Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
 15,767 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The effect of the kallikrein inhibitor aprotinin on luteal function, uterine activity and parturition was studied in primigravid pregnant rats. Luteal function was monitored by the determination of serum progesterone levels. Aprotinin given daily from Day 19 to Day 22 of gestation had no effect on progesterone concentrations compared to saline-treated controls, but indomethacin delayed the decline in progesterone levels over the same time period. Aprotinin treatment had no effect on fetal and placental weights from Days 19 to 22 of gestation. Aprotinin infusion in Day-22 pregnant rats resulted in a reduction in uterine motility (studied by continuous recording in conscious rats by means of an intrauterine microballoon) in 10/12 rats. Continuous infusion of aprotinin into rats which had been allowed to deliver one young resulted in a significantly prolonged duration of parturition compared to that in saline-infused controls. In one rat the delivery process was completely arrested and recommended only when the infusion was stopped. Aprotonin had no effect on either the spontaneous or oxytocin-induced uterine contractions of the isolated Day-22 pregnant rat uterus. It is concluded that the kallikrein-kinin system in the late pregnant rat does not appear to be involved in the luteolytic process but may play a functional role in the control of uterine and/or cervical function before and during parturition.
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PMID:The effect of aprotinin on luteolytic and uterine contractile mechanisms in the pregnant rat at term. 31 24

Vasoactive peptides contain a high proportion of proline residues which make them resistant to hydrolysis by many peptidases. However, post proline cleaving enzyme (PPCE; EC 3.4.21.26), a proline specific endopeptidase which specifically hydrolyzes internal peptide bonds on the carboxyl side of proline residues, has been shown to inactivate numerous vasoactive peptides including angiotensins, kinins, substance P, vasopressin and oxytocin. In order to determine whether PPCE could be involved in vascular metabolism of vasoactive peptides, we carried out localization and characterization studies of PPCE-like activity in hog aorta and mesenteric artery. PPCE was assayed fluorometrically at pH 7.0 using the specific PPCE substrate CBZ-Gly-Pro-4-methyl-coumarinylamide. The subcellular distribution of vascular PPCE was essentially the same as that of the cytosolic marker enzyme lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). PPCE was enriched six-fold in the cytosolic fraction (11.4 +/- 2.7 units/mg) and unlike the plasma membrane-bound proline specific exopeptidase dipeptidyl-(amino)peptidase IV (DAP IV; EC 3.4.14.5), little or no activity could be detected in the microsomal or plasma membrane fractions. Similar to PPCE characterized from other sites, vascular PPCE was stabilized and activated by dithiothreitol and EDTA, and inhibited by DFP, p-chloromercuriphenyl sulfonic acid, L-1-tosylamido-2-phenylethylchloromethyl ketone, Cu++, Ca++, and Zn++. Vascular PPCE was unaffected by inhibitors of trypsin and kallikrein (Aprotinin, ABTI), aminopeptidase M (bestatin, amastatin), neutral endopeptidase (phosphoramidon), angiotensin I converting enzyme (captopril) or carboxypeptidase N (MERGETPA). These data demonstrate that PPCE is present in vascular endothelium and/or smooth muscle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Vascular, post proline cleaving enzyme: metabolism of vasoactive peptides. 354 18

Carboxamidopeptidase, an enzyme which inactivates neurohypophyseal hormones, has been purified 3800-fold in an overall yield of 22% from toad skin, a neurohypophyseal hormone target organ, by (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, DEAE-Sephadex chromatography, and affinity chromatography on immobilized p-aminobenzamidine and concanavalin A-agrose. The purified enzyme is capable of inactivating both [8-arginine]vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin by hydrolyzing the Arg8-Gly9-NH2 and the Leu8-Gly9-NH2 bonds, respectively, and can hydrolyze the ester substrates, benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester (BzArgOEt) and acetyl-L-trypsine ethyl ester, suggesting that the enzyme has both trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like activities. Carboxamidopeptidase is maximally active at pH 7.5-8.5 for AVP and BzArgOEt and pH 7.0 for oxytocin. Carboxamidopeptidase is inhibited by ovoinhibitor, ovomucoid, Trasylol. lima bean trypsin inhibitor, concanavalin A, antipain, leupeptin, chymostatin, elastatinal, p-nitrophenyl p-guanidinobenzoate, and 4-methylumbelliferyl p-guanidinobenzoate but not by soybean trypsin inhibitor, alpha 1-antitrypsin, hirudin, pepstatin, bestatin, phosphoramidon, or cysteine. The enzyme is also inhibited by the serine protease inhibitor, diisopropyl phosphofluoridate (i-Pr2PF), and by the chloromethyl ketone derivatives of tosyllysine, tosylphenylalanine, and (benzyloxycarbonyl)phenylalanine, as well as by the sulfhydryl group reagent, p-(chloromercuri)benzoate (PCMB). Inhibition by PCMB is reversed by cysteine. The molecular weight determined by gel filtration in the presence of 1 MNaCl is approximately 100 000. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicates that the enzyme is composed of two identical subunits of 48 000 daltons. Each subunit consists of a heavy chain (28 000 daltons) and a light chain (19 000 daltons) joined by a disulfide bond(s). Labeling experiments using [3H]-i-Pr2PF showed that the enzyme active site is located in the heavy chain.
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PMID:Carboxamidopeptidase: purification and characterization of a neurohypophyseal hormone inactivating peptidase from toad skin. 676 14

A 20 week primigravida with intrauterine fetal death and the rare occurrence of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) in pregnancy is presented. Aprotinin has been used to overcome uterine inertia non-responsive to oxytocin stimulation. TTP was successfully treated with repeated plasmaphereses. The literature is briefly reviewed and the complexity and importance of the differential diagnosis specific to the pregnant patient is discussed.
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PMID:Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in pregnancy. 720 Jul 99