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Biomedical subjects

A Lucacchini

Publications and source records attributed to A Lucacchini.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Specific inhibition of benzodiazepine receptor binding by some 6H-indolo[2,3-b] [1,8]naphthyridines and 11H-indolo [3,2-c] [1,8]naphthyridines.

The reactivity of some 6H-indolo[2,3-b] [1,8]naphthyridines (II) and 11H-indolo[3,2-c] [1,8]naphthyridines (III) in displacing specific [3H] diazepam binding from bovine brain membranes was examined. All the indolonaphthyridines tested are active and show a higher activity than indole and tryptophan. The inhibition is due to direct interaction with the benzodiazepine binding sites. Some structure-activity relationships are discussed.

Animals↗

Specific adsorbents for affinity chromatography of benzodiazepine binding proteins.

The use of affinity chromatography as means of isolating/purifying proteins which have an affinity for benzodiazepine is described. Three such drugs are employed: chlorazepate, clonazepam and delorazepam. The results presented in this paper indicate that the proposed technique only works for chlorazepate and delorazepam. In fact these benzodiazepine-Sepharose derivatives are able to retain specifically proteins from human serum and rat kidney, lung, skeletal muscle and brain.

Animals↗

Affinity labeling of histidine and lysine residue in the adenosine deaminase substrate binding site.

1. Adenosine deaminase was inactivated by 9-(4-bromoacetamidobenzyl)-adenine (I) and 9-(2-bromoacetamidobenzyl)adenine (II), two affinity labels. 2. The stoichiometry of the reaction with reagent II is reported: 1 mol reagent is bound per mol inactive enzyme. Amino acid analysis of the 6 N HCl hydrolyzate of the inactive enzyme identified CM-histidine as the main alkylation product. This is the first evidence of the presence of a histidine in the active site region. 3. The alkylation rate and involved amino acid residues were studied for both reagents I and II, at pH 8 and 5.5. The particular reactivity of a lysine near or in the active site is discussed.

Adenine↗

A general method of purification of adenosine deaminase by affinity chromatography.

Affinity chromatography has been used to purify adenosine deaminase from various sources: calf spleen, calf intestinal mucosa, chicken duodena and human erythrocytes. For this purpose a specific inhibitor, 9-(p-aminobenzyl) adenine, was synthesized and covalently joined to agarose. Adenosine deaminase is selectively retained by such an inhibitor-resin when highly impure solutions are chromatographed through it. After elution from the resin with guanylurea, a competitive inhibitor, the enzyme is homogeneous and can be recovered in yields of 80 percent or more and the same number of multiple forms of the enzyme is present in the purified preparation and in the crude extract.

Adenine↗

Digestion of insulin derivatives with subtilisin: a kinetic study.

Native, denatured, performic acid-oxidized or S-sulfo insulin and S-sulfo or performic acid-oxidized A- and B-chains were digested with subtilisin type Carsberg. The proteolysis was followed by measuring the uptake of alkali through autotitration. The kinetic study shows the existence of 2 first-order reaction classes which differ markedly in rate constant. The number of bonds split with fast and with slow reactions has been calculated. Only one of a total of 12 cleavable bonds in native insulin is opened by fast reaction. In the denatured protein the number of bonds split by the fast reaction increases to 4 and in the oxidized and S-sulfo protein 3 bonds are cleaved, while the slow cleavable bonds number 2 and 7, respectively, The kinetic study of the proteolysis of S-sulfo A-chain and of oxidized or S-sulfo B-chain shows that two bonds are split in A-chain with the fast and slow reactions, while in B-chain only one of the six cleavable bonds is susceptible to fast attack.

Hydrogen Bonding↗

Toward the rational development of peptidomimetic analogs of the C-terminal endothelin hexapeptide: development of a theoretical model.

In an early report on the structure-activity relationship of endothelin (ET) peptides, it was reported that the C-terminal hexapeptide ET(16-21), His-Leu-Asp-Ile-Ile-Trp, is the minimum ET fragment which maintains biological activity in some, but not all the tissues responding to ETs. Subsequently, other authors described a series of analogs of this peptide, in which the His 16 residue was replaced by non-natural amino acids, characterized by bulky aromatic side chains. Among them, two well-characterized non-selective ETA/ETB antagonists were PD 142893 and PD 145065; interest in these potent ET antagonists was, however, reduced by their peptidic structure which was likely to lead to undesirable properties such as poor bioavailability and short duration of action. On the basis of these premises, our previous studies led to the development of a peptidomimetic ligand of ET receptors (compound 3), based on the replacement of the His 16 residue of ET(16-21) with an (E)-N-(benzyloxy)iminoacyl moiety; compound 3 proved to possess a certain affinity for ET receptors, albeit lower than that shown by PD 142893 and PD 145065. We report here on ETA/ETB binding affinity of compounds 4-12, designed as a new series of ET(16-21) analogs. Compounds 4 and 5 were practically devoid of any affinity; derivatives 6-12 exhibited appreciable affinity indices for ETB receptors higher than that shown by 3, even if still lower than that obtained for PD 145065. This paper also describes the development of a pharmacophoric model able to explain the ET receptor binding properties of our hexapeptide analogs compared with those of PD 142893 and PD 145065 and IRL2500, recently reported as a potent ETB selective endothelin antagonist.

Amino Acid Sequence↗