Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0403608 (ureter)
 9,655 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) activities and calmodulin levels were determined in ureters from guinea pigs of the following ages: 50 and 56 days fetuses, three, 10, 21, 50, and 90 days, and three years old. While there is little change in ureteral cyclic AMP-PDE with age, cyclic GMP-PDE increases with age. Activity of cyclic GMP-PDE in supernatants prepared from three-year-old guinea pig ureter homogenates is 462% and 216% higher than that from 50-day fetus and three-day animals, respectively. Calmodulin levels have a bimodal distribution with age; values are highest in supernatants from 10 and 21 day ureters, but also increase in the three-year ureters when compared to 50 and 90-day values.
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PMID:Ontogeny of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase activities and of calmodulin levels in guinea pig ureter. 283 69

Chlorpromazine (ClP) and trifluoperazine (TFP) depress electrical and mechanical activity of ureter smooth muscle cells. Contraction was depressed by less doses of the substances applied as compared with the processes responsible for generation of spike activity. ClP causes the displacement of the dose-effect curve for Ca2+ towards larger concentrations of the latter. Trifluoperazine displaces the dose-effect curve for contraction to the right and downwards. It is concluded that inhibition of contraction and depression of ClP and TFP spikes is due to the calmodulin blocking on which kinase activity of myosin light chains depends. It is supposed that processes responsible for activation of the membrane systems of Ca2+ transport in the process of spike generation are also calmodulin-dependent.
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PMID:[Study of electromechanical coupling in smooth muscle cells of the ureter using phenothiazines]. 672 4

An increase in cyclic nucleotide monophosphate levels is suggested to play a prominent role in mediating smooth-muscle relaxation. Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) influences smooth-muscle tone by decreasing the level of cyclic nucleotides. At present, five different families of isoenzymes of PDE exist that show a distinct species- and organ-specific distribution. Our study was done to evaluate the existence of specific PDE isoenzymes and its functional role in human ureteral tissue. Normal ureteral tissue was homogenized and centrifuged and the supernatant fraction was separated using anioin-exchange diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-Sephacel chromatography. A PDE assay was then performed and the peak fractions were added to different specific PDE activators and inhibitors. In vitro, longitudinal ureteral strips were precontracted and different selective and non-selective PDE inhibitors were added incremently. Three different PDE isoenzymes were characterized: PDE I (calmodulin-sensitive), PDE II (cGMP-stimulated), and PDE IV (cAMP-specific). All PDE inhibitors relaxed the strips dose-dependently, with the 50% effective concentrations (EC50) being 30 microM for papaverine, 40 microM for zaprinast, 25 microM for quazinone, and 0.1 microM for rolipram. The ureter-relaxing effect of the PDE IV inhibitor at low concentrations, combined with its low-level effect on the systemic circulatory parameters, may open the possibility of using selective PDE IV-inhibitors in the treatment of ureteral colics or for ureteral stone passage.
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PMID:Characterization of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase isoenzymes in the human ureter and their functional role in vitro. 786 26

Phosphodiesterases (PDE) are key enzymes regulating intracellular cyclic nucleotide metabolism and, thus, contraction and relaxation of the muscle. At present, five different families of isoenzymes of PDE exist that show a distinct species-specific and organ-specific distribution. The aim of the present study was to analyze the PDE isoenzymes present in the human ureter and to evaluate the functional effects of isoenzyme-specific inhibitors in this tissue. Normal ureteral tissue was obtained during radical nephrectomies, homogenized, centrifuged, and the supernatant fraction was separated using DEAE-Sephacel anion-exchange chromatography. PDE assay was then performed and the isoenzymes characterized on the basis of their kinetic characteristics and their sensitivity to allosteric modulators and inhibitors. In vitro, longitudinal ureteral strips as well as ureteral rings were precontracted, and different selective and nonselective PDE inhibitors were added incrementally. Three different PDE isoenzymes were identified: PDE I (Ca/calmodulin-stimulated), PDE II (cyclic guanosine monophosphate-stimulated), and PDE IV (cyclic adenosine monophosphate-specific). All PDE inhibitors relaxed the strips dose-dependently with an EC50 of 30 microM for papaverine, 40 microM for zaprinast, 25 microM for quazinone, and 0.1 microM for rolipram. The existence of three different PDE isoenzymes was shown in this study. The ureter-relaxing effect of the PDE IV inhibitor at low concentrations, combined with its low effect on the systemic circulatory parameters, may open a possibility of using selective PDE IV inhibitors in the treatment of ureteral colics or ureteral stones.
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PMID:Phosphodiesterase isoenzymes in human ureteral smooth muscle: identification, characterization, and functional effects of various phosphodiesterase inhibitors in vitro. 858 63

Effects of chlorpromazine, haloperidol (neuroleptics and calmodulin antagonists), and verapamil on rat platelet aggregation induced by thrombin, on calcium current in snail neurones and on both tonic tension of high potassium contracture and phasic contraction of isolated guinea-pig ureter preparations were studied. Moreover, droperidol, sulpiride and prazosine effects were studied for models of phasic contractility and platelet aggregation. Sulpiride and prazosine were ineffective, verapamil was ineffective on platelet aggregation, while droperidol was the most potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation. These results, the similarity revealed in the blockage of neuronal calcium current by neuroleptics and verapamil, and the potent inhibitory action of haloperidol and chlorpromazine on contractility and aggregation suggest that both phenothiazine and butyrophenone neuroleptics possess some properties of calcium antagonists and may also have intracellular sites of action other than calmodulin.
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PMID:Effects of haloperidol and chlorpromazine on smooth muscle contractility, platelet aggregation and neuronal calcium current. 872 Jun 98

1. To define further the role of nitric oxide (NO) in urinary tract function, we have measured the presence of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity, and its relationship with functional NO-mediated responses to electrical field stimulation (EFS) in the urethra, the detrusor and the ureter from sheep. NOS activity was assayed by the conversion of L-[14C]-arginine to L-[14C]-citrulline. Endogenous production of citrulline was confirmed by thin layer chromatography. 2. NOS enzymatic activity was detected in the cytosolic fraction from tissue homogenates with the following regional distribution (pmol citrulline mg-1 protein min-1): urethra (33 +/- 3.3), detrusor (13.1 +/- 1.1) and ureter (1.5 +/- 0.2). No activity was detected in the particulate fraction of any region. 3. NOS activity was dependent on Ca(2+)-calmodulin and required exogenously added NADPH and tetrahydrobyoptein (BH4) for maximal activity. Exclusion of calmodulin from the incubation mixture did not modify NOS activity, but it was significantly reduced in the presence of the calmodulin antagonist, calmidazolium, suggesting the presence of enough endogenous calmodulin to sustain the observed NOS activity. 4. NOS activity was inhibited to a greater extent by NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG) and its methyl ester (L-NAME) than by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA), while 7-nitroindazole (7-NI) was a weak inhibitor and L-cannavine had no effect. 5. Citrulline formation could be inhibited by superoxide dismutase in an oxyhaemoglobin-sensitive manner, suggesting feedback inhibition of NOS by NO. 6. EFS induced prominent NO-mediated relaxations in the urethra while minor or no responses were observed in the detrusor and the ureter, respectively. Urethral relaxations to EFS were inhibited by NOS inhibitors with the rank order of potency: L-NOARG = L-NAME > 7-NI > L-NMMA. 7. In conclusion, we have demonstrated the presence of NO-synthesizing enzymatic activity in the sheep urinary tract which shows similar characteristics to the constitutive NOS isoform found in brain. We suggest that the enzymatic activity measured in the urethral muscle layer may account for the NO-mediated urethral relaxation during micturition whereas regulation of detrusor and ureteral motor function by NOS containing nerves is less likely.
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PMID:Characterization of nitric oxide synthase activity in sheep urinary tract: functional implications. 879 61

The ureter acts as a functional syncytium and is controlled by a propagating plateau-type action potential (AP) which gives rise to a wave of contraction (ureteral peristalsis) via a process called excitation-contraction (E-C)coupling. The second messenger Ca2+ activates Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent myosin light chain kinase-dependent phosphorylation of 20-kDa regulatory light chains of myosin which leads to ureteric contraction. Ca2+ entry from the extracellular space via voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels (VGCCs) provides the major source of activator Ca2+, responsible for generation of both the AP and a Ca2+ transient that appears as an intercellular Ca2+ wave. The AP, inward Ca2+ current, Ca2+ transient and twitch contraction are all fully blocked by the selective L-type Ca2+ channel blocker nifedipine. Ca2+ entry via VGCCs, coupled to activation of Ca2+-sensitive K+ (KCa) or Cl- (ClCa) channels, acts as a negative or positive feedback mechanism, respectively, to control excitability and the amplitude and duration of the plateau component of the AP, Ca2+ transient and twitch contraction. The ureter, isolated from the pelvis, is not spontaneously active. However, spontaneous activity can be initiated in the proximal and distal ureter by a variety of biological effectors such as neurotransmitters, paracrine, endocrine and inflammatory factors. Applied agonists depolarise ureteric smooth muscles cells to threshold of AP activation, initiating propagating intercellular AP-mediated Ca2+ waves to produce antegrade and/or retrograde ureteric peristalsis. Several mechanisms have been proposed to describe agonist-induced depolarization of ureteric smooth muscle, which include suppression of K+ channels, stimulation of ClCa current and activation of non-selective cation receptor/store operated channels.
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PMID:Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Ureteric Smooth Muscle: Mechanisms Driving Ureteric Peristalsis. 3118 24