Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P17174 (aspartate aminotransferase)
 14,872 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Monitoring of biochemical constituents in serum is an important component in revealing potential toxicity in humans and experimental animals due to exposure to a variety of xenobiotic agents. The relative toxicity of pure compounds, usually at large doses, has helped elucidate the mode of action of these compounds and their relative risk. However, most actual cases of environmental exposure present an extensive range of components and the potential for synergistic or inhibitory interactions. In this paper we review two such environmental cases: The Love Canal chemical dump site in Niagara Falls, NY, and the transformer fire at the State Office Building in Binghamton, NY. We focus on the clinical laboratory measurements obtained in these studies (including serum glucose, triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, sodium and potassium), their usefulness, limitations, and application to such cases. Significant alterations in serum triglyceride and alanine aminotransferase levels were found in guinea pigs due to exposure to dioxins. These two tests were useful in estimating the 'equivalent' concentration of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in complex chemical mixtures.
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PMID:Application of clinical laboratory measurements to issues of environmental health. 157 81

Two decades of research in ethanol metabolism have culminated in the molecular elucidation of an ethanol-inducible cytochrome P450 (P450IIE1) which is not only involved with ethanol metabolism and ethanol tolerance, but also with the activation of a number of xenobiotics. The unique ability of P450IIE1 to activate xenobiotic agents now appears to be responsible for the increased susceptibility of the heavy drinker to hepatotoxic industrial solvents, commonly used drugs, over-the-counter medications and chemical carcinogens. It also explains some of the interaction of ethanol with nutritional factors, such as hepatic vitamin A: enhanced microsomal degradation of retinoids (together with hepatic mobilisation) promotes depletion. Treatment, however, is complicated by the fact that ethanol also enhances the toxicity of excess vitamin A. All pathways of ethanol metabolism result in the production of acetaldehyde, the toxicity of which has been reviewed (Lieber 1982). New aspects discussed here include the formation of acetaldehyde-protein adducts and an associated immune response that may play a pathogenic role. Also discussed are the implications of ethanol-induced alterations in microtubules, mitochondria and plasma membranes, as they relate, in part, to accompanying acetaldehyde-induced toxicity, to the production of free radicals or to lipid peroxidation-mediated injury associated with glutathione depletion. There is also depletion of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe). Administration of synthetic SAMe results in a partial correction of the SAMe depletion and a consequent restoration of glutathione levels. Other beneficial effects of SAMe include a significant attenuation of the increase in plasma aspartate transaminase and glutamate dehydrogenase activities. Mitochondrial damage, including giant forms, documented by light and electron microscopy, is also attenuated by SAMe. Thus, the new understanding of the pathophysiology of alcohol-induced liver damage has led to more successful therapy with drugs and nutritional factors.
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PMID:Interaction of alcohol with other drugs and nutrients. Implication for the therapy of alcoholic liver disease. 208 78

This investigation was conducted to evaluate the effects of modulation of several phase I xenobiotic-metabolizing enzyme activities on the expression of precocene II-induced hepatotoxicity. Precocene II (175-200 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally to male Sprague-Dawley rats that had been exposed previously to inducers (phenobarbital and 3-methylcholanthrene) or inhibitors (SKF 525-A and cimetidine) of oxidative xenobiotic metabolism. Hepatic damage was measured both biochemically (leakage of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine amino-transferase into the serum) and histologically. Significant protection from precocene II-induced hepatotoxicity was observed in all treated animals regardless of whether the modulator employed was an inducer or an inhibitor of microsomal oxidative enzymes. These results indicate that the level of activity of various forms of cytochrome P-450 significantly influences the severity of hepatic necrosis induced by precocene II. Furthermore, these results suggest that inducible non-P-450 factors, such as glutathione S-transferases, may be important in modulating precocene II-induced hepatotoxicity.
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PMID:Cytoprotective effects of modulators of oxidative xenobiotic metabolism in precocene II-induced hepatotoxicity. 365 73

The carcinogenic water disinfection byproduct, bromodichloromethane (BDCM), produces renal and hepatic toxicity in rodents in acute and subchronic studies. In the present investigation, female rats and mice (n = 6) were dosed daily for 5 consecutive days with BDCM (dissolved in an aqueous, 10% Emulphor solution) by gavage. Rats received 75, 150 and 300 mg BDCM/kg body weight/day and mice received 75 and 150 mg BDCM/kg body weight/day. Two rats in the 300 mg/kg/day treatment group died on day 5. On day 6, the animals were sacrificed and serum samples were taken for analysis of indicators of hepatic and renal toxicity. Livers and kidneys were excised and samples taken for histopathological evaluation. Portions of the livers were also utilized to produce microsomes for analysis of cytochrome P450 enzyme activities and total P450 content. Total hepatic cytochrome P450 was decreased in rats dosed with 150 and 300 mg BDCM/kg body weight/day, but was not significantly affected in BDCM-treated mice. Serum lactate (LDH) and sorbitol (SDH) dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinine and blood urea nitrogen were increased above those of controls in rats dosed with 300 mg BDCM/kg/day. These data suggested that hepatic and renal damage had occurred in this treatment group. This was confirmed by histopathological analyses which revealed that lesions occurred in both hepatic and renal tissues from rats dosed with 150 and 300 mg BDCM/kg/day. The hepatic lesions were centrilobular and primarily consisted of vacuolar degeneration. The hepatotoxicity indicators alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and SDH were increased in mice dosed with 150 mg BDCM/kg/day. However, no histopathological lesions were observed in these animals. This study shows that BDCM is both hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic to female rats after repeated dosing, but is only weakly hepatotoxic to female mice at the administered doses. Also, reduced activities of hepatic cytochrome P450 were observed in rats, but not mice. These species differences in toxicity and xenobiotic metabolizing enzyme inhibition caused by BDCM suggest that an understanding of the mechanism of toxicity of this compound will be critical when extrapolating rodent toxicity data to humans for this environmental pollutant.
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PMID:Toxicity of bromodichloromethane in female rats and mice after repeated oral dosing. 780 27

Milacemide or 2-n-pentylaminoacetamide hydrochloride, a new glycine derivative, was found to cause elevations of plasma transaminases in patients suffering from severe depression and Alzheimer's disease. However, no signs of liver toxicity were observed during the course of earlier conducted subchronic and chronic in vivo studies in rodents and cynomolgus monkeys. In this study an in vivo/in vitro approach has been proposed to detect early alterations in key metabolic and functional liver capacities. Milacemide was administered by continuous i.v. infusion for 7 days to male Sprague-Dawley rats using subcutaneously implanted osmotic pumps. Doses were given of 0, 250 and 500 mg/kg per day. Body weight and food intake were recorded and at day 7 of exposure, Milacemide concentration, glucose, urea, triglycerides and cholesterol levels and alanine (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities were measured in plasma. Non-esterified fatty acids were determined in serum. On day 8, after overnight fasting, hepatocytes were isolated. A portion of the cells derived from untreated animals (no osmotic pumps) were cultured in a primary monolayer and exposed in vitro to different Milacemide concentrations. The xenobiotic biotransformation capacity of the isolated hepatocytes was studied by measuring the cytochrome P450 content, ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase (ECOD), pentoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (PROD), ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), aldrin epoxidase (AE), epoxide hydrolase (EH) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzyme activities. Triglycerides, cholesterol and phospholipid contents were measured on the isolated cells. At plasma concentrations of 43 and 130 microM Milacemide, the ALT activity was unchanged or significantly decreased, whereas the AST activity was increased in both cases. Other clinical chemistry parameters remained unchanged. Weight gain was significantly lower in rats treated with the high Milacemide dose. In addition, decreased food consumption was observed in all treated animals leading to significantly lower food efficiency factors for the rats treated with the high dose. Milacemide had a specific inhibitory effect on xenobiotic biotransformation: ECOD activity decreased to 60% of the control value for both Milacemide doses, PROD activity remained unaffected whereas EROD activity decreased to 65% of the control value. A decrease was also observed at the highest drug concentration for AE (to 41%), EH (to 65%), cytochrome P450 content (to 80%) and GST (to 85%). At 500 mg Milacemide kg/day, hepatocyte triglycerides levels increased 3.1-fold while cholesterol and phospholipid levels remained unaffected. Electron and light microscopy on total liver and isolated hepatocytes indicated a concentration-dependent accumulation of lipid droplets, the occurrence of numerous vacuoles in the cytoplasm and other structural abnormalities. When the cultured hepatocytes of control animals (without osmotic pumps) were exposed to Milacemide, the appearance of vacuoles and myeloid bodies could be confirmed in vitro. The results of this study using an in vivo/in vitro approach clearly show potential hepatotoxic properties of Milacemide, an effect not observed in conventional toxicity studies.
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PMID:Observation of hepatotoxic effects of 2-n-pentylaminoacetamide (Milacemide) in rat liver by a combined in vivo/in vitro approach. 913 5

Individuals are commonly exposed to bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) through gram-negative bacterial infection and from its translocation from the gastrointestinal lumen into the circulation. Inasmuch as noninjurious doses of LPS augment the hepatotoxicity of certain xenobiotic agents, exposure to small amounts of LPS may be an important determinant of susceptibility to chemical intoxication. Monocrotaline (MCT) is a pyrrolizidine alkaloid phytotoxin that at large doses produces centrilobular liver lesions in rats. In the present study, MCT was coadministered with LPS to determine whether LPS would enhance its hepatotoxicity. Doses of MCT (100 mg/kg, ip) and LPS (7.4 x 10(6) EU/kg, iv), which were nonhepatotoxic when administered separately, produced significant liver injury in male, Sprague-Dawley rats when given in combination. Within 18 h after MCT administration, this cotreatment resulted in enhanced plasma alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities, two markers of liver injury. Histologically, overt hemorrhage and necrosis appeared between 12 and 18 h. The lesions were centrilobular and midzonal and exhibited characteristics similar to lesions associated with larger doses of MCT and LPS, respectively. In the presence of LPS, the threshold for MCT toxicity was reduced to 13-33% of the dose required for toxicity with MCT alone. A study in isolated, hepatic parenchymal cells revealed no interaction between MCT and LPS in producing cytotoxicity. In summary, coexposure of rats to noninjurious doses of MCT and LPS resulted in pronounced liver injury. Results in vitro suggest that the enhanced toxicity does not result from a direct interaction of MCT and LPS with hepatic parenchymal cells. These results provide additional evidence that exposure to small amounts of LPS may be a determinant of susceptibility to food-borne hepatotoxins.
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PMID:Synergistic hepatotoxicity from coexposure to bacterial endotoxin and the pyrrolizidine alkaloid monocrotaline. 1090 81

Zinc deficiency affects hepatic functions and due to the central role of the liver in metabolism, this may contribute to metabolic alterations in other tissues in zinc deficiency. In addition to clinical manifestations of zinc deficiency, we used cDNA- and oligonucleotide-arrays to compare the expression of > 2500 different genes in liver of rats force-fed a zinc-adequate or a zinc-deficient diet for 11 d. Radio- or fluorescence-labeled cDNAs from liver of control and zinc-deficient rats were hybridized to arrays. Approximately 1550 mRNAs were detected above background levels; by comparing expression profiles of the two groups, the mRNA levels of 66 genes were found to be altered by zinc deficiency. Steady-state expression levels of 35 genes were reduced, whereas the mRNA-levels of 31 genes were elevated. Array data were verified by Northern blot analysis for 24 selected genes and 19 were confirmed to be up- or down-regulated. Among those, predominantly gene products that participate in growth (i.e., insulin-like growth factor binding proteins), lipid metabolism (long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase), xenobiotic metabolism (cytochrome P(450) isoenzymes), the stress response (glutathione transferase), nitrogen metabolism (cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase), intracellular trafficking (syntaxin isoforms) and signal transduction (G-protein-coupled receptors) were identified. Additionally, regulation of mRNA levels of genes important for porphyrin synthesis and collagen metabolism was observed. In conclusion, we have identified in vivo a number of mammalian genes from different cellular pathways whose expression changes in response to zinc depletion. The characterization of the identified genes and their products will allow a more comprehensive analysis of the role of zinc in metabolism; moreover, the mRNAs identified could be useful in establishing biomarkers for the determination of zinc status in mammals.
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PMID:Changes in rat hepatic gene expression in response to zinc deficiency as assessed by DNA arrays. 1267 11

Drug idiosyncrasy is an adverse event of unknown etiology that occurs in a small fraction of people taking a drug. Some idiosyncratic drug reactions may occur from episodic decreases in the threshold for drug hepatotoxicity. Previous studies in rats have shown that modest underlying inflammation triggered by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can decrease the threshold for xenobiotic hepatotoxicity. The histamine-2 (H2)-receptor antagonist ranitidine (RAN) causes idiosyncratic reactions in people, with liver as a usual target. We tested the hypothesis that RAN could be rendered hepatotoxic in animals undergoing a modest inflammatory response. Male rats were treated with a nonhepatotoxic dose of LPS (44 x 10(6) endotoxin units/kg i.v.) or its vehicle and then 2 h later with a nonhepatotoxic dose of RAN (30 mg/kg i.v.) or its vehicle. Liver injury was evident only in animals treated with both RAN and LPS as estimated by increases in serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and gamma-glutamyl transferase activities within 6 h after RAN administration. LPS/RAN cotreatment resulted in midzonal liver lesions characterized by acute necrosuppurative hepatitis. Famotidine (FAM) is an H2-antagonist for which the propensity for idiosyncratic reactions is far less than RAN. Rats given LPS and FAM at a dose pharmacologically equipotent to that of RAN did not develop liver injury. In vitro, RAN sensitized hepatocytes to killing by cytotoxic products from activated neutrophils, whereas FAM lacked this ability. The results indicate that a response resembling human RAN idiosyncrasy can be reproduced in animals by RAN exposure during modest inflammation.
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PMID:Ranitidine treatment during a modest inflammatory response precipitates idiosyncrasy-like liver injury in rats. 1289 37

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) binds planar aromatic compounds and up-regulates the transcription of a battery of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes. To identify proteins involved in the biosynthesis of endogenous AHR ligands, we screened extracts of various mouse tissues for AHR signaling activity. We found heart extract to activate AHR and identified the active component to be the enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.1). We demonstrate that this transaminase can activate AHR signaling by converting l-tryptophan to indole-3-pyruvate. In turn, indole-3-pyruvate spontaneously reacts in aqueous solution to form a large number of compounds that act as agonists of AHR. Tyrosine and the serotonin-precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan also activate AHR signaling in combination with aspartate aminotransferase, suggesting that 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate and 5-hydroxyindolepyruvate also act as proagonists of AHR. This study demonstrates that the known tryptophan metabolic-intermediate indole-3-pyruvate is a proagonist of AHR that reacts in aqueous solution to form a variety of AHR agonists.
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PMID:Aspartate aminotransferase generates proagonists of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. 1292 Jan 90

Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is associated with cholestasis and hepatic steatosis in human infants. The present study focused on the changes in hepatic xenobiotic transporters associated with overdose of fat-free or fat-containing TPN in infant rats. Three-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: group 1 received an oral diet, group 2 received TPN without fat, and group 3 received TPN with 20% of its calories from fat (soybean oil emulsion). After TPN administration for 4 days, both serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, which are indicators of hepatic dysfunction, in group 2 were significantly higher (p<0.001) than those in the other groups, whereas there were no differences between groups 1 and 3 in either serum AST or ALT levels. The serum bilirubin concentration in group 2 was also markedly higher than that in the other groups. Mdr2, Bsep, Mrp2, Mrp6, Oct1, and Oat2 mRNA levels were decreased in group 2 (fat-free TPN) compared with those in group 1 (oral diet), whereas Mdr1b, Mrp1, and Mrp5 mRNA levels were increased. Specifically, the level of Mdr1b mRNA in group 2 was 16 times higher (p<0.001) than that in group 1. On the other hand, the changes in these mRNA expression levels in group 3 (fat-containing TPN) were smaller than those in group 2, and specifically, the expression levels of Mdr1b, Mrp1, Mrp5, Mrp6, and Oat2 mRNA in group 3 were not significantly different from those in group 1. The results of the present study indicate that including fat in the TPN regimen is very important in preventing the mRNA up- and down-regulation of xenobiotic transporters, which is considered to be the main factor responsible for the abnormal hepatic changes such as cholestasis associated with the excessive administration of fat-free TPN.
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PMID:Role of soybean oil fat emulsion in the prevention of hepatic xenobiotic transporter mRNA up- and down-regulation induced by overdose of fat-free total parenteral nutrition in infant rats. 1577 74


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