Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:6.3.4.6 (urease)
 7,490 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Urease activities of anaerobic bacteria that constituted predominant gut flora were examined. It was demonstrated that some strains of Eubacterium aerofaciens, E. lentum, and Peptostreptococcus products produced urease. They were the most numerous species in human feces. All strains of Bifidobacterium infantis and some strains of Bacteroides multiacidus, B. bifidum, Clostridium symbiosum, Fusobacterium necrophorum, F. varium, Lactobacillus fermentum, Peptococcus asaccharolyticus, and P. prevotii produced urease. The optimum pH of the Lactobacillus urease was found to be 4.0, whereas the pH value of B. multiacidus urease was 8.0.
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PMID:Urease-producing species of intestinal anaerobes and their activities. 3 39

Mucosal cells isolated from the small intestine of chicks and rats were incubated with concentrations of ammonia normally found in the intestinal tract of mammals and birds. NH4Cl added to the incubation medium increased glucose metabolism in cells from both species. Ammonia stimulated incorporation of precursors into RNA and decarboxylation of orotic acid by cells isolated from chickens, but an increase in incorporation of precursors into DNA was not observed in cells from either species. Cultured embryonic chicken duodena showed increased incorporation of orotate into RNA with NH4Cl added to the medium. Rats immunized against jack bean urease showed lower urease activity per gram of dry intestinal content, lower intestinal weight, lower mucosal cell, and total gut protein and less protein per unit weight of DNA in the mucosal cell fraction. The results are compatible with the conclusion that ammonia PRODUCED IN THE INTESTINE BY BACTERIAL UREASES CAUSES SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE CONTENT OF RNA and protein in intestine cells.
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PMID:Synthesis of macromolecules by intestinal cells incubated with ammonia. 91 Sep 48

Nitrogen-free analogues of essential amino acids, when administered with those essential amino acids for which analogues are ineffective or unavailable, exert three actions that may be beneficial in protein-deficient or protein-intolerant subjects. First, they bring about an increase in the concentrations of essential amino acids in the blood at the expense of the concentrations of certain non-essential amino acids, notably alanine and glutamine. This effect is most readily demonstrated in children with congenital defects of the urea cycle enzymes, but can also be seen during daily therapy of adults with portal-systemic encephalopathy. Second, these compounds promote nitrogen balance through their suppressive effect on urea synthesis (an effect not attributable to re-utilization of ammonia derived from urease action in the gut). This action is demonstrable in obese subjects who are already conserving nitrogen maximally at the end of a prolonged fast and can also be shown in the first week of fasting when the branched-chain keto acids alone are administered. In both situations, improved nitrogen conservation persists long after the analogues are metabolized, suggesting enzyme adaptations. In chronic uremics, nitrogen balance can be maintained in some (but not all) patients on very low nitrogen intakes. Third, these mixtures may delay or reverse the progressive decline in glomerular filtration rate characteristic of chronic renal failure in some cases: thus, for example, 5 of 6 patients taken off chronic dialysis have maintained lower serum urea concentrations without evidence of protein malnutrition for periods of 2-24 months.
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PMID:Evidence for an anabolic action of essential amino acid analogues in uremia and starvation. 107 39

Neomycin (700 mg/8 h), ampicillin (500/6 h) and metronidazole (400 mg/8 h), were compared for their effect, on oral administration for 4 days, in reducing blood ammonia in 27 patients with stable chronic liver disease. It was found that there was 38.2, 38.5 and 8.7 m mol/litre mean reduction in blood ammonia in the neomycin, ampicillin and metronidazole treated groups respectively. The difference in blood ammonia was statistically significant for both neomycin (P = 0.01) and ampicillin (P = 0.03) but there was no significant change after metronidazole treatment (P = 0.6). The total stool enzyme activity at optimum pH was maximally reduced by ampicillin and minimally with metronidazole. The reduction was noted to be 3.51 m mol/1 (P = 0.01), 3.87 m mol/1 (P = 0.08) and 2.8 m mol/1 (P = 0.02) of NH3/g dry weight of stool for neomycin, ampicillin and metronidazole respectively. The main bacterial gut enzymes responsible for ammonia production, urease and protease, were found to be very sensitive to stool pH. At pH 6 their activity was around 20 per cent of what was found in optimum pH of 7.4 and at pH 5 it is only about 8 per cent of optimum activity. None of the three antibacterial agents changed the stool pH significantly. It can be concluded that oral neomycin and ampicillin are superior to oral metronidazole in lowering blood ammonia.
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PMID:Effect of three antibacterial drugs in lowering blood & stool ammonia production in hepatic encephalopathy. 145 72

To evaluate partial or total replacement of renal function using gut, we measured in vivo transport of nitrogen metabolites, electrolytes, and water into a jejunal segment configured as a continent reservoir in the dog. Reservoir contents were sampled and analyzed at serial time intervals during a 3-h period after instillation of solution containing (in mM) 40 NaCl, 10 NaHCO3, 220 mannitol, pH 8.5, without or with added urease. At 10 min postinstillation, the amount of urea in the solution without added urease was 3-5 times greater than in the presence of added urease, but accumulation of NH4+ was 14-21 times greater in the solution containing added urease, giving a luminal NH4+ concentration up to 10,000 times that of plasma. In the absence of urease, HCO3- concentration fell to 0, and pH declined to 6 at 3 h; in the presence of urease, HCO3- concentration was 4.5 mM, and pH was 7.8 at 3 h. We conclude 1) urea is secreted by the reservoir; 2) H+ is secreted and/or formed in the reservoir; 3) in the presence of urease, urea hydrolyzed to NH3 is converted to NH4+ by H+ and trapped in the lumen; and 4) in the urease solution, H+ binding by NH3 preserves luminal HCO3-, maintaining the initial pH. Thus the continent jejunal reservoir may supplement or replace impaired renal function.
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PMID:Transport properties of an in situ jejunal reservoir in dogs. 155 68

Elasmobranch fishes, the coelacanth, estivating lungfish, amphibians, and mammals synthesize urea by the ornithine-urea cycle; by comparison, urea synthetic activity is generally insignificant in teleostean fishes. It is reported here that isolated liver cells of two teleost toadfishes, Opsanus beta and Opsansus tau, synthesize urea by the ornithine-urea cycle at substantial rates. Because toadfish excrete ammonia, do not use urea as an osmolyte, and have substantial levels of urease in their digestive systems, urea may serve as a transient nitrogen store, forming the basis of a nitrogen conservation shuttle system between liver and gut as in ruminants and hibernators. Toadfish synthesize urea using enzymes and subcellular distributions similar to those of elasmobranchs: glutamine-dependent carbamoyl phosphate synthethase (CPS III) and mitochondrial arginase. In contrast, mammals have CPS I (ammonia-dependent) and cytosolic arginase. Data on CPS and arginases in other fishes, including lungfishes and the coelacanth, support the hypothesis that the ornithine-urea cycle, a monophyletic trait in the vertebrates, underwent two key changes before the evolution of the extant lungfishes: a switch from CPS III to CPS I and replacement of mitochondrial arginase by a cytosolic equivalent.
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PMID:Evolution of urea synthesis in vertebrates: the piscine connection. 256 72

14C and 15N isotopes of urea were infused intravenously into rabbits for 6-8 h in order to measure urea synthesis and the extent of degradation in the digestive tract. The results indicate that 0.62 of the urea flux was excreted in the urine and that re-incorporation of urea-N following hydrolysis in the gut represented 0.3 of the urea synthesis rate. Sampling of metabolites from the caecum by dialysis provided an opportunity to assess the contribution of urea-N to the caecal ammonia pool. This contribution is calculated to be 0.25 of caecal ammonia turnover. Infusion of a urease (EC 3.5.1.5) inhibitor during a continuous infusion of [14C]urea into the caecum permitted the measurement of urea turnover within the caecum. Results obtained for urea entry into the caecum are contrasted with the measured urea degradation rate in the gut.
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PMID:Urea turnover and transfer to the digestive tract in the rabbit. 406 60

The mode of transmission of Helicobacter pylori is unknown. Since viable bacteria have been shown to be excreted in feces from infected individuals and houseflies habitually develop and feed on excrement, we hypothesized that flies ingest and harbor H. pylori and, in turn, contaminate the human environment. This study examined the possible vector potential of houseflies (Musca domestica) for H. pylori. Caged houseflies were exposed to freshly grown H. pylori on agar plates. After a 6-h feeding period, the plates were removed and were replaced with sterile petri dishes containing a droplet of sterile brucella broth. At regular intervals, small numbers of houseflies were removed for microbiological and histological analysis, and the petri dishes were replaced with fresh sterile plates with fresh drops of brucella broth. The flies' bodies, the flies' dissected alimentary tracts, and excreta on the petri dishes were cultured for H. pylori, whose identity was confirmed by the urease, catalase, and oxidase reactions and Gram staining. In contrast to control flies, viable H. pylori could be isolated from external surfaces for up to 12 h and from gut and excreta for as long as 30 h after the initial feeding period. After 30 h other gram-negative bacteria overgrew the cultures of samples from all locations tested, rendering the selective culture of H. pylori colonies impossible. Histological analysis revealed Helicobacter-like organisms in the gut lumen and attached to intestinal epithelial cells. We conclude that houseflies can harbor viable H. pylori on their bodies and in their intestinal tracts. They are also able to disseminate viable H. pylori in excreta, and they may therefore present a significant reservoir and be a vector in the transmission of H. pylori.
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PMID:Vector potential of houseflies (Musca domestica) for Helicobacter pylori. 916 33

Urease activity was detected in the hemolymph of the silkworm, Bombyx mori from the beginning of spinning to the pharate adult stage if the larvae were reared on mulberry leaves throughout the 5th-instar (the last larval instar). In contrast, no urease activity was detected in the hemolymph of insects fed artificial diets, resulting in accumulation of urea during the spinning stage. To identify the hemolymph urease, the enzyme was highly purified from the hemolymph of the spinning larvae that had been reared on mulberry leaves and the properties of the purified enzyme were compared with those of the mulberry leaf urease. Four out of six monoclonal antibodies raised against jack bean seed urease cross-reacted equally with the silkworm hemolymph urease and the mulberry leaf urease. Under reducing conditions, the hemolymph urease and the mulberry leaf urease migrated at 90.5 kDa on SDS-PAGE gels. The first 20 N-terminal sequence of the hemolymph urease revealed complete identity with that of the leaf urease. The optimum pH for activity and Km value for urea were almost the same for the two enzymes. In conclusion, these two ureases are very likely identical, strongly suggesting that the mulberry leaf urease passes through the larval gut wall into the hemolymph without being digested. In addition, oral administration of mulberry leaf urease just before spinning induced considerable urease activity in the hemolymph of the larvae, but the same treatment did not induce enzyme activity in the hemolymph of the larvae three days before the onset of spinning. These results suggest that the silkworm larvae acquire the host plant urease specifically at the end of the feeding stage in order to degrade urea accumulated in the hemolymph.
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PMID:Host plant urease in the hemolymph of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. 1087 68

Helicobacters are a new genus of bacteria, inhabiting the interface between mucosa and lumen of the gut. Microaerophilic, spiral, flagellated and urease positive, they possess features necessary for colonisation of the juxtamucosal mucus environment. Helicobacter pylori is the major pathogenic species. Once attached to the gastric epithelial cells, it incites an immune response characterised histologically by the development of active gastritis and immunologically by the presence of specific IgG. Persistence of infection is ensured by attachment to tissue antigens (eg Lewis B), a vacuolating toxin (VacA) which assists the free passage of urea through epithelial cells, and a cytotoxin (CagA) which is actually injected into the epithelial cells via a Type IV secretion system. Finally, during the typical lifelong chronic infection, two important diseases occur. H. pylori alters gastric physiology to cause acid hypersecretion and peptic ulcer. Secondly, it damages the acid secreting mucosa leading to atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer risk.
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PMID:Helicobacter pylori: 20 years on. 1199 Oct 99


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