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 number of gene assignments to human chromosome 20 has increased slowly until recently. Only seven genes and one fragile site were confirmed assignments to chromosome 20 at the Ninth Human Gene Mapping Workshop in September 1987 (HGM9). One fragile site, 13 additional genes, and 10 DNA sequences that identify restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), however, were provisionally added to the map at HGM9. Five mutated genes on chromosome 20 have a relation to disease: a mutation in the adenosine deaminase gene results in a deficiency of the enzyme and severe combined immune deficiency; mutations in the gene for the growth hormone releasing factor result in some forms of dwarfism; mutations in the closely linked genes for the hormones arginine vasopressin and oxytocin and their neurophysins are probably responsible for some diabetes insipidus; and mutations in the gene that regulates both alpha-neuraminidase and beta-galactosidase activities determine galactosialidosis. The gene for the prion protein is on chromosome 20; it is related to the infectious agent of kuru, Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, and Gertsmann-Straussler syndrome, although the nature of the relationship is not completely understood. Two genes that code for tyrosine kinases are on the chromosome, SRC1 the proto-oncogene and a gene (HCK) coding for haemopoietic kinase (an src-like kinase), but no direct relation to cancer has been shown for either of these kinases. The significance of non-random loss of chromosome 20 in the malignant diseases non-lymphocytic leukaemia and polycythaemia vera is not understood. Twenty-four additional loci are assigned to the chromosome: five genes that code for binding proteins, one for a light chain of ferritin, genes for three enzymes (inosine triphosphatase, s-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, and sterol delta 24-reductase), one for each of a secretory protein and an opiate neuropeptide, a cell surface antigen, two fragile sites, and 10 DNA sequences (one satellite and nine unique) that detect RFLPs.
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PMID:The map of chromosome 20. 307 44

The genes for the hypothalamic hormones vasopressin and oxytocin are located in close proximity to each other within the rat genome. They are separated by only approx. 11 kbp of DNA sequence and oriented in such a way that their transcription occurs on opposite DNA strands. Although the two genes are structurally very similar including common potential regulatory elements in their putative promotor regions, they are expressed in discrete populations of magnocellular neurons of the hypothalamus. In rats placed under osmotic stress, the vasopressin gene is upregulated; concomitantly transcription of the oxytocin gene is also stimulated. To address the question of whether this coordinated rise in oxytocin-encoding mRNA is the result of switching on oxytocin gene transcription in vasopressinergic neurons, in situ hybridization with double labelled cRNA probes was carried out. Biotinylated and [alpha-35S]CTP labelled antisense cRNA probes specific for either vasopressin or oxytocin mRNA were constructed and hybridized to hypothalamic sections from salt-loaded rats. The results demonstrate that upregulation of oxytocin gene transcription is restricted solely to oxytocinergic cells; no oxytocin gene transcripts can be detected in vasopressinergic neurons.
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PMID:Expression of the vasopressin and oxytocin genes in rats occurs in mutually exclusive sets of hypothalamic neurons. 320 40

1. The concentration of serum albumin in rat milk, rat serum, the stomach contents of suckling rats and mammary homogenates has been measured. 2. Serum albumin in expressed milk ranges in concentration between 3.5 and 6 mg/ml and amounts to an average of 4-5 mg/100 mg total protein whereas, in the stomach contents of suckling rats, serum albumin was 3.2 mg/100 mg total protein. 3. Corresponding concentrations of a second soluble milk protein, alpha-lactalbumin, were 2.9 mg/100 mg total protein in the milk and 1.2 mg/100 mg total protein in the stomach contents. 4. Serum albumin is a major protein in mammary homogenates at 10 mg/100 mg total soluble protein and the calculated total mammary pool of albumin amounts to 110 mg/rat. 5. There was a significant negative correlation between the serum albumin concentration and the ratio of potassium to sodium ions in milk samples obtained from rats milked with varying oxytocin treatments. 6. No evidence for albumin mRNA could be detected when mammary total RNA was probed with a complementary DNA (cDNA) for rat albumin. 7. The data are consistent with albumin being a major whey protein in the rat, it being synthesized at an extramammary site and transferred to the milk space by a paracellular mechanism from an extravascular mammary pool rather than directly from the serum.
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PMID:Serum albumin secretion in rat milk. 344 53

The effect of 15 defined neuropeptides on the mitogenic activation of lymphocytes from human thymus, guinea pig lymph nodes and rat spleen was investigated. Lymphocytes were incubated in the absence or presence of polyclonal T and B cell activators together with increasing doses of the neuropeptides, and harvested at 48 h of culture after pulse-labeling with 3H-thymidine to assess the DNA synthesis. A dose-related stimulatory effect on the spontaneous 3H-thymidine incorporation of human thymocytes was obtained with methionine-enkephalin (met-enk), motilin and neurotensin. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and peptide HI (PHI) were inhibitory. A similar responsiveness was observed in cultures of phytohemagglutinin P (PHA)-activated human thymocytes. The low level of basal DNA synthesis of guinea pig lymph node cells was stimulated by VIP and inhibited by neuropeptide Y (NPY) and PHI. PHA-activated lymph node T lymphocytes were stimulated by neurotensin, bombesin and motilin, whereas NPY inhibited the thymidine uptake. The low rate of spontaneous DNA synthesis of rat spleen cells was increased in the presence of VIP. Met-enk stimulated both basal and dextran sulfate-activated splenic B cell proliferation, whereas PHI was inhibitory in both cases. The following peptides were found to be inactive in all the above assays: substance P, cholecystokinin-octapeptide, somatostatin, galanin, oxytocin, pentagastrin and gastrin-releasing peptide 1-27 and 14-27. Although the responses were generally of low magnitude and observed at high peptide concentrations, present study contributes to the understanding of possible mechanisms involved in interactions between the nervous and the immune system.
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PMID:Neuropeptide regulation of human thymocyte, guinea pig T lymphocyte and rat B lymphocyte mitogenesis. 349 94

Oxytocin mRNA was detected in the rat hypothalamus by in situ hybridization to a single stranded 35S-labelled DNA probe and the distribution of oxytocin mRNA-containing cell groups was studied at the macroscopic level. Specificity of hybridization was confirmed by comparison to vasopressin mRNA hybridization in parallel tissue sections. Cell groups containing oxytocin mRNA were confined to a set of hypothalamic cell groups, i.c. the supraoptic, paraventricular, anterior commissural nuclei, nucleus circularis and scattered hypothalamic islets. These cell groups displayed similar densities of autoradiographic signals indicating that the oxytocin gene is expressed at approximately the same average level at these various sites.
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PMID:In situ hybridization of oxytocin messenger RNA: macroscopic distribution and quantitation in rat hypothalamic cell groups. 359 33

Complete cDNA sequences for the vasopressin and oxytocin precursor polyproteins have been determined for the rat, calf, human and pig (vasopressin only), indicating the essential conservation of the precursor structures throughout mammals. DNA probes specific for vasopressin or oxytocin mRNAs have been used to identify both classic (hypothalamic) and novel (thymus, corpus luteum, phaeochromocytoma) sites of hormone expression. Semiquantitative DNA/RNA hybridization suggests that in rats expression of the vasopressin and oxytocin genes is positively effected by osmotic stress, negatively by a systemically applied excess of vasopressin; in the latter experiment a reduction in the hypothalamic levels of vasopressin and oxytocin mRNAs in normal and Brattleboro rats have been observed. This suggests a feedback regulation by the hormone as a possible element in controlling the transcription of the vasopressin gene.
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PMID:The neurohypophyseal hormones vasopressin and oxytocin. Precursor structure, synthesis and regulation. 376 39

Concentrations of vasopressin (VP) precursor and oxytocin (OT) precursor mRNA were measured in magnocellular cell groups of the rat hypothalamus by newly developed solution hybridization assays. The assays employed single-stranded 35S-labeled VP-specific and OT-specific DNA probes that were prepared by primer extension on recombinant M13 DNA templates. Solution hybridization assays were standardized by known amounts of cloned DNA. The detection limit was less than 1 pg DNA equivalent of the respective mRNA. In total RNA preparations of microdissected supraoptic nucleus (SON) mean (+/- SEM) basal levels of 1.37 +/- 0.18 pg VP mRNA and 1.95 +/- 0.14 pg OT mRNA were measured. RNA of the microdissected paraventricular nucleus (PVN) contained 0.35 +/- 0.02 pg VP mRNA and 1.77 +/- 0.15 pg OT mRNA. Elevation of plasma osmolality induced by drinking of 2% saline for 25 days resulted in a 1.85-fold increase in VP mRNA levels of the SON and a 1.6-fold increase in VP mRNA levels of the PVN. The solution hybridization assays are suitable tools to study the regulation of VP and OT mRNAs in magnocellular neurons of the brain.
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PMID:Quantitation of vasopressin mRNA and oxytocin mRNA in hypothalamic nuclei by solution hybridization assays. 377 78

An oxytocin/bovine neurophysin I biosynthetic precursor, [N epsilon-diacetimidyl-30,71, des-His106]pro-OT/BNPI, was synthesized from a synthetic oxytocinyl peptide, 1/2Cys-Tyr-Ile-Gln-Asn-1/2Cys-Pro-Leu-Gly-Gly-Lys-Arg, and native neurophysin by chemical semisynthesis. The semisynthetic precursor contains the entire sequence of the biosynthetic precursor deduced from the complementary DNA structure except for omission of the carboxyl-terminal histidine residue. The covalent structure of the semisynthetic product was verified by amino acid analysis and amino-terminal analysis. Analytical affinity chromatography was employed to evaluate noncovalent binding properties of the precursor. The precursor does not bind significantly to immobilized Met-Tyr-Phe, a hormone binding site ligand. In contrast, the acetimidated precursor binds to immobilized bovine neurophysin II, with a 13-fold higher affinity than does acetimidated neurophysin itself. When a hormonal ligand, [Lys8]vasopressin, was added to the elution buffer at the concentration of 0.1 mM so that a major portion of the immobilized BNPII was liganded, the affinity between the immobilized liganded BNPII and the precursor was enhanced 8-fold and approached the affinity for the liganded (bovine neurophysin I-immobilized BNPII) interaction. The data imply that the precursor can self-associate and that this self-association is closely related to that of liganded neurophysin. The tripeptide affinity matrix data argue that, in the precursor, the ligand binding site of the neurophysin domain is occupied intramolecularly by the hormone domain. The data verify the view that both the self-association surface and hormone binding site are established upon precursor folding. A disulfide stability analysis showed the resistance, to disulfide interchange by dithiothreitol, of semisynthetic precursor but not of neurophysin, as judged by protein association and peptide ligand binding activities, respectively. The results argue that the molecular structure of the precursor is established upon precursor folding and before enzymatic processing that produces mature hormone and neurophysin.
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PMID:Molecular properties of the oxytocin/bovine neurophysin biosynthetic precursor. Studies using a semisynthetic precursor. 400 99

The survival of adult rat hepatocytes in monolayer culture was studied in the presence of different hormones (neurotensin, oxytocin, thyrotropin releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone releasing hormone, cholecalciferol, bradykinin, substance P, aldosterone, melanocyte stimulating hormone, 3,3',5-triiodo-1-thyronine, corticosterone, human growth hormone, glucagon, insulin, progesterone, testosterone, estradiol, and dexamethasone phosphate) or growth factors (fetal bovine serum). For this purpose trypan blue exclusion, lactate dehydrogenase, and DNA and protein content were measured at 24 and 72 h of culture. 10(-7) M Dexamethasone, a mixture of eight hormones, 10% fetal bovine serum, and a combination of the latter two supplements caused a more than 64% higher DNA content at 72 h when compared to control cultures. A striking agreement of these results with changes of lactate dehydrogenase leakage was observed, whereas trypan blue exclusion gave erratic results. Considerable changes of cell arrangement apparently specific for each supplement were observed by low magnification microscopy. It is concluded that glucocorticoids and fetal bovine serum have an outstanding effect on cell viability and that DNA or protein content or both are reliable indicators of cell viability in amitotic cultures.
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PMID:Influence of hormones and growth factors on viability, DNA, and protein content of adult hepatocytes in primary culture. 405 11

The neuroendocrine antidiuretic hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP) was capable of replacing the interleukin 2 (IL 2) requirement for gamma-interferon (IFN gamma) production by Lyt-2+ cells from C57BL/6 mouse spleen cells. The AVP replacement did not stimulate DNA synthesis in the target lymphocytes. This suggested that AVP was capable of replacing an IL 2 function that did not involve stimulation of cellular proliferation or DNA synthesis. This was confirmed by the demonstration that mitomycin C inhibition of IFN gamma production was reversed by IL 2 or AVP without concomitant reversal of blockage of DNA synthesis. Oxytocin, which is structurally related to AVP, was also capable of replacing IL 2 requirement for IFN gamma production, whereas insulin was ineffective. The data show that the neuroendocrine hormones AVP and oxytocin are capable of lymphokine-like activity. This activity may involve the induction of a second messenger such as cyclic GMP.
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PMID:Vasopressin replacement of interleukin 2 requirement in gamma interferon production: lymphokine activity of a neuroendocrine hormone. 618 8


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