rings, were endothelium-dependent; they only occurred in aortas from spontaneously hypertensive rats and were abolished by indomethacin. The contractions to acetylcholine in the presence of oxyhemoglobin were not affected by superoxide dismutase or deferoxamine. These data suggest that endothelium-derived relaxing factor inhibits endothelium-dependent contractions to acetylcholine in the spontaneously hypertensive rat aorta, probably by chemical inactivation of the endothelium-derived contracting factor rather than by stimulation of guanylate cyclase or scavenging of oxygen-derived free radicals.
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PMID:Nitric oxide inactivates endothelium-derived contracting factor in the rat aorta. 156 62

1 The role of cyclic nucleotides and protein kinase C in controlling proliferation of pig aortic endothelial cells (PAEC) in culture was investigated. 2 Dibutyryl cyclic AMP (30 microM), added twice daily, inhibited proliferation but 8 bromo cyclic GMP (30 microM) had no effect. Two other stimuli known to increase PAEC cyclic GMP content by stimulating particulate and soluble guanylate cyclase respectively, atriopeptin II (10 nM) and sodium nitroprusside (1 microM), were also without effect on proliferation. 3 Two agents known to inhibit soluble guanylate cyclase and lower intercellular cyclic GMP content, haemoglobin (10 microM) and methylene blue (10 microM), each inhibited proliferation of PAEC. 4 The inhibitory effect of haemoglobin (10 microM) was mediated by inhibition of soluble guanylate cyclase since it was reversed by agents known to increase cyclic GMP content, i.e. atriopeptin II (10 nM), 8 bromo cyclic GMP (30 microM) or sodium nitroprusside (1 microM). The inhibitory effect of methylene blue (10 microM) was not reversed by these agents. 5 Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA, 0.1 nM-1 microM), which activates protein kinase C, inhibited proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. No early stimulation of proliferation was seen with PMA. The inactive isomer, 4 alpha-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate (0.3 microM), lacked the ability of PMA to inhibit proliferation of PAEC. 6. PMA-induced inhibition of proliferation appeared not to be due to stimulated production of destructive oxygen-derived free radicals since it was unaffected by the radical scavengers, vitamin E (30 microM) or butylated hydroxytoluene (30 microM). The antiproliferative actions of paraquat (10 microM), an agent which generates free radicals intracellularly, was, in contrast, inhibited by vitamin E or butylated hydroxytoluene. Furthermore, neither dibutyryl cyclic AMP (30 microM) nor 8 bromo cyclic GMP (30 microM) had any effect on the ability of PMA to inhibit proliferation. 7. This study suggests that cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP and protein kinase C play a role in controlling the proliferation of PAEC.
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PMID:Effects of cyclic nucleotides and phorbol myristate acetate on proliferation of pig aortic endothelial cells. 164 54

Nitric oxide has been used for more than 20 years as an electron paramagnetic resonance probe of oxygen binding sites in oxygen-carriers and oxygen-metabolizing metalloenzymes. The high reactivity of NO with oxygen and the superoxide anion and its high affinity for metalloproteins led biochemists to consider NO as a highly toxic compound for a living cell. This assertion has recently been reconsidered following a number of discoveries of great significance: the finding of the activation of guanylate cyclase by NO, the recognition that NO is the precursor of nitrite and nitrate ions released in the activation of macrophages by endotoxin and cytokines, evidence that NO is an Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor, and the discovery of NO-biosynthesis from L-arginine, a pathway common in various biological cell-to-cell signalling processes. It is now admitted that NO plays a key bioregulatory role within mammalian cells, between cells of different types and in the host defence response. In the present review we have attempted to give a general picture of what is known of the chemical, physical, biochemical and biophysical properties of NO among the various nitrogen oxides. We have focussed on the structural information that can be obtained by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy of nitrosyl-metalloprotein complexes. Finally we have shown how molecular targets of nitric oxide can be characterized, within whole cells, by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.
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PMID:Nitric oxide, a biological effector. Electron paramagnetic resonance detection of nitrosyl-iron-protein complexes in whole cells. 165 84

All nitrovasodilators act intracellularly by a common molecular mechanism. This is characterized by the release of nitric oxide (NO). They are, thus, prodrugs or carriers of the active principle NO, responsible for endothelial controlled vasodilation. The rate of NO-formation strongly correlates with the activation of the soluble guanylate cyclase in vitro, resulting in a stimulation of cGMP synthesis. Nitrovasodilators thus are therapeutic substitutes for endogenous EDRF/NO. The pathways of bioactivation, nevertheless, differ substantially, depending on the individual chemistry of the nitrovasodilator. Besides NO, numerous other reaction products such as nitrite and nitrate anions are formed. The guanylate cyclase is only activated if NO is liberated. In the case of organic nitrates such as GTN, NO is only formed if certain thiol compounds are present as an essential cofactor. The rate of NO-formation correlates with the number of nitrate ester groups and proceeds with a simultaneous nitrite formation (with a ratio of 1:14 in the presence of cysteine). Nitrosamines such as molsidomine do not need thiol compounds for bioactivation. They directly liberate NO from the ring-open A-forms. This process basically depends on the presence of oxygen as electron acceptor from the sydnonimine molecule. Therefore, besides NO also superoxide radicals are formed, which may react with the generated NO under formation of nitrate ions. Organic nitrites (such as amyl nitrite) require the preceding interaction with a mercapto group to form a S-nitrosothiol intermediate, from which finally NO radicals are liberated. Nitrosothiols (like S-nitroso-acetyl-penicillamine) and sodium nitroprusside spontaneously release NO. The molecules themselves do not possess a direct enzyme activating potency. In the presence of thiol compounds organic nitrites (e.g., amyl nitrite) and nitrosothiols may act as intermediary products of NO generation.
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PMID:Molecular mechanisms of nitrovasodilator bioactivation. 168 27


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