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)

A study was conducted to investigate morphologic as well as metabolic characteristics of microcarrier-attached hepatocytes in culture, and also to evaluate the effect of intraperitoneal transplantation of the microcarrier-attached hepatocytes on acute hepatic failure in rats induced by D-galactosamine (GalN). Rat hepatocytes were isolated by collagenase perfusion, and cultured on collagen-coated microcarriers. Protein synthesis estimated by [14C] leucine incorporation was four-fold higher in microcarrier culture than in cell suspension. The rates of albumin, transthyretin and bile acid syntheses in hepatocytes cultured on microcarriers were similar to those in monolayer culture. When microcarrier-attached hepatocytes were intraperitoneally transplanted into rats with Galn-induced acute liver failure, a marked improvement in survival rate was observed as compared with control rats which received injections of microcarriers alone (80% vs 0% beyond 6 days of transplantation). Mean serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), methionine and glucose levels were similar in both groups, while serum bilirubin and ammonia levels were lower (P less than 0.1, P less than 0.05) in rats transplanted with the microcarrier-attached hepatocytes. Immunohistochemical examinations revealed that the transplanted hepatocytes around microcarriers had albumin synthesis activity, whereas almost no albumin synthesis was demonstrated in recipient liver. In conclusion, intraperitoneal transplantation of the microcarrier-attached hepatocytes will provide sufficient metabolic support, representing detoxication of ammonia (and presumably bilirubin) and synthesis of albumin, to allow GalN-damaged liver function to restore. Microcarrier culture of isolated hepatocytes seems to be one of the most appropriate tools for an artificial liver support.
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PMID:Effects of intraperitoneal transplantation of microcarrier-attached hepatocytes on D-galactosamine-induced acute liver failure in rats. 168 85

Four aminotransferases were identified and characterized from Methanococcus aeolicus. Branched-chain aminotransferase (BcAT, EC 2.6.1.42), aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT, EC 2.6.1.1), and two aromatic aminotransferases (EC 2.6.1.57) were partially purified 175-, 84-, 600-, and 30-fold, respectively. The apparent molecular weight, substrate specificity, and kinetic properties of the BcAT were similar to those of other microbial BcATs. The AspAT had an apparent molecular weight of 162,000, which was unusually high. It had also a broad substrate specificity, which included activity towards alanine, a property which resembled the enzyme from Sulfolobus solfataricus. An additional alanine aminotransferase was not found in M. aeolicus, and this activity of AspAT could be physiologically significant. The apparent molecular weights of the aromatic aminotransferases (ArAT-I and ArAT-II) were 150,000 and 90,000, respectively. The methanococcal ArATs also had different pIs and kinetic constants. ArAT-I may be the major ArAT in methanococci. High concentrations of 2-ketoglutarate strongly inhibited valine, isoleucine, and alanine transaminations but were less inhibitory for leucine and aspartate transaminations. Aromatic amino acid transaminations were not inhibited by 2-ketoglutarate. 2-Ketoglutarate may play an important role in the regulation of amino acid biosynthesis in methanococci.
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PMID:Characterization of amino acid aminotransferases of Methanococcus aeolicus. 172 42

Leucine and beta-(+/-)-2-aminobicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2-carboxylic acid (BCH) stimulated, in a dose-dependent manner, reductive amination of 2-oxoglutarate in rat brain synaptosomes treated with Triton X-100. The concentration dependence curves were sigmoid, with 10-15-fold stimulations at 15 mM leucine (or BCH); oxidative deamination of glutamate also was enhanced, albeit less. In intact synaptosomes, leucine and BCH elevated oxygen uptake and increased ammonia formation, consistent with stimulation of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH). Enhancement of oxidative deamination was seen with endogenous as well as exogenous glutamate and with glutamate generated inside synaptosomes from added glutamine. With endogenous glutamate, the stimulation of oxidative deamination was accompanied by a decrease in aspartate formation, which suggests a concomitant reduction in flux through aspartate aminotransferase. Activation of reductive amination of 2-oxoglutarate by BCH or leucine could not be demonstrated even in synaptosomes depleted of internal glutamate. It is suggested that GDH in synaptosomes functions in the direction of glutamate oxidation, and that leucine may act as an endogenous activator of GDH in brain in vivo.
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PMID:Activation of glutamate dehydrogenase by leucine and its nonmetabolizable analogue in rat brain synaptosomes. 196 60

Twenty-four hours after acute administration of cocaine HCl (25 mg/kg, i.p.) to male C57BL/6ByJ mice, there was no hepatotoxicity as measured by plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity. In contrast, daily administration of cocaine (25 mg/kg, i.p.) for 14 days induced marked hepatotoxicity, as characterized by a greater than 400% increase in plasma AST activity when assayed 24 hr after the last injection. Concomitantly, the liver had increased levels of cysteine, gamma-glutamylcysteine, glutathione, cysteinylglycine, glutamate, methionine, taurine, and aspartate. The effect appeared to be selective for compounds of the glutathione metabolic pathways, because repeated cocaine exposure did not affect other amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, serine, and valine. There was a positive correlation between the magnitude of the elevation of cysteine and the extent of liver damage. Daily cocaine administration did not affect striatal or frontal cortex glutathione. A final cocaine challenge (50 mg/kg, i.p.) did not affect either hepatic or cerebral glutathione metabolism. The increase in hepatic cysteine and glutathione upon daily cocaine administration is a potentially important compensatory mechanism against cocaine-induced hepatotoxicity.
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PMID:Differential effects of daily administration of cocaine on hepatic and cerebral glutathione in mice. 224 12

Arg292 of E. coli aspartate aminotransferase was substituted with valine or leucine by site-directed mutagenesis. In comparison with the wild-type enzyme, either of the mutant enzymes showed a decrease by over 5 orders of magnitude of kcat/km values for aspartate and glutamate. This supports the contention that Arg292 is important for determining the specificity of this enzyme for dicarboxylic substrates. In contrast, mutant enzymes displayed a 5- to 10-fold increase in kcat/Km values for aromatic amino acids as substrates. Thus, introduction of an uncharged, hydrophobic side chain into position 292 leads to a striking alteration in substrate specificity of this enzyme, thereby improving catalytic efficiency toward aromatic amino acids.
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PMID:[Arg292----Val] or [Arg292----Leu] mutation enhances the reactivity of Escherichia coli aspartate aminotransferase with aromatic amino acids. 256 74

The early stages of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus are characterized by a selective inability to secrete insulin in response to glucose, coupled to a better response to nonnutrient secretagogues. The deficient glucose response may be a result of the autoimmune process directed toward the beta-cells. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) has been suggested to be one possible mediator of immunological damage of the beta-cells. In the present study we characterized the sensitivity of beta-cells to different secretagogues after human recombinant IL-1 beta (rIL-1 beta) exposure. Furthermore, experiments were performed to clarify the biochemical mechanisms behind the defective insulin response observed in these islets. Rat pancreatic islets were isolated and kept in tissue culture (medium RPMI-1640 plus 10% calf serum) for 5 days. The islets were subsequently exposed to 60 pM human recombinant IL-1 beta during 48 h in the same culture conditions as above and examined immediately after IL-1 exposure. The rIL-1 beta-treated islets showed a marked reduction of glucose-stimulated insulin release. Stimulation with arginine plus different glucose concentrations, and leucine plus glutamine partially counteracted the rIL-1 beta-induced reduction of insulin release. The activities of the glycolytic enzymes hexokinase, glucokinase, and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, were similar in control and IL-1-exposed islets. Treatment with IL-1 also did not impair the activities of NADH+- and NADPH+-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamate-aspartate transaminase, glutamate-alanine transaminase, citrate synthase, and NAD+-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase. The oxidation of D-[6-14C]glucose and L-[U-14C]leucine were decreased by 50% in IL-1-treated islets. Furthermore, there was a significant decrease in the ratios of [2-14C]pyruvate oxidation/[1-14C]pyruvate decarboxylation and L-[U-14C]leucine oxidation/L-[1-14C]leucine decarboxylation, indicating that IL-1 decreases the proportion of generated acetyl-coenzyme-A residues undergoing oxidation. However, in the presence of IL-1 there was a significant increase in L-[U-14C]glutamate oxidation. These combined observations suggest that exposure to IL-1 induces a preferential decrease in glucose-mediated insulin release and mitochondrial glucose metabolism. This mitochondrial dysfunction seems to reflect an impairment in proximal steps of the Krebs cycle. It is conceivable that the IL-1-induced suppression and shift in islet metabolism can be an explanation for the beta-cell insensitivity to glucose observed in the early phases of human and experimental insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
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PMID:Differential sensitivity to beta-cell secretagogues in cultured rat pancreatic islets exposed to human interleukin-1 beta. 266 6

Mutant aspartate aminotransferase V39L (Val39 replaced by Leu) from Escherichia coli has been crystallized into a monoclinic cell from a polyethylene glycol solution (pH 7.5) by vapor diffusion. The space group and the unit cell dimensions have been determined using a precession camera, a CAD4 diffractometer and a Nicolet Xentronics area detector to be P2(1) with a = 86.8 A, b = 79.9 A, c = 89.4 A, beta = 118.74 degrees. The crystals diffract to better than 2.3 A and are suitable for X-ray structure analysis.
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PMID:Crystallization and preliminary X-ray studies of an aspartate aminotransferase mutant from Escherichia coli. 268 22

The precursor protein of pig mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (pre-mAspAT) contains a 29-residue presequence (Joh, T., Nomiyama, H., Maeda, S., Shimada, K., and Morino, Y. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 82, 1-5). Pre-mAspAT produced in an in vitro transcription and translation system was avidly imported into pig and rat liver mitochondria to be processed to the mature form of the enzyme. The pre-mAspAT was also processed to the mature form upon incubation with mitochondrial extracts. We synthesized precursor proteins with alterations within the presequence and compared quantitatively the effects of these mutations on the rates of both import and processing. Single and multiple substitutions of four basic residues with neutral amino acids at positions 5, 8, 18, and 28 showed that each residue contributes differentially to import and processing. Substitutions of His5 and Arg8 with glycines abolished the import activity but did not appreciably affect the rate of processing. Substitution of Arg28 with leucine at the position adjacent to the cleavage site seriously impaired the processing without appreciably affecting the rate of import. Analysis of deletions revealed that the amino-terminal region from position 2 to 8 was essential for both the import and processing. Thus the positive charges in the amino-terminal region are critical for import while the amino-terminal peptide segment and the cleavage site region appear to be requisite for recognition by a processing protease.
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PMID:Import and processing of precursor to mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase. Structure-function relationships of the presequence. 270 79

The amino acid pool sizes of Trichomonas vaginalis are reported. Alanine, glutamic acid, proline and leucine account for 72% of the measured amino acids. Growth of T. vaginalis was unaffected by gostatin, an irreversible inhibitor of aspartate aminotransferase, when the enzyme activity within the cell had been completely inhibited and a specific elevation of the aspartate pool had occurred. In media lacking aspartate and glutamate, the amino acid substrates of the aspartate aminotransferase reaction, gostatin caused a larger increase in the aspartate pool. During incubation of cells with or without gostatin, aspartate and glutamate were produced in the medium, presumably by proteolysis of medium proteins. Hence any requirement for the aspartate aminotransferase reaction might have been bypassed. Glutamate-gamma-hydroxamate and aminooxyacetate inhibited growth of T. vaginalis but caused large changes in the pool-sizes of aspartate, glutamate, pyruvate plus oxaloacetate and 2-oxoglutarate, suggesting a more general interference with amino acid metabolism.
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PMID:Modulation of amino acid and 2-oxo acid pools in Trichomonas vaginalis by aspartate aminotransferase inhibitors. 287 95

We recently described a preferential reduction of the secretory response to nutrient secretagogues (glucose; leucine plus glutamine) in islets maintained in culture after in vitro exposure to streptozotocin (SZ). The present study is an attempt to further clarify the biochemical mechanisms behind this defective insulin response. Mouse pancreatic islets were collagenase isolated and, after 4-5 days in culture, exposed during 30 min at 37 C to 1.8 mM SZ or vehicle alone (controls). The islets were subsequently cultured for 7 days in medium RPMI 1640 plus 10% calf serum, before the enzymatic and metabolic studies were performed. The activities of the glycolytic enzymes, hexokinase, glucokinase, and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, were similar in the control and SZ-exposed islets. The relative amount of cytosolic and mitochondria-bound hexokinase was also unaffected by SZ. However, there was a 30-40% decrease in the activity of NAD+- and NADP+-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase and glutamate-aspartate transaminase in the SZ-treated islets. This coincided with a 40% decrease in L-[U-14C]glutamine oxidation in the SZ-treated islets. The D-glucose catabolism was further examined in the presence of D-[5-3H] and D-[6-14C] glucose. There was no difference between control and SZ islets in terms of glucose utilization at either 1.7 or 16.7 mM glucose. The oxidation of D-[6-14C]glucose was nevertheless decreased by more than 50% in SZ islets incubated at 16.7 mM (but not 1.7 mM) glucose. Altogether, these converging observations suggest a perturbation of distal regulatory processes, apparently at the mitochondrial level, in the D-glucose and L-glutamine catabolism of SZ-exposed islets. Whether this reflects a primary action of SZ on the islet mitochondria, or an inhibitory effect of SZ on the synthesis of mitochondrial enzymes, as a result of nuclear DNA damage, remains to be elucidated.
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PMID:Defective catabolism of D-glucose and L-glutamine in mouse pancreatic islets maintained in culture after streptozotocin exposure. 296 23


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