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Biomedical subjects

S Miwa

Publications and source records attributed to S Miwa.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

Presynaptic and postsynaptic alpha 2-adrenergic receptors in human cerebral arteries and their alteration after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

The nature of alpha-adrenergic receptors in human cerebral arteries was characterized, and alteration of these receptors after subarachnoid hemorrhage was examined using a radioligand binding assay. Norepinephrine content of control arteries was also analyzed and compared with that of arteries after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Norepinephrine content in human cerebral arteries in cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage was about 5% of the control group. Specific binding of [3H]yohimbine, a selective alpha 2-antagonist, to cerebral arteries of the control group indicated two classes of binding sites: high-affinity sites with KD of 0.5 nM and Bmax of 18 fmol/mg protein and low-affinity sites with KD of 29 nM and Bmax of 248 fmol/mg protein. In cerebral arteries obtained from the subarachnoid hemorrhage group, [3H]yohimbine binding sites were of a single class with KD of 53 nM and Bmax of 456 fmol/mg protein. These results suggest that sympathetic denervation and subsequent alterations in alpha 2-adrenergic receptors occurred after subarachnoid hemorrhage in human cerebral arteries. These changes in sympathetic innervation to cerebral arteries were considered to be one of the antecedents of delayed vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Adult↗

Molecular analysis of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome found in Japan.

Molecular analysis of four unrelated patients with Lesch-Nyhan (L-N) syndrome was performed. All four cases had typical clinical features of L-N syndrome, and the activities of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) were absent. No structural gene abnormalities were found by Southern blot analysis in all cases, and a decrease of HPRT mRNA was not detected by dot blot analysis in two of the four cases. However, HPRT enzyme proteins were detected by Western blot analysis in all cases. Our results showed that the production of immunologically reactive but enzymatically inactive mutant HPRT protein was pathogenic for all four patients.

Adult↗

Hyperunstable hemoglobin Koriyama anti-Hb Gun Hill insertion of five residues in the beta chain.

A new hyperunstable hemoglobin was found in a Japanese girl who had very severe, chronic hemolytic anemia. Her parents and siblings were hematologically normal. The abnormal hemoglobin comprised a very small proportion of the total hemoglobin, although it was produced almost at the same rate as normal hemoglobin. Sequencing of an abnormal peptide which was liberated from the beta chain by hydrolysis with a protease from Staphylococcus aureus V8 disclosed the tandem insertion of a five-residue segment which included the proximal histidine at beta 92(F8).

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The use of enzymopathic human red cells in the study of malarial parasite glucose metabolism.

The in vitro growth of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites was assayed in mutant red cells deficient in either diphosphoglycerate mutase (DPGM) or phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK). In addition, cDNA probes developed for human DNA sequences coding for these enzymes were used to examine the parasite genome by means of restriction endonuclease digestion and Southern blot analysis of parasite DNA. In both types of enzymopathic red cells, parasite growth was normal. In infected DPGM deficient red cells, no DPGM activity could be detected, and in normal red cells, DPGM activity declined slightly in a manner suggestive of parasite catabolism of host protein. However, in infected PGK deficient red cells, there was a 100-fold increase in PGK activity, and in normal red cells, a threefold increase in PGK activity was observed. Parasite PGK could be recovered from isolated parasites, and a marked increase in heat instability of parasite PGK as compared with the host cell enzyme was noted. Neither cDNA probe was found to cross-react with DNA sequences in the parasite genome. It is concluded that the parasite has no requirement for DPGM, and probably has no gene for this enzyme. On the other hand, the parasite does require PGK, (an adenosine triphosphate [ATP] generating enzyme) and synthesizes its own enzyme, which must have been encoded in the parasite genome. The parasite PGK gene most likely lacks sufficient homology to be detected by a human cDNA probe. Enzymopathic red cells are useful tools for elucidating the glycolytic enzymology of parasites and their co-evolution with their human hosts.

Animals↗

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) overproduction associated with congenital hemolytic anemia: case report and molecular analysis.

We report the fourth case of adenosine deaminase (ADA) overproduction associated with hereditary nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia and the molecular analysis of this anomaly. The proband was a 10-year-old Japanese boy, who had an episode of erythroblastosis fetalis during the perinatal period. The red cell ADA activity showed a 110-fold increase and the red cell ATP level was about 64% of the comparably reticulocyte-rich controls, but the lymphocyte ADA activity was within the normal range. Western blotting of partially purified ADA from red cells revealed an increased amount of enzyme in the patient's red cells. No gene amplification or gene rearrangement was found by Southern blot analysis, and no increase of ADA mRNA in reticulocyte RNA was detected by dot blot analysis using ADA cDNA. We constructed a genomic DNA library and obtained three clones containing the 5'-promoter region of ADA gene. The 2.2 kb ADA promoter DNA fragment of these clones was fused to the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene, and transfected to human erythroid cell line K562, and assayed for CAT activity. One of the clones, pADOP 2 cat, expressed about 2.6 times higher CAT activity than the normal ADA promoter fused to CAT gene in K562, but such enhancement was not seen in human non-erythroid cell lines; HL 60 and Raji. From these results, it is most likely, though not conclusive, that the 5' promotor fragment of the ADA gene of the patient was responsible for the cell-specific enhancement of protein synthesis.

Adenosine Deaminase↗

[Aldolase deficiency].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Anemia, Hemolytic, Congenital Nonspherocytic↗

Rapid formation of secondary structure framework in protein folding studied by stopped-flow circular dichroism.

Kinetic refolding reactions of ferricytochrome c and beta-lactoglobulin have been studied by stopped-flow circular dichroism by monitoring rapid ellipticity changes of peptide backbone and side-chain chromophores. In both proteins, a transient intermediate accumulates within the dead time of stopped-flow mixing (18 ms), and the intermediate has an appreciable amount of secondary structure but possesses an unfolded tertiary structure. It is suggested that the rapid formation of a secondary structure framework in protein folding is a common property observed in a variety of globular proteins.

Circular Dichroism↗

Human liver type pyruvate kinase: cDNA cloning and chromosomal assignment.

Pyruvate kinase (PK) has four isozymes (L,R,M1,M2) that are encoded mainly by two different genes. We isolated a cDNA clone from a Japanese adult liver lambda gt10 cDNA library by using a rat liver(L)-type PK cDNA probe. One positively hybridizing clone, hlPK-1, which contained a 1,049-base pair cDNA insert, was subjected to DNA sequence analysis. Comparisons of the sequence data with the rat PK cDNAs indicated that the cDNA encoded information for the carboxyl terminal 105 amino acids of a human L-type PK and a 3' untranslated region of 734 nucleotides. Furthermore, the karyotype analysis of several human-mouse hybrid cells and Southern blot analysis of DNAs of the hybrids with a hlPK-1 indicated that the human L-type PK gene is located on chromosome 1.

Base Sequence↗

Erythrocyte-oxidized glutathione transport in pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase deficiency.

The oxidized form of glutathione transport was studied in human erythrocytes in pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase (P5N) deficiency, a disorder in which the amounts of CTP and UTP in the erythrocytes are elevated. The inhibition of ATP-requiring oxidized glutathione (GSSG) transport by CTP and UTP is believed to play a role in elevating the levels of the reduced form of glutathione (GSH) in the erythrocytes of patients with P5N deficiency. The current investigation was undertaken to determine if GSSG transport actually decreases in the erythrocytes of such patients. Erythrocytes from a 17-year-old patient and a 13-year-old patient with P5N deficiency hemolytic anemia and from ten normal subjects were used as materials for the experiment. Erythrocytes, which had been previously incubated with [3H]glycine, were incubated at 37 degrees C, and the rate of [3H]GSSG transported by the cells was estimated. The velocity of GSSG transport out of the erythrocytes was quite low in the patients, 3.17-3.65 nmol GSSG/ml erythrocytes/hr at 37 degrees C in one case, and 3.30 nmol GSSG/ml erythrocytes/hr in the other case, vs that in the normal controls (6.00 +/- 0.80 nmol GSSG/ml erythrocytes/hr; mean +/- SD). The activity of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione synthetase did not decrease in the patients. Decreased transport activity of GSSG in addition to a normal synthesis rate for GSH may explain the increased concentration of erythrocyte GSH in P5N deficiency.

5'-Nucleotidase↗

Biogenic amines in the Arthus reaction.

The concentrations of serotonin, tryptamine, dopamine, and tyramine were quantitatively determined in the Arthus reaction, since the activity of histamine-N-methyltransferase (HMT), a major histamine-metabolizing enzyme that had been demonstrated to be inhibited by such biogenic amines in vitro, decreased significantly in the reaction site. The concentrations of serotonin, tryptamine, and dopamine were unchanged in dinitrochlorobenzene allergic and croton oil dermatitis except for a slight increase of tryptamine in the latter. Tyramine was unable to be demonstrated quantitatively in all specimens tested. The concentration of serotonin decreased to about 30% that of the control level until 1 hr, followed by a prominent increase to about two-fold at 6 hr after the initiation of the Arthus reaction accompanying with a concomitant decrease in HMT activity. However, the concentrations of tryptamine and dopamine were rather decreased in the reaction site, and the net decrease of two amines was far greater than the increased amount of serotonin. The decrease in HMT activity is not stoichiometrically well elucidated from these results, and therefore, the presence of other hypothetic inhibitory factors that are increased in the Arthus reaction should be suspected.

Animals↗

Effects of various doses of thyroxine and triiodothyronine on the metamorphosis of flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus).

Two experiments were carried out to clarify the effects of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) on flounder metamorphosis. In the first experiment, three doses of T4 were administered to premetamorphic flounder larvae together with thiourea (TU). Thiourea treatment (30 ppm in ambient seawater) alone caused metamorphic stasis in the fish, although the beginning of the right eye migration was not completely inhibited. T4 at 100 and 10 ppb in ambient seawater induced metamorphosis in the thiourea-treated larvae. The fish of these groups completed translocation of the right eye to the left side and resorption of elongated dorsal fin rays. However, 1 ppb T4 failed to induce metamorphic climax. The elongated dorsal fin rays continued to grow until the end of the experiment in the group treated with TU alone and in combination with 1 ppb T4. In the second experiment, premetamorphic flounder larvae were treated with two doses of T4 and three doses of T3. The T3 treatment was several times more potent than T4 treatment in the induction of metamorphosis. The results of the present study suggest that the metamorphic events of flounder larvae are dependent on the thyroid hormone concentration, and the relative biological potency of T4 and T3 on flounder metamorphosis is similar to that observed in mammals and amphibia.

Animals↗

A single nucleotide base transition is the basis of the common human glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase variant A (+).

The X-chromosome-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) A(+) is a common variant found in about 20% of blacks. The amino acid substitution of Asp in the variant G6PD A(+) for Asn in the normal G6PD B(+) was previously found (A. Yoshida, 1967, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 57: 835), but the exact substitution position has not been identified. By screening a DNA library prepared from genomic DNA of a G6PD A(+) male subject, we obtained a genomic clone that contained the mutation site. Characterization of the clone revealed that AT----GC transition occurred in the variant A(+) gene, thus producing the amino acid substitution Asn----Asp at the 142nd position from the NH2 terminus of the enzyme. The nucleotide change created an additional FokI cleavage site in the variant A(+) gene; thus, the FokI fragment type of the variant subjects differed from that of normal B(+) subjects in Southern blot hybridization analysis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Human aldolase A deficiency associated with a hemolytic anemia: thermolabile aldolase due to a single base mutation.

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase A (fructose-bisphosphate aldolase; EC 4.1.2.13) deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder associated with hereditary hemolytic anemia. To clarify the molecular mechanism of the deficiency at the nucleotide level, we have cloned aldolase A cDNA from a patient's poly(A)+ RNA that was expressed in cultured lymphoblastoid cells. Nucleotide analysis of the patient's aldolase A cDNA showed a substitution of a single nucleotide (adenine to guanine) at position 386 in a coding region. As a result, the 128th amino acid, aspartic acid, was replaced with glycine (GAT to GGT). Furthermore, change of the second letter of the aspartic acid codon extinguished a F ok I restriction site (GGATG to GGGTG). Southern blot analysis of the genomic DNA showed the patient carried a homozygous mutation inherited from his parents. When compared with normal human aldolase A, the patient's enzyme from erythrocytes and from cultured lymphoblastoid cells was found to be highly thermolabile, suggesting that this mutation causes a functional defect of the enzyme. To further examine this possibility, the thermal stability of aldolase A of the patient and of a normal control, expressed in Escherichia coli using expression plasmids, was determined. The results of E. coli expression of the mutated aldolase A enzyme confirmed the thermolabile nature of the abnormal enzyme. The Asp-128 is conserved in aldolase A, B, and C of eukaryotes, including an insect, Drosophila, suggesting that the Asp-128 of the aldolase A protein is likely to be an amino acid residue with a crucial role in maintaining the correct spatial structure or in performing the catalytic function of the enzyme.

Anemia, Hemolytic, Congenital↗