Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0022716 (Menkes)
 1,057 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The brindled mouse (Mobr) is a neurological mutant mouse with clinical and biochemical features closely similar to Kinky hair syndrome (KHS) in humans. Neuronal degeneration in the cerebral cortex and thalamic nuclei was the constant neuropathological lesions in the CNS of the male hemizygotes of this mutant (Yajima and Suzuki, 1978). Ultrastructurally, many cortical neurons contained enlarged mitochondria with prominent tubular or vesicular cristae, which were similar to those described in the Purkinje cells in the human KHS (Ghatak et al., 1972) and in the rat brain with copper deficiency (Prohaska and Wells, 1975). Such mitochondria were observed not only in the degenerating neurons but even in the otherwise normal-appearing cortical neurons, suggesting that the mitochondrial damage possibly related to the deficient activities of the copper containing enzymes (cytochrome oxidase, etc.) preceded the neuronal degeneration. Many mitochondria in the severely degenerated neurons contained numerous electron dense spicules of possible calcium. Although rare, similar morphological alteration of neuronal mitochondria was also noted in the female heterozygotes, indicating the presence of possible subclinical defect in copper transport in the heterozygotes as well.
 ...
PMID:Neuronal degeneration in the brain of the brindled mouse. An ultrastructural study of the cerebral cortical neurons. 76 Mar 62

The aim of this article is to emphasize the important role that copper plays in the function of nerve cells. We are reporting preliminary data which suggest that the swelling of axons which we produce in rats by iminodipropionitrile, IDPN, is due to its chelating action on copper, and how conversely supplementation with copper abolishes both symptoms and lesions. The copper values we obtained by atomic absorption spectrophotometry of the spinal cord and brain from the animals fully support this contention. In comparing these results with the diseases that are known to be due to copper deficiency, namely Menkes disease in man, swayback in lambs and several neurological mutant mice, we find not only similar axonal swellings, but also amelioration of symptoms and lesions by early administration of copper. Considering the main forms in which copper is present, we discuss the cuproproteins, i.e. ceruloplasmin and metallothionein, and their role in transport and delivery of copper to various organs. Further, the many cuproenzymes i.e. superoxide dismutase, tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase, lysine oxidase, cytochrome oxidase, monoamine oxidases, tyrosinase, dopamine-beta-hydroxylase and d-amino levulinate dehydratase are noted for their roles in the nervous system. Finally, we suggest that neuronal copper deficiency should be more fully investigated as a possible etiological factor in the more common neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS.
 ...
PMID:Deficiency of copper can cause neuronal degeneration. 161 61

Neuropathological and enzyme-histochemical studies were performed on brindled mouse hemizygotes (BMs) and normal littermates at the age of 2 days, 7 days, 11 days and 14 days, together with an investigation of their tissue copper levels. A greatly increased copper concentration was confirmed in the kidney and intestine and a greatly reduced concentration in the liver and brain of BMs. The copper concentration in the brain increased gradually with age in the normal littermates, whereas this did not occur in BMs. There was no significant difference in the tissue copper concentration between the cerebrum and the cerebellum-brainstem in BMs or in normal littermates. Light and electron microscopy of the BM brain revealed progressive neuronal degeneration in association with increased mitochondrial changes (ballooning and crista disintegration). Enzyme histochemical examinations demonstrated a progressive comparative decrease (i.e., an increased difference from normal) of cytochrome oxidase activity in the BM brain. These data suggest that progressive degeneration of the brain in Menkes' disease is attributable to mitochondrial degeneration caused by a comparative decrease of both copper concentration and cytochrome oxidase activity in the brain.
 ...
PMID:Chronological observations of histological changes, cytochrome oxidase activity and copper level in the brain of the postnatal brindled mouse. 216 17

Brain mitochondrial enzyme activities were examined in 15-day-old suckling mice which were daily injected with D-penicillamine (DP), a chelating agent of copper. Newborn mice treated with DP (1 g/kg/day) showed retarded weight gain, hyperelasticity of skin, and a bizarre forelimb posture with subcutaneous edema on experimental day (ED) 7. Paraparesis or dragging of the hindlimbs was observed by ED 15. Brain copper contents of DP-treated mice decreased to 34% of the controls of ED 15. Cytochrome c oxidase activity (complex IV) in the brain showed 51% decrease of the controls, on the contrary, rotenone-sensitive NADH cytochrome c reductase (complex I + III) and succinate cytochrome c reductase (complex II + III) were normal. Histochemistry of cytochrome c oxidase in the cerebellum of DP-treated mice disclosed diffuse reduction of staining, especially in Purkinje cells. These data show that DP-induced copper deficiency in the brain subsequently disturbs mitochondrial electron transport system, selectively cytochrome c oxidase activity. This seems to be a useful animal model not only for Menkes' kinky hair disease but also for mitochondrial encephalomyopathy.
 ...
PMID:D-penicillamine-induced copper deficiency in suckling mice: neurological abnormalities and brain mitochondrial enzyme activities. 217 57

The mouse mutant Mobr is an animal model of Menkes kinky hair syndrome with a similar defect in copper utilization. The copper-dependent enzyme, cytochrome oxidase from the brain, liver, and heart mitochondria was examined. The brain and heart from Mobr/y had significantly less cytochrome alpha + alpha 3 than normal animals' when the cytochrome absorption spectra of tissue samples from animals 11 to 13 days of age were analyzed. Liver cytochrome was not significantly different. When brain mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase spectrograms from animals of different ages were examined, a major change was found to occur during the 2nd week of life. When cytochrome oxidase activity from brain mitochondria was measured, assaying the rate of oxidation of cytochrome c, the results were similar to those from spectrogram analysis.
 ...
PMID:Depletion of brain mitochondria cytochrome oxidase in the mottled mouse mutant. 300 22

The effects of copper administration to neonatal male mice on the copper concentrations and activities of copper-containing enzymes in cerebrum, liver, and kidney were studied. Intraperitoneal copper injections at 7 and 10 days of age increased the activities of superoxide dismutase and cytochrome oxidase in cerebrum and liver, and also increased the copper concentrations in cerebrum, liver, and kidney at 13 days of age. Maternal copper administration during the late-gestational period (from 13 days gestation to delivery) decreased the activities of both enzymes and increased the copper concentration in cerebrum. This increased level of copper remained by 13 days of age after birth. Liver showed similar changes to those in cerebrum, but the renal responses were less remarkable. Maternal copper administration from the late-gestational through lactational periods affected neonatal growth, decreased the activity of cytochrome oxidase, and increased the copper concentrations in all tissues examined. It is known that the copper concentration and copper-containing enzyme activity are low in cerebrum of mottled mice as well as of patients with Menkes' disease. These results suggested that the cytochrome oxidase activity in cerebrum was decreased by not only copper deficiency but also excess. The combination of prenatal copper supplementation by means of maternal copper administration during the late-gestational period and intraperitoneal copper injections after birth, while being careful not to overdose, is expected to be efficient for the copper supplementation to mottled mice.
 ...
PMID:Effects of copper administration on fetal and neonatal mice. 324 47

Previous studies by others indicated that alterations in brain catecholamines were different for perinatal copper deficiency produced by diet in rats and that resulting from a genetic mutation of the X-chromosome, Menkes' syndrome in humans and brindled mice. Thus, copper deficiency was studied in a model in which dietary and genetic deficiency (brindled mice) were compared in two strains of the same species. C57BL and C3H/HeJ mice. Dietary copper deficiency was also produced in rats for comparison. In brain, both dietary and genetic copper deficiency resulted in impaired growth, low brain copper levels, greatly decreased norepinephrine concentrations but normal dopamine levels. The activity of brain cytochrome oxidase was greatly depressed following both dietary and genetic copper deficiency, suggesting a functional deficit of copper. However, the activity of another cuproenzyme, dopamine-beta-hydroxylase, was significantly elevated in deficient animals. The elevation was observed when either copper or N-ethylmaleimide was added to inactivate an endogenous inhibitor. The cause of low brain norepinephrine remains unknown; however, depressed brain norepinephrine may be partly responsible for functional changes in the deficient animals, such as hypomyelination, since the activity of the myelin protein, 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase, was lower in the most deficient animals.
 ...
PMID:Effect of dietary or genetic copper deficiency on brain catecholamines, trace metals and enzymes in mice and rats. 628 8

Cultured fibroblasts from Menkes kinky hair disease patients showed markedly reduced succinate dehydrogenase and amine oxidase activities. Cytochrome oxidase activity, however, was greatly reduced in some cells and almost normal in others. Cultured fibroblasts from patients with Wilson's disease showed moderately reduced succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase activities. Amine oxidase activity was only slightly reduced when compared to that of normal. These results indicated that the histochemical phenotype observed in fibroblasts from patients with Menkes kinky hair disease and Wilson's disease were distinctly different from each other and from normal fibroblasts.
 ...
PMID:Histochemical studies of fibroblasts from patients with Menkes kinky hair disease and Wilson's disease. 629 Apr 31

The role of copper in maintaining normal neurological function has been examined in animals copper-deficient by dietary means, and in the genetic disorders of copper homeostasis -- Menkes' kinky-hair disease in humans and the mottled (Mo) mutants in the mouse. With the exception of the disorder in Mo mice, reduced myelination is a constant feature of these copper diseases but there is otherwise a lack of conformity in the structural defects produced in different species. Dietary copper-deficient animals show a reduction in noradrenaline and dopamine concentrations, together with a depressed tyrosine 3-monooxygenase activity (EC 1.14.16.2). Noradrenaline concentrations are also reduced in brain tissue of Mo mice and this reduction is associated with a decrease in the vivo activity of the copper metalloenzyme, dopamine beta-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.17.1). Many tissues contain potent inhibitors of dopamine beta-monooxygenase activity, and assays of this enzyme have utilized cupric ions to inactivate these inhibitors. The elevated in vitro activities of dopamine beta-monooxygenase obtained for both Mo brain and adrenal tissue may therefore reflect either a reduced inactivation of these endogenous inhibitors in the intact animal or the activation in vitro of apoenzyme. Concentrations of dopamine and tyrosine 3-monooxygenase are unchanged in Mo mice. The reduction in dopamine and tyrosine 3-monooxygenase activity in dietary copper-deficient animals may therefore reflect neuronal loss rather than reduced catalytic activity of the catecholamine biosynthetic pathway. The possible effects of depressed activities of cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) and superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) in the development of neurological dysfunction are also discussed, and attention is drawn to the possible significance of the elevated uptake of neutral amino acids, especially tyrosine and tryptophan, by Mo brain tissue.
 ...
PMID:Copper and neurological function. 690 87

To elucidate the roles played by copper-containing enzymes in the brain degeneration associated with Menkes disease, the brains of brindled mouse hemizygotes (BMs) were studied histochemically and biochemically before and after copper therapy. Light and electron microscopic histochemistry revealed that, while neuronal mitochondria in BM brains demonstrate only a weak diaminobenzidine reaction for cytochrome oxidase, these exhibit strong activity after therapy and in control mice. Biochemical assays of enzyme activity revealed only 30% of the normal level before a single subcutaneous application of 50 micrograms of CuCl2, whereas neuronal mitochondria of BMs surviving 8 months after the copper therapy displayed essentially no difference from the controls. Similar results were also gained for superoxide dismutase activity, although the reduction was less marked. The present findings provide direct support for decreased activities of copper-containing enzymes being responsible for the mitochondrial abnormalities and brain degeneration associated with Menkes disease.
 ...
PMID:Complete recovery of cytochrome oxidase and superoxide dismutase activities in the brain of brindled mice receiving copper therapy. 812 2


1 2 3 Next >>