Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A model of salicylate intoxication was developed in ferrets to permit the evaluation of the interaction with viruses isolated from patients with Reye's syndrome. Salicylate intoxication produced a mild elevation of the serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and fatty changes in the liver, but these changes differed from those seen in Reye's syndrome on light and electron microscopy. Salicylates were associated with decreased activity of hepatic phosphorylase and a slight depression of activity or ornithine transcarbamylase, a mitochondrial urea cycle enzyme. Infection with influenza viruses produced mild fatty changes in the liver, but did not significantly potentiate the effects of salicylate intoxication on the over-all mortality, the degree of fatty changes, or the hepatic enzymes. Influenza infection alone was not associated with decreased hepatic phosphorylase activity, but was associated with decreased activity of ornithine transcarbamylase. Influenza A was isolated from the livers of two of four animals cultured in embryonated eggs.
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PMID:Salicylate intoxication and influenza in ferrets. 43 1

We carried out studies on the expression of liver-specific genes during regeneration of the liver and searched for changes in the expression of oncogenes and housekeeping genes. Albumin and ornithine transcarbamylase genes were the liver-specific genes examined by Northern blot analysis, using total RNAs isolated from residual livers of Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to a 68% partial hepatectomy. The mRNA levels of both genes began to decrease 8 hr after hepatectomy, both reaching the lowest levels at 24 hr, and then recovered to some extent at 48 hr. In contrast, these levels in the housekeeping and growth-related genes were augmented during this period. This would suggest that there is a selective expression of growth-related and housekeeping genes, in preference to liver-specific genes during liver regeneration. The expression of these genes in the regenerating liver was simulated in primary cultured hepatocytes during the dedifferentiation processes. It would appear that the first step in regeneration of the residual liver is dedifferentiation, in which the depression of liver-specific genes may be linked to liver dysfunction following hepatectomy.
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PMID:Depression of liver-specific gene expression in regenerating rat liver: a putative cause for liver dysfunction after hepatectomy. 186 74

The genetic regulation of enzymes involved in arginine and ornithine synthesis has been investigated in the parasitic trypanosomatid Herpetomonas samuelpessoai. The activities of two enzymes involved in arginine synthesis, ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCTase) and argininosuccinate lyase (ASLase) were depressed whereas the enzyme citrulline hydrolase (CHase), which is involved in ornithine synthesis, was increased in arginine supplemented cultures of the parasites. The depression of OCTase activity in the presence of arginine was not due to feedback inhibition and CHase activity of uninduced cultures was not enhanced by exogeneous arginine. Studies of the kinetics of OCTase induction and repression revealed that arginine blocks OCTase synthesis but does not cause destruction of the enzyme. Ornithine, but not citrulline was found to counteract the arginine mediated repression of OCTase. Two classes of canavanine resistant mutants of H. samuelpessoai were isolated. One class was defective in arginine uptake whereas the other was affected in regulation of OCTase and ASLase which appear to be under coordinate control in H. samuelpessoai.
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PMID:Regulation of enzymes involved in ornithine/arginine metabolism in the parasitic trypanosomatid Herpetomonas samuelpessoai. 657 20

The liver ultrastructural findings in two girls with partial carbamyl phosphate synthetase I (CPS) deficiency and their heterozygote parents and two siblings with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency are described. Liver ultrastructure in the four patients with inherited deficiencies of urea cycle enzymes showed minimal alterations with essentially normal mitochondria when biopsy was performed during periods of good control of their hyperammonemia. Mitochondrial ultrastructure was also essentially normal in the heterozygotes for carbamyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency. These findings are in contrast to the marked alterations in mitochondrial ultrastructure found in the study of two cases of Reye's syndrome in which severe depression of ornithine transcarbamylase and carbamyl phosphate synthetase I activities was noted.
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PMID:Liver ultrastructure in mitochondrial urea cycle enzyme deficiencies and comparison with Reye's syndrome. 672 9

Cough is an important defensive pulmonary reflex that removes irritants, fluids, or foreign materials from the airways. However, when cough is exceptionally intense or when it is chronic and/or nonproductive it may require pharmacologic suppression. For many patients, antitussive therapies consist of OTC products with inconsequential efficacies. On the other hand, the prescription antitussive market is dominated by older opioid drugs such as codeine. Unfortunately, "codeine-like" drugs suppress cough at equivalent doses that also often produce significant ancillary liabilities such as GI constipation, sedation, and respiratory depression. Thus, the discovery of a novel and effective antitussive drug with an improved side effect profile relative to codeine would fulfill an unmet clinical need in the treatment of cough. Afferent pulmonary nerves are endowed with a multitude of potential receptor targets, including TRPV1, that could act to attenuate cough. The evidence linking TRPV1 to cough is convincing. TRPV1 receptors are found on sensory respiratory nerves that are important in the generation of the cough reflex. Isolated pulmonary vagal afferent nerves are responsive to TRPV1 stimulation. In vivo, TRPV1 agonists such as capsaicin elicit cough when aerosolized and delivered to the lungs. Pertinent to the debate on the potential use of TRPV1 antagonist as antitussive agents are the observations that airway afferent nerves become hypersensitive in diseased and inflamed lungs. For example, the sensitivity of capsaicin-induced cough responses following upper respiratory tract infection and in airway inflammatory diseases such as asthma and COPD is increased relative to that of control responses. Indeed, we have demonstrated that TRPV1 antagonism can attenuate antigen-induced cough in the allergic guinea pig. However, it remains to be determined if the emerging pharmacologic profile of TRPV1 antagonists will translate into a novel human antitussive drug. Current efforts in clinical validation of TRPV1 antagonists revolve around various pain indications; therefore, clinical evaluation of TRPV1 antagonists as antitussive agents will have to await those outcomes.
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PMID:TRPV1 antagonists as potential antitussive agents. 1792 96

The urea cycle functions to incorporate ammonia, generated by normal metabolism, into urea. Urea cycle disorders (UCDs) are caused by loss of function in any of the enzymes responsible for ureagenesis, and are characterized by life-threatening episodes of acute metabolic decompensation with hyperammonemia (HA). A prospective analysis of interim HA events in a cohort of individuals with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency, the most common UCD, revealed that intercurrent infection was the most common precipitant of acute HA and was associated with markers of increased morbidity when compared with other precipitants. To further understand these clinical observations, we developed a model system of metabolic decompensation with HA triggered by viral infection (PR8 influenza) using spf-ash mice, a model of OTC deficiency. Both wild-type (WT) and spf-ash mice displayed similar cytokine profiles and lung viral titers in response to PR8 influenza infection. During infection, spf-ash mice displayed an increase in liver transaminases, suggesting a hepatic sensitivity to the inflammatory response and an altered hepatic immune response. Despite having no visible pathological changes by histology, WT and spf-ash mice had reduced CPS1 and OTC enzyme activities, and, unlike WT, spf-ash mice failed to increase ureagenesis. Depression of urea cycle function was seen in liver amino acid analysis, with reductions seen in aspartate, ornithine and arginine during infection. In conclusion, we developed a model system of acute metabolic decompensation due to infection in a mouse model of a UCD. In addition, we have identified metabolic perturbations during infection in the spf-ash mice, including a reduction of urea cycle intermediates. This model of acute metabolic decompensation with HA due to infection in UCD serves as a platform for exploring biochemical perturbations and the efficacy of treatments, and could be adapted to explore acute decompensation in other types of inborn errors of metabolism.
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PMID:Acute metabolic decompensation due to influenza in a mouse model of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. 2427 78