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Biomedical subjects

E Mertens

Publications and source records attributed to E Mertens.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Purification and partial characterization of malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating) from Tritrichomonas foetus hydrogenosomes.

Malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating) from Tritrichomonas foetus hydrogenosomes was purified close to homogeneity by a combination of differential centrifugation, zwitterionic detergent solubilization, Red-Sepharose chromatography and anion-exchange chromatography. The enzyme with apparent subunit size of 59 kDa and native molecular mass of 308 kDa utilized NAD+ preferentially to NADP+ as a cofactor and required Mn2+ or Mg2+ for its activity. Affinity curves for malate and coenzymes were hyperbolic. Km for malate was 100 microM and 458 microM in the presence of NAD+ and NADP+, respectively. Km for NAD+ and for NADP+ in the presence of malate was 18 microM and 207 microM, respectively. The enzyme is proposed to be a tetramer with a possible physiological role in the maintenance of an appropriate NAD+/NADH ratio in hydrogenosomes.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

[Occupationally-induced liver damage--vinyl chloride-induced angiosarcoma].

A 45-year-old chemical worker (exposure to vinyl chloride: 500-1612 mg VC/m3 over 248 months) fell ill with a haemangiosarcoma of the liver. This is the first case observed in workers exposed to VC in East Germany. We did not succeed in making the definite histological diagnosis until after the patient's death. The first pathological findings were revealed through the increase in the gamma glutamyl transpeptidase, through sonography and computer tomography of the liver. Numerous tumor biopsies produced either no material or healthy liver tissue, which led to difficulties in therapy. The only chance of effective treatment is an early liver transplantation.

Chemical Industry↗
PubMed1992

Pyruvate kinase from Trichomonas vaginalis, an allosteric enzyme stimulated by ribose 5-phosphate and glycerate 3-phosphate.

Trichomonas vaginalis pyruvate kinase was purified over 1750 fold to a specific activity greater than 100 mumol min-1 (mg protein)-1. The enzyme is a tetramer of M(r) 266,000, consisting of subunits of M(r) 53,000 and 56,000 in equivalent amounts. Its activity was dependent on the presence of magnesium but was not stimulated by potassium or ammonium. The enzyme exhibited positive cooperativity towards phosphoenolpyruvate and was inhibited by inorganic phosphate, which increased the sigmoidicity of the saturation curve for phosphoenolpyruvate without affecting maximal activity. It was heterotropically stimulated by ribose 5-phosphate and glycerate 3-phosphate, not previously known to act on eukaryotic pyruvate kinases, but was unaffected by known effectors of most pyruvate kinases, including fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and fructose 2,6-bisphosphate.

Allosteric Regulation↗
PubMed1991

Pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase, an anaerobic glycolytic enzyme?

Recent evidence indicates that in as diverse organisms as unicellular eukaryotes, higher plants and prokaryotes, anaerobic glycolysis relies on a pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase instead of the classical ATP-dependent enzyme. This difference in phosphoryl donor specificity does not necessarily reflect a primitive metabolism, as thought earlier, but could rather be the result of convergent evolution, fostered by the energetic advantage conferred to the cell when glycolysis is the sole source of ATP.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1990

Induction of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase by anoxia in rice seedlings.

Rice (Oryza sativa) seeds were imbibed for 3 days and the seedlings were further incubated for 8 days in the presence of either air or nitrogen. In aerobiosis, the specific activity of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase and that of the ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase increased about fourfold. In anaerobiosis, the specific activity of ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase remained stable, whereas that of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase increased as much as in the presence of oxygen and there was also a fourfold increase in the concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, a potent stimulator of that enzyme. These data suggest a preferential involvement of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase rather than of ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase in glycolysis during anaerobiosis.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1989

Presence of a fructose-2,6-bisphosphate-insensitive pyrophosphate: fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase in the anaerobic protozoa Tritrichomonas foetus, Trichomonas vaginalis and Isotricha prostoma.

Extracts of the anaerobic protozoa Tritrichomonas foetus, Trichomonas vaginalis and Isotricha prostoma contained a high activity (0.5-1 mumol min-1 (mg protein)-1) of pyrophosphate:fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase (PPi-PFK), but no detectable ATP: fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase. PPi-PFK from I. prostoma was purified close to homogeneity by adsorption on phospho-Ultrogel and elution with fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, and subsequent anion-exchange chromatography. The enzyme had an Mr of 95,000 as determined by gel filtration and consisted of subunits of Mr 48,000. PPi-PFK from I. prostoma and from T. foetus displayed hyperbolic kinetics with respect to their substrates and were not affected by fructose-2,6-bisphosphate. In sharp contrast with what has been found in other eukaryotes, no evidence could be found for the presence of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate in the two trichomonads, in I. prostoma and in Entamoeba histolytica.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate hydrolyzing enzymes in higher plants.

The phosphatases that hydrolyze fructose 2,6-bisphosphate in a crude spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaf extract were separated by chromatography on blue Sepharose, into three fractions, referred to as phosphatases I, II, and III, which were further purified by various means. Phosphatase I hydrolyzed fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, with a K(m) value of 30 micromolar, to a mixture of fructose 2-phosphate (90%) and fructose 6-phosphate (10%). It acted on a wide range of substrates and had a maximal activity at acidic pH. Phosphatase II specifically recognized the osyl-link of phosphoric derivatives and had more affinity for the beta-anomeric form. Its apparent K(m) for fructose 2,6-bisphosphate was 30 micromolar. It most likely corresponded to the fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase described by F. D. Macdonald, Q. Chou, and B. B. Buchanan ([1987] Plant Physiol 85: 13-16). Phosphatase III copurified with phosphofructokinase 2 and corresponded to the specific, low-K(m) (24 nanomolar) fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase purified and characterized by Y. Larondelle, E. Mertens, E. Van Schaftingen, and H. G. Hers ([1986] Eur J Biochem 161: 351-357). Three similar types of phosphatases were present in a crude extract of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tuber. The concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate decreased at a maximal rate of 30 picomoles per minute and per gram of fresh tissue in slices of Jerusalem artichoke tuber, upon incubation in 50 millimolar mannose. This rate could be accounted for by the maximal extractable activity of the low-K(m) fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase. A new enzymic method for the synthesis of beta-glucose 1,6-bisphosphate from beta-glucose 1-phosphate and ATP is described.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1989

[Ultrasound tomography following surgery of tumors of the cerebellopontile angle].

After operations of the posterior fossa, ultrasonic tomography is a suitable noninvasive imaging procedure. After osteoclastic trepanation 45 patients were investigated with ultrasonic tomography. Below it were 18 patients with tumours of the cerebellopontine angle. A sector probe with a frequency of 3,5 MHz was used for the sonographical procedure. Ultrasonographical cross-sectional images were produced from occipital-retroauriculare or suboccipital. Solid processes have a definable echodense structure. Cystic processes and substantial defects of the brain are echopoor or echofree. Ultrasonic tomography allows an aimed application of CT controls.

Cerebellar Neoplasms↗
PubMed1987

Effect of ethylene treatment on the concentration of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate and on the activity of phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase in banana.

Preclimacteric bananas fruits were treated for 12 h with ethylene to induce the climacteric rise in respiration. One day after the end of the hormonal treatment, the two activities of the bifunctional enzyme, phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase started to increase to reach fourfold their initial value 6 days later. By contrast, the activities of the pyrophosphate-dependent and of the ATP-dependent 6-phosphofructo-1-kinases remained constant during the whole experimental period, the first one being fourfold greater than the second. The concentrations of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate and of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate increased in parallel during 4 days and then slowly decreased, the second one being always about 100-fold greater than the first. The change in fructose 2,6-bisphosphate concentration can be partly explained by the rise of the bifunctional enzyme, but also by an early increase in the concentration of fructose 6-phosphate, the substrate of all phosphofructokinases, and also by the decrease in the concentration of glycerate 3-phosphate, a potent inhibitor of phosphofructokinase 2. The burst in fructose 2,6-bisphosphate and the activity of the pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase, which is in banana the only enzyme known to be sensitive to fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, can explain the well-known increase in fructose 1,6-bisphosphate which occurs during ripening.

Ethylenes↗
PubMed1986

Purification and properties of spinach leaf phosphofructokinase 2/fructose 2,6-bisphosphatase.

Phosphofructokinase 2 was purified from spinach leaves by fractionation with poly(ethylene glycol) and by chromatography on blue Sepharose, anion exchanger Mono-Q and blue Trisacryl. A low-Km fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase copurified with phosphofructokinase 2 and its constitutive subunits could be easily identified by sodium dodecyl sulphate gel electrophoresis thanks to the formation of a [32P]phosphoenzyme intermediate upon short-time incubation in the presence of 1 microM fructose 2,6-[2-32P]bisphosphate. On anion-exchange chromatography, two peaks of phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase were resolved. The first one, called L (light), represented about 10% of the phosphofructokinase 2 activity and was characterized by a phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase activity ratio close to 1, by an Mr of 132,000 as measured by gel filtration, and by a series of subunits of Mr comprised between 44,000 and 70,000. The second and major peak of phosphofructokinase 2, called H (heavy), had a phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase ratio close to 8, an Mr of 390,000 and was made of 90,000-Mr subunits. The H form of phosphofructokinase 2 had a lower Km for fructose 6-phosphate than the L form and a higher Ki for a series of physiological inhibitors. By contrast, the kinetics of fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase was the same for the two forms of the enzyme. Upon incubation in the presence of papain or of a crude spinach leaf extract, the purified H form gave rise to products made of subunits of Mr comprised between 70,000 and 44,000 but also of lower values which maintained their fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase activity. The H and L forms of phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase were also detected in crude homogenates of castor bean endosperm and of Jerusalem artichoke tubers.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

[Thyrostatic therapy in patients with liver cirrhosis].

The thyreostatic therapy of a hyperthyroidism in coincident chronic hepatopathy is problematic. On the one hand, this therapy may be an additional load, particularly by the development of a cholestasis for the ill liver. On the other hand, due to the hyperthyroidism disturbance of the liver function and liver diseases up to cholestatic hepatitis may develop. At the instance of two patients with liver cirrhosis, whose simultaneous hyperthyroidism was treated thyreostatically, the therapeutic problems are represented. On the basis of the treatment of a not small number of patients with this constellation of findings we recommend the use of Thiamazol as therapy of choice in the at present, usual lower initial dosage. If functional disturbances of the liver and other side effects appear under this therapy, the radio-iodine therapy offers itself as alternative.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

[Preoperative detection of a bleeding Meckel's diverticulum by 99mTc-pertechnetate scinitigraphy (author's transl)].

A Meckel's diverticulum containing gastric mucosa was causing recurrent intestinal bleeding in a 5-year old boy. 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy was used to demonstrate the heterotopic gastric mucosa preoperatively. Compared to intestinal radiography and angiography, 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy is a mild and uncomplicated investigation without any risk and with a minimum of radiation exposure. Evaluating its results critically this procedure can be of great help in the preoperative diagnosis of intestinal bleedings of unknown origin.

Age Factors↗