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This paper presents a review of the significant body of literature liking dietary iron overload, not only to heart disease, but also to cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and possibly other disorders. Following an analysis of our understanding of the mechanistic role iron plays in oxidative damage, an interpretation of the fact that plasma concentrations of several antioxidants are decreased in the presence of disease is offered. Evaluation of (1) age-related dietary trends over time and (2) factors involved in iron absorption leads to the hypothesis that the combination of citric acid and ascorbic acid (a synergistic pair of strong enhancers) is instrumental in causing a deleterious increase in iron load in aging populations. Iron overload may be the most important common etiologic factor in the development of the diseases mentioned; therefore, the synergistic combination of citric and ascorbic acids may play a major role in our worsening disease statistics. Evidence to support this hypothesis and possible experiments to test it are included. This combination needs further study, particularly because the iron overload produced may be correctable.
Biochem Mol Med 1995 Feb
PMID:Proposed role for a combination of citric acid and ascorbic acid in the production of dietary iron overload: a fundamental cause of disease. 755 10

In recent years it has become clear that a cell cannot be visualized as a 'bag' filled with enzymes dissolved in bulk water. The aqueous-phase properties in the interior of a cell are, indeed, essentially different from those of an ordinary aqueous solution. Large amounts of water are believed to be organized in layers at the surface of intracellular structural proteins and membranes. Such considerations prompt us to reconsider the operation and regulation of metabolic pathways. Enzymes of metabolic pathways are nowadays thought to be clustered and operate as 'metabolons'. Very often interactions between enzymes of a pathway can exclusively be evidenced in vitro in media which are known to reduce the water concentration in the vicinity of the proteins. Immobilized enzyme preparations have been shown to be excellent tools for this type of research. We describe here some recent studies where immobilized enzymes have been used in various applications to investigate associations among enzymes of a number of different metabolic pathways (glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, citric acid cycle and its connection to the electron transport chain, aspartate-malate shuttle, glyoxylate cycle). Advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques are also discussed.
J Mol Recognit 1993 Dec
PMID:Immobilized enzymes as tools for the demonstration of metabolon formation. A short overview. 791 15

Halobacterium salinarium responds to blue light by reversing its swimming direction. Fumarate has been proposed as one of the molecular components of this sensory system and is involved in the switching process of the flagellar motor. In order to obtain chemical proof for this role of fumarate, cells were stimulated with a pulse of blue light and lysed by rapid mixing with distilled water. The lysate contained fumarate in free and bound form, which were separated by ultrafiltration. The fumarate concentration in the low-molecular-mass fraction (< 5 kDa) of the lysate was assayed enzymatically and a light-induced increase was observed. Additionally, the total cellular fumarate content decreased in response to light, indicating that fumarate was released from a cellular pool rather than being formed by de novo synthesis. The light-induced release was not detected in a mutant defective in sensory rhodopsin-I and -II. Therefore it is concluded that photoreceptor activation rather than a direct effect of light on the activity of metabolic enzymes causes fumarate release. For each photoactivated sensory rhodopsin-II molecule at least 350 molecules of fumarate were liberated demonstrating efficient amplification. The rate of light-induced fumarate release is at least 10-times faster than the fumarate turnover number of the citric acid cycle which was estimated as approximately 4300 per cell and second. Therefore this metabolic process is not expected to be part of the signal transduction chain in the halobacterial cell.
Mol Microbiol 1993 Dec
PMID:Sensory rhodopsin-controlled release of the switch factor fumarate in Halobacterium salinarium. 793 58

Thiamine or vitamin B-1, is an essential constituent of all cells since it is a cofactor for two enzyme complexes involved in the citric acid cycle, pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Thiamine is synthesized by plants, but it is a dietary requirement for humans and other animals. The biosynthetic pathway for thiamine in plants has not been well characterized and none of the enzymes involved have been isolated. Here we report the cloning and characterization of two cDNAs representing members of the maize thi1 gene family encoding an enzyme of the thiamine biosynthetic pathway. This assignment was made based on sequence homology to a yeast thiamine biosynthetic gene and by functional complementation of a yeast strain in which the endogenous gene was inactivated. Using immunoblot analysis, the thi1 gene product was found to be located in a plastid membrane fraction. RNA gel blot analysis of various tissues and developmental stages indicated thi1 expression was differentially regulated in a manner consistent with what is known about thiamine synthesis in plants. This is the first report of cDNAs encoding proteins involved in thiamine biosynthesis for any plant species.
Plant Mol Biol 1995 Nov
PMID:Evidence for the thiamine biosynthetic pathway in higher-plant plastids and its developmental regulation. 854 6

We previously demonstrated that clenbuterol suppressed bronchial hyperresponsiveness in acute bronchitic models. However the effect of clenbuterol on the cough reflex, the main symptom of acute bronchitis, is not clear. The present study was thus undertaken to investigate the influence of clenbuterol on the cough reflex. Oral administration of clenbuterol (3 and 10 micrograms/kg) to guinea pigs markedly inhibited the increase in the respiratory resistance in response to 5-HT in a dose-dependent manner. At doses of 10 micrograms/kg and above, clenbuterol significantly inhibited the cough reflex induced by citric acid in guinea pigs. These doses are comparable with those causing broncho-dilation as described above, suggesting that the suppressive effect of clenbuterol on the cough reflex in guinea pigs may result from mainly its broncho-dilative action via stimulation of beta-2 adrenoceptors in airway smooth muscles however, other mechanisms cannot be ruled out. These results indicate that this agent may be useful for treatment of cough, the main symptom of acute bronchitis.
Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol 1995 Jun
PMID:Suppressive effect of clenbuterol on citric acid-induced cough reflex in guinea pigs. 856 85

The effects of L-carnitine on 14CO2 release from [1-14C]pyruvate oxidation (an index of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity, PDH), [2-14C]pyruvate, and [6-14C]glucose oxidation (indices of the acetyl-CoA flux through citric acid cycle), and [U-14C]glucose (an index of both PDH activity and the flux of acetyl-CoA through the citric acid cycle), were studied using isolated rat cardiac myocytes. L-carnitine increased the release of 14CO2 from [1-14C]pyruvate, and decreased that of [2-14C]pyruvate in a time and concentration-dependent manner. At a concentration of 2.5 mM, L-carnitine produced a 50% increase of CO2 release from [1-14C]pyruvate and a 50% decrease from [2-14C]pyruvate oxidation. L-carnitine also increased CO2 release from [1-14C]pyruvate oxidation by 35%, and decreased that of [2-14C]pyruvate oxidation 30%, in isolated rat heart mitochondria. The fatty acid oxidation inhibitor, etomoxir, stimulated the release of CO2 from both [1-14]pyruvate and [2-14C]pyruvate. These results were supported by the effects of L-carnitine on the CO2 release from [6-14C]- and [U-14C]glucose oxidation. L-carnitine (5 mM) decreased the CO2 release from [6-14C]glucose by 37%, while etomoxir (50 microM) increased its release by 24%. L-carnitine had no effect on the oxidation of [U-14C]glucose. L-carnitine increased palmitate oxidation in a time- and concentration-dependent manner in myocytes. Also, it increased the rate of efflux of acetylcarnitine generated from pyruvate in myocytes. These results suggest that L-carnitine stimulates pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activity and enhances non-oxidative glucose metabolism by increasing the mitochondrial acetylcarnitine efflux in the absence of exogenous fatty acids.
J Mol Cell Cardiol 1995 Nov
PMID:Stimulation of non-oxidative glucose utilization by L-carnitine in isolated myocytes. 859 97

The evolutionary origin of the Krebs citric acid cycle has been for a long time a model case in the understanding of the origin and evolution of metabolic pathways: How can the emergence of such a complex pathway be explained? A number of speculative studies have been carried out that have reached the conclusion that the Krebs cycle evolved from pathways for amino acid biosynthesis, but many important questions remain open: Why and how did the full pathway emerge from there? Are other alternative routes for the same purpose possible? Are they better or worse? Have they had any opportunity to be developed in cellular metabolism evolution? We have analyzed the Krebs cycle as a problem of chemical design to oxidize acetate yielding reduction equivalents to the respiratory chain to make ATP. Our analysis demonstrates that although there are several different chemical solutions to this problem, the design of this metabolic pathway as it occurs in living cells is the best chemical solution: It has the least possible number of steps and it also has the greatest ATP yielding. Study of the evolutionary possibilities of each one-taking the available material to build new pathways-demonstrates that the emergence of the Krebs cycle has been a typical case of opportunism in molecular evolution. Our analysis proves, therefore, that the role of opportunism in evolution has converted a problem of several possible chemical solutions into a single-solution problem, with the actual Krebs cycle demonstrated to be the best possible chemical design. Our results also allow us to derive the rules under which metabolic pathways emerged during the origin of life.
J Mol Evol 1996 Sep
PMID:The puzzle of the Krebs citric acid cycle: assembling the pieces of chemically feasible reactions, and opportunism in the design of metabolic pathways during evolution. 870 96

The regulation of fatty acid oxidation in isolated myocytes was examined by manipulating mitochondrial acetyl-CoA levels produced by carbohydrate and fatty acid oxidation. L-carnitine had no effect on the oxidation of [U-14C]glucose, but stimulated oxidation of [1-14C]palmitate in a concentration-dependent manner. L-carnitine (5 mM) increased palmitate oxidation by 37%. The phosphodiesterase inhibitor, enoximone (250 microM), also increased palmitate oxidation by 51%. Addition of L-carnitine to enoximone resulted in a two-fold increase of palmitate oxidation. Whereas, dichloroacetate (DCA, 1 mM), which stimulates PDH activity, decreased palmitate oxidation by 25%. Furthermore, the addition of DCA to myocytes preincubated with either L-carnitine or enoximone, had no effect on the carnitine-induced stimulation of palmitate, and reduced that of enoximone by 50%. Varied concentrations of DCA decreased the oxidation of palmitate and octanoate; but increased glucose oxidation in myocytes. The rate of efflux of acetylcarnitine was highest when pyruvate was present in the medium compared to efflux rates in presence of palmitate or palmitate plus glucose. Although the addition of L-carnitine plus enoximone resulted in a two-fold increase in palmitate oxidation, acetylcarnitine efflux was minimal under these conditions. Acetylcarnitine efflux was highest when pyruvate was present in the medium. These rates were dramatically decreased when myocytes were preincubated with enoximone, despite the stimulation of palmitate oxidation by this compound. These data suggest that: (1) fatty acid oxidation is influenced by acetyl-CoA produced from pyruvate metabolism; (2) L-carnitine may be specific for mitochondrial acetyl-CoA derived from pyruvate oxidation; and (3) it is probable that acetyl-CoA from beta-oxidation of fatty acids is directly channeled into the citric acid cycle.
J Mol Cell Cardiol 1996 May
PMID:Regulation of fatty acid oxidation by acetyl-CoA generated from glucose utilization in isolated myocytes. 876 22

To elucidate that in iron-catalyzed oxidative damage the interaction of iron complex with the target molecules is important, the oxidative damage to plasmid DNA, protein and fatty acid has been compared using iron-chelate complexes with nitrilotriacetic acid (nta), citric acid, ethylenediamine-N,N'-diacetic acid (edda) and diethylenetriamine-N,N,N',N",N"-pentaacetic acid (dtpa). In the presence of hydrogen peroxide, plasmid pBR322 strand breaks occurred in the order of Fe-edda > Fe-citrate > Fe-nta > > Fe-dtpa. However, fragmentation of bovine serum albumin and diene conjugation of linoleic acid micelle occurred in the order of Fe-nta > Fe-edda > > Fe-citrate > Fe-dtpa = O, which were similar to hydroxyl radical production by these iron complexes and H2O2. Bleomycin-detectable free radical-promoting irons in these iron complexes were about 85% of iron in Fe-nta, Fe-citrate and Fe-edda, and only about 33% in Fe-dtpa. Not only hydroxyl radical productivity and free radical-promoting iron content in iron complex, but also the interaction of the complex with the target molecules determines the iron-catalyzed oxidative damage.
Biochem Mol Biol Int 1996 May
PMID:Oxidative damages by iron-chelate complexes depend on the interaction with the target molecules. 879 30

The metmyoglobin (oxidized form of myoglobin) reducing enzyme system was examined in rat myocytes. An inhibitor of the glycolytic pathway (2-deoxy-D-glucose) inhibited the reduction of metmyoglobin in myocytes. An inhibitor of the citric acid cycle (malonic acid), did not inhibit this reaction. From the results of this study along with those of our previous work, we proposed that the glycolytic pathway may have a significant role in the enzymatic metmyoglobin reduction, presumably by its supply of cytoplasmic NADH for the NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase system, in muscle.
Biochem Mol Biol Int 1996 Feb
PMID:Contribution of the glycolytic pathway to enzymatic metmyoglobin reduction in myocytes. 885 May 28


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