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

1. We compared the effects of calpain inhibitor I (inhibitor of the proteolysis of I kappa B and, hence, of the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF kappa B) and dexamethasone on (i) the circulatory failure, (ii) multiple organ dysfunction and (iii) induction of the inducible isoforms of nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) and cyclo-oxygenase (COX-2) in anaesthetized rats with endotoxic shock. 2. Injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, E. coli, 10 mg kg-1, i.v.) resulted in hypotension and a reduction of the pressor responses elicited by noradrenaline. This circulatory dysfunction was attenuated by pretreatment of LPS-rats with calpain inhibitor I (10 mg kg-1, i.v., 2 h before LPS) or dexamethasone (1 mg kg-1, i.v.). 3. Endotoxaemia also caused rises in the serum levels of (i) urea and creatinine (renal dysfunction), (ii) alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (hepatocellular injury), bilirubin and gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma GT) (liver dysfunction), (iii) lipase (pancreatic injury) and (iv) lactate. Calpain inhibitor I and dexamethasone attenuated the liver injury, the pancreatic injury, the lactic acidosis as well as the hypoglycaemia caused by LPS. Dexamethasone, but not calpain inhibitor I, reduced the renal dysfunction caused by LPS. 4. Endotoxaemia for 6 h resulted in a substantial increase in iNOS and COX-2 protein and activity in lung and liver, which was attenuated in LPS-rats pretreated with calpain inhibitor I or dexamethasone. 5. Thus, calpain inhibitor I and dexamethasone attenuate (i) the circulatory failure, (ii) the multiple organ dysfunction (liver and pancreatic dysfunction/injury, lactic acidosis, hypoglycaemia), as well as (iii) the induction of iNOS and COX-2 protein and activity in rats with endotoxic shock. We propose that prevention of the activation of NF-kappa B in vivo may be useful in the therapy of circulatory shock or of disorders associated with local or systemic inflammation.
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PMID:Effect of calpain inhibitor I, an inhibitor of the proteolysis of I kappa B, on the circulatory failure and multiple organ dysfunction caused by endotoxin in the rat. 920 36

Proteases as well as alterations in intracellular calcium have important roles in hepatic preservation-reperfusion injury, and increased calpain activity recently has been demonstrated in liver allografts. Experiments were designed to evaluate (i) hepatic cytosolic calpain activity during different periods of cold ischemia (CI), rewarming, or reperfusion, and (ii) effects of inhibition of calpain on liver graft function using the isolated perfused rat liver and arterialized orthotopic liver transplantation models. Calpain activity was assayed using the fluorogenic substrate Suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-7-amino-4-methyl coumarin (AMC) and expressed as mean +/- SD pmol AMC released/min per mg of cytosolic protein. Calpain activity rose significantly after 24 hr of CI in University of Wisconsin solution and further increased with longer preservation. Activity also increased within 30 min of rewarming, peaking at 120 min. Increased durations of CI preceding rewarming resulted in significantly higher activity (P < 0.01). Calpain activity increased rapidly upon reperfusion and was significantly enhanced by previous CI (P < 0.01). Calpain inhibition with Cbz-Val-Phe methyl ester significantly decreased aspartate aminotransferase released in the isolated perfused rat liver perfusate (P < 0.05). Duration of survival after orthotopic liver transplantation using livers cold-preserved for 40 hr was also significantly increased (P < 0.05) with calpain inhibitor. In conclusion, calpain proteases are activated during each phase of transplantation and are likely to play an important role in the mechanisms of preservation-reperfusion injury.
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PMID:Calpain is a mediator of preservation-reperfusion injury in rat liver transplantation. 925 86

Glutamate is believed to be an excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter in the retina. Enzymes for glutamate metabolism, such as glutamate dehydrogenase, ornithine aminotransferase, glutaminase, and aspartate aminotransferase (AAT), exist mainly in the mitochondria. The abnormal increase of intracellular calcium ions in ischemic retinal cells may cause an influx of calcium ions into the mitochondria, subsequently affecting various mitochondrial enzyme activities through the activity of mitochondrial calpain. As AAT has the highest level of activity among enzymes involved in glutamate metabolism, we investigated the change of AAT activity in ischemic and hypoxic rat retinas and the protection against such activity by calpain inhibitors. We used normal RCS (rdy+/rdy+) rats. For the in vivo studies, we clamped the optic nerve of anesthetized rats to induce ischemia. In the in vitro studies, the eye cups were incubated with Locke's solution saturated with 95% N2/5% CO2. The activity of cytosolic AAT (cAAT) was about 20% of total activity, whereas mitochondrial AAT (mAAT) was about 75% in rat retina. Ninety minutes of ischemia or hypoxia caused a 20% decrease in mAAT activity, whereas cAAT activity remained unchanged. To examine the contribution of intracellular calcium ions to the degradation of mAAT, we used Ca2+-free Locke's solution containing 1 mM EGTA, ryanodine (Ca2+ channel blocker), and thapsigargin (Ca2+-ATPase inhibitor). In the present study, thapsigargin in Ca2+-free Locke's solution, but not ryanodine in this solution, was found to prevent AAT degradation. AAT degradation was also prevented by calpain inhibitors (Ca2+-dependent protease inhibitor) such as calpeptin at 1 nM, 10 nM, 0.1 microM, 1 microM and 10 microM, and by calpain inhibitor peptide, but not by other protease inhibitors (10 microM leupeptin, pepstatin, chymostatin). Additionally, we determined the subcellular localization of calpain activity and examined the change of calpain activity in ischemic rat retinas. Our results suggest that decreased activity of mAAT in ischemic and hypoxic rat retinas might be evoked by the degradation by calpain-catalyzed proteolysis in mitochondria.
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PMID:Possible mechanism for the decrease of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase activity in ischemic and hypoxic rat retinas. 1039 49

Both mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (mAST) and cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase (cAST) are important components in the malate-aspartate shuttle - one of the two types of NADH shuttles in cells. A major goal of our current study was to determine specifically the roles of cAST in maintaining the [Ca]i, mitochondrial membrane potential and the survival of BV2 microglia by applying molecular approach to modulate the cAST levels. Our study found that decreased cAST by cAST siRNA can lead to significant increases in the [Ca]i, mitochondrial depolarization and apoptosis of BV2 microglia. The cAST siRNA-induced mitochondrial depolarization can be significantly attenuated by an inhibitor of calpain. We further found that the cAST siRNA-induced apoptosis can be prevented by the calpain inhibitor. Collectively, our study suggests that decreased cAST induces calpain activation by increasing the [Ca]i of BV2 microglia, resulting in mitochondrial depolarization and cell death. Moreover, our data suggest that decreased cAST may produce these pathological effects by malate-aspartate shuttle-independent pathways.
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PMID:Cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase mediates the mitochondrial membrane potential and cell survival by maintaining the calcium homeostasis of BV2 microglia. 2921 67