Biochimica et biophysica acta
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Aug 2007
ReviewThe role of mitochondria in protection of the heart by preconditioning.
A prolonged period of ischaemia followed by reperfusion irreversibly damages the heart. Such reperfusion injury (RI) involves opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) under the conditions of calcium overload and oxidative stress that accompany reperfusion. Protection from MPTP opening and hence RI can be mediated by ischaemic preconditioning (IP) where the prolonged ischaemic period is preceded by one or more brief (2-5 min) cycles of ischaemia and reperfusion. ⋯ Some K(+) channel openers uncouple mitochondria and others inhibit respiratory chain complexes, and their ability to produce ROS and precondition hearts is mimicked by bona fide uncouplers and respiratory chain inhibitors. IP may also provide continuing protection during reperfusion by preventing a cascade of MPTP-induced ROS production followed by further MPTP opening. This phase of protection may involve survival kinase pathways such as Akt and glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) either increasing ROS removal or reducing mitochondrial ROS production.
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Patients with inflammatory or neuropathic pain experience hypersensitivity to mechanical, thermal and/or chemical stimuli. Given the diverse etiologies and molecular mechanisms of these pain syndromes, an approach to developing successful therapies may be to target ion channels that contribute to the detection of thermal, mechanical and chemical stimuli and promote the sensitization and activation of nociceptors. ⋯ Six TRPs (TRPV1, TRPV2, TRPV3, TRPV4, TRPM8 and TRPA1) have been shown to be expressed in primary afferent nociceptors, pain sensing neurons, where they act as transducers for thermal, chemical and mechanical stimuli. This short review focuses on their contribution to pain hypersensitivity associated with peripheral inflammatory and neuropathic pain states.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Jul 2007
Case ReportsMolecular characterization of the first missense mutation in the fibrinogen Aalpha-chain gene identified in a compound heterozygous afibrinogenemic patient.
Congenital afibrinogenemia is a rare coagulopathy characterized by extremely low levels of functional and immunoreactive fibrinogen in plasma, associated with a hemorrhagic phenotype of variable severity. It is transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait and is invariantly associated with mutations affecting 1 of the 3 fibrinogen genes (FGA, FGB, and FGG, coding for Aalpha, Bbeta, and gamma chain, respectively). Most genetic defects causing afibrinogenemia are truncating mutations, whereas only few missense mutations (6) have been identified so far, all located in FGB. ⋯ Met51Arg involves a residue located at the very beginning of the coiled-coil domain, in a region demonstrated to play a pivotal role in hexamer formation. In-vitro expression experiments showed that Met51Arg strongly reduces secretion of hexameric fibrinogen, whereas traces of not completely assembled trimeric intermediate were found in conditioned media. Western blot analysis on the proband's plasma confirmed the presence in vivo of the trimeric fibrinogen, supporting the hypothesis that Met51Arg prevents the final step of fibrinogen assembly.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Jul 2007
Suppression of mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor protein (IF1) in the liver of late septic rats.
Sepsis and ensuing multiple organ failure continue to be the most leading cause of death in critically ill patients. Despite hepatocyte-related dysfunctions such as necrosis, apoptosis as well as mitochondrial damage are observed in the process of sepsis, the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis remains uncertain. We recently identified one of the differentially expressed genes, mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor protein (IF1) which is down-regulated in late septic liver. ⋯ In addition, the key finding of this study showed that the mRNA and the mitochondrial content of IF1 were decreased in late sepsis while no detectable IF1 was found in cytoplasm. When analyzed by immunoprecipitation, it seems reasonable to imply that the association capability of IF1 with F1-ATPase beta-subunit is not affected. These results confirm the first evidence showing that the suppression of IF1 expression and subsequent elevated mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase activity might contribute to the bioenergetic failure in the liver during late sepsis.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · May 2007
Predominant expression of lysosomal N-acylethanolamine-hydrolyzing acid amidase in macrophages revealed by immunochemical studies.
Bioactive N-acylethanolamines, including anandamide (an endocannabinoid), N-palmitoylethanolamine (an anti-inflammatory substance), and N-oleoylethanolamine (an anorexic substance) are enzymatically hydrolyzed to fatty acids and ethanolamine. Fatty acid amide hydrolase plays a major role in this reaction. In addition, we cloned cDNA of an isozyme termed "N-acylethanolamine-hydrolyzing acid amidase (NAAA)" [K. ⋯ Conformably, the mRNA and protein levels and activity of NAAA in alveolar macrophages were much higher than those in the whole lung tissue. In brain, intraventricular macrophages were positively stained with anti-NAAA antibody, while microglia appeared to be negative. These results strongly suggested the importance of macrophages as an expression site of NAAA in rat tissues.