Role of calcium in plant hormone action

Abstract

The role of calcium as a second messenger in plant cells has been recognized in a number of physiological processes. As described for animal systems, plant cells contain all the elements necessary for coupling the external signals to a specific response by regulation of calcium levels. However, the evidence that Ca₂₊ can be considered a second messenger for hormone response in plants is still circumstantial, besides several reports on the subject have been produced. All the hormone effects may in some tissues be regulated by calcium metabolism, but only for few of them a precise role of this cation has been established. The studies on the different hormones will be reviewed and discussed.     

Melanocortin and leptin signaling systems: Central regulation of catabolic energy balance

Abstract

The recent cloning of the ob gene (leptin) has revolutionized our understanding of obesity and the underlying factors that govern weight homeostasis. There is growing evidence that long term food intake regulation is controlled by the central nervous system by a number of peptide hormones in response to changes in leptin levels. Studies of these hormones, using both genetic and pharmacological approaches, have provided a foundation for decoding the molecular logic of the neuronal circuits which regulate food intake control and energy balance. A review of the current progress in the melanocortin-4 receptor pathway, with particular emphasis on its relation to leptin, neuropeptide Y and other obesity hormones known to modulate weight homeostasis, is presented.     

基于灰色关联分析法的公立医院药品价格规制评价

?????? 目的 明确公立医院药品价格规制的失效环节,分析公立医院药价居高不下的原因,为政府应对规制失效提供决策依据。 方法 应用灰色关联分析法对公立医院药品价格规制关键环节进行评价,并针对特定问题运用目的抽样方法对专家进行定性访谈。 结果 公立医院药品价格规制关键环节中,失效程度排序为药品流通规制、药品定价规制、药品价格加成规制、公立医院补偿规制、医疗服务低价规制和医疗保险支付方式规制。结论 需要对公立医院药品价格规制体系进行重构。     

A New Method of Iodine Labelling of Peptide Hormones

Abstract

Usually peptide hormones and related compounds are radioactively labelled with iodine on tyrosine residues of the peptide. However many peptide hormones do not contain tyrosine or the iodinated tyrosine interferes with the biological properties. In order to circumvent these and other problems, a general method is proposed which allows the introduction of iodine into the para-position of phenylalanine with a modified Sandmeyer procedure. This last-step modification together with HPLC purification permits the obtention of carrier-free and metabolically stable labelled products with maximal specific activity possible. The model has been carried out on several peptide-models like angiotensin II, endorphine and head activator peptide.     

5α-Reductases In Human Physiology: an Unfolding Story

Objective5a-reductases are a family of isozymes expressed in a wide host of tissues including the central nervous system (CNS) and play a pivotal role in male sex ual differentiation, development and physiology.MethodsA comprehensive literature search from 1970 to 2011 was made through PubMed and the relevant information was summarized.Results5a reductases convert testosterone, proges terone, deoxycorticosterone, aldosterone and corticoste rone into their respective 5a-dihydro-derivatives, which serve as substrates for 3a-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase enzymes. The latter transforms these 5a-reduced metabo lites into a subclass of neuroactive steroid hormones with distinct physiological functions. The neuroactive steroid hormones modulate a multitude of functions in human physiology encompassing regulation of sexual differen tiation, neuroprotection, memory enhancement, anxiety, sleep and stress, among others. In addition, 5a -reductase type 3 is also implicated in the N-glycosylation of pro teins via formation of dolichol phosphate. The family of 5a-reductases was targeted for drug development to treat pathophysiological conditions, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and androgenetic alopecia. While the clinical use of 5a-reductase inhibitors was well established, the scope and the magnitude of the adverse side effects of such drugs, especially on the CNS, is still unrecognized due to lack of knowledge of the various physiological functions of this family of enzymes, especially in the CNS.ConclusionThere is an urgent need to better under stand the function of 5a-reductases and the role of neuro active steroids in human physiology in order to minimize the potential adverse side effects of inhibitors targeting 5a-reductases to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia and androgenic alopecia. (Endocr Pract. 2012;18:965-975)     

Sodium Regulation of Hormone-Sensitive Adenylate Cyclase

Abstract

The influence of sodium was studied on hormone and guanine nucleotide-induced stimulation and inhibition of adenylate cyclase and on ß-adrenoceptor binding in various membrane systems. Sodium exerted almost identical effects on stimulation and inhibition of adenylate cyclase by various stimulatory and inhibitory hormones in all of the systems studied. The potencies of the hormones and of GTP to increase or to decrease the enzyme activity were reduced by sodium ions, without changing the maximal degree of adenylate cyclase stimulation or inhibition. Stimulation and inhibition of adenylate cyclase by the stable GTP analog, GTPγS, was affected in an identical manner by sodium, causing a retardation in the onset without a change in final stimulation or inhibition by the analog. Similar to the well-known reduction in α₂-adrenoceptor affinity for agonists, sodium also reduced the apparent affinity of ß-ad-renoceptors for the agonist, isoproterenol. It is concluded that sodium exerts identical effects on N_s and N_i, inhibiting the activation process of these two coupling components of the adenylate cyclase.     

太赫兹刺激听神经的测试平台搭建

目的 近年来，用于脑功能调控的神经调控技术蓬勃发展，很多方法已在临床上被推广应用，主要包括电极深部脑刺激、经颅磁刺激、光遗传技术、超声深脑刺激等。但是这些调控技术存在刺激靶点改变灵活性差、空间分辨率不足、需要注射病毒转染等问题。与这些技术相比，太赫兹波调控则能以较高的时空分辨率、无需引入外源基因的方式对神经活动进行干预。激光神经刺激是一种具有较明确靶向性的刺激方法，可以通过调整不同激光参数（激光波长、脉冲能量等）控制引起神经兴奋或者抑制。但是由于该研究方向的实验手段和实验平台的缺乏，相关研究开展较少。方法 针对这个问题，从听觉神经入手，在分子、细胞和在体不同层面为相关领域的研究搭建了不同的测试平台。结果 实验结果表明，这些系统在时间和空间上具有良好的耦合性和靶向性，测得的信号受噪音干扰小。结论 这些系统可以有效测试神经系统对太赫兹刺激的响应并精确控制刺激时间和位置。     

Independence of Glucagon Receptors and Glucagon Inactivation in Liver Cell Membranes

THERE is increasing evidence that receptors for polypeptide hormones are localized on the cell membrane. Hormone-receptor interactions have been studied primarily by measuring the bmding of ¹²⁵I-labelled hormones to intact¹ or broken-cell preparations^2–6. Peptide hormones, however, are often inactivated after exposure to the cell extract and numerous enzymes reported as specific hormone-degrading have been described. With some hormones, such as insulin^1,6,7, biologically significant receptor interactions have been demonstrated in the absence of hormone degradation, but with other hormones, such as glucagon, it has not been possible to dissociate the processes of specific receptor binding and of hormone inactivation³, which suggests that these two processes may be functionally or structurally related. Until this question is resolved, it will not be possible to characterize properly the kinetics of the hormone-receptor interaction or to isolate and purify the receptor.     

Effects of follicle-stimulating hormone and vitamin A upon purinergic secretion by rat Sertoli cells

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and vitamin A (retinol) are two of the main regulators of the male reproductive system. Recently, it has been described that extracellular purines can affect some important reproductive-related functions in Sertoli cells and germinative cells, by activating specific purinergic receptors. In this work, we report that both FSH and retinol are able to induce changes in the levels of extracellular purines of cultured rat Sertoli cells. FSH induced an increase in adenosine, mainly caused by enhanced ecto-ATPase activity, while retinol increased xanthine and hypoxanthine levels, and decreased uric acid concentration by an unknown mechanism. These data indicate that purinergic signaling may be involved in the control and/or regulation of some of the reproductive-related actions of these hormones. (Mol Cell Biochem 278: 185–194, 2005)     

Systems approach to identify environmental exposures contributing to organ-specific carcinogenesis

BackgroundThe most effective way to reduce cancer burden is Q2 prevention which is dependent on identifying individuals at risk for a particular cancer and counseling them to avoid exposure to causative agents. Other than a few well characterized environmental agents linked to specific cancers, linkage between any particular environmental exposure and a specific type of cancer is mostly unknown. Thus, we propose a systems approach to analyze publicly available large datasets to identify candidate agents that play a role in organ-specific carcinogenesis.MethodsPublicly available datasets for mRNA and miRNA expression in ovarian cancer were queried to define the differentially expressed genes that are also targets of differentially expressed miRNAs. These target genes were then used to query the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database to identify interacting chemicals and also were analyzed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to identify pathways.ResultsThe interacting chemicals interact with genes in known pathways in ovarian carcinogenesis and support the hypothesis that these chemicals are likely etiologic agents in ovarian carcinogenesis.ConclusionA systems approach may prove useful to identify specific etiologic agents to better develop personalized preventive medicine strategies for those most at risk.     

Triiodothyronine and Adipose Conversion of OB17 Preadipocytes: Binding to High Affinity Sites and Effects on Fatty Acid Synthetizing and Esterifying Enzymes

Abstract

Cells of a preadipocyte clonal line (ob 17) isolated from epididymal fat pad of ob/ob mouse possess high-affinity binding sites for triiodothyronine. A single class of sites was found on growing and early confluent cells (K_D 0.14 ± 0.025 nM; 5 000 ± 600 sites per cell). A two-fold increase in the number of T₃ binding sites occurs during adipose conversion, with no significant change in K_D values. The order of potency of structural analogs to compete with ¹²⁵I-T₃ is in favor of nuclear binding sites. A correlation was obtained between this order of potency and the ability of the analogs, included on a long-term basis to confluent cells, to increase ¹⁴C-acetate incorporation into lipids, suggesting an enhancement of de novo fatty acid synthesis. This hypothesis was supported by increased activity levels of fatty acid synthetase after chronic exposure to 1.5 nM triiodothyronine. Under these conditions activity levels of acid:CoA ligase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydroge-nase were also increased significantly. Inclusion of bromodeoxyuridine as a differentiation-blocking agent in the culture medium of growing cells decreases drastically the T₃ effects, favoring the role of the latter hormone as amplifier of specific phenotypes expressed during adipose conversion. These results show that ob₁₇ cell line should be an useful tool to study the role of thyroid hormones in the regulation of fatty acid synthesis and esterification in adipose cells.     

New Horizons in Skeletal Physiology and Pathophysiology

ObjectiveTo review new discoveries that revisit our current thinking on the genesis of osteoporosis using hypogonadal and thyrotoxic bone loss as examples.MethodsWe focus on cell biologic, mouse genetic, and human studies that have established a direct action of the interior pituitary hormones follicle-stimulating hormone and thyrotropin on the skeleton and discuss emerging clinical evidence for a novel pituitary-bone axis in humans that bypasses master endocrine organs, namely the ovaries and thyroid gland.ResultsThe cataloguing of human mutations, the use of genetically modified mice that recapitulate human disease, and the rapid growth of genomic sciences have together had a profound impact on how basic research is translated into clinical practice. The skeleton has become a paradigm for the application of such advances to an extent that hitherto unrecognized physiologic and pathophysiologic findings have emerged. We propose that hypogonadal and thyrotoxic bone loss are not solely due to changes in the level of master hormones, but instead also arise from the direct action of anterior pituitary hormones on the skeleton.ConclusionsWe predict a pituitary-bone axis in which pituitary hormones bypass traditional endocrine targets to affect the skeleton directly with remarkable sensitivity. New therapeutic targets thus become a likely possibility. (Endocr Pract. 2010;16:874-881)     

Pituitary gonadotropins regulate spermatogonial differentiation and proliferation in the rat‡

The relative regulatory roles of the pituitary gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone in the spermatogonial proliferation has been studied using specific antibodies against these hormones in the immature rats. Immunoneutralization of lu teinizing hormone for 7 days resulted in significant reduction in tetraploid cells and total absence of haploid cells,while there was a relative increase in the diploid population. This was also accomopanied by a decrease in spermatogonial proliferation as indicated by a decrease in [³H] thymidine incorpor-ation into DNA by purified spermatogonia. Administration of follicle stimulating hormone a/s for 7 days also caused a significant decrease in the rate of spermatogonial proliferation. Withdrawal of follicle stimulating hormone led to a significant reduction in tetraploid and haploid cells. However interestingly,it failed to totally abolish the appearance of these cells. Administration of testosterone (3 mg/day/rat) for 2 days along with the gonadotropin a/s could partially reverse the effect on spermatogonial proliferation. It is concluded that (i) both luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone are involved in spermatogonial proliferation, (ii) lack of testosterone consequent of the neutralization of luteinizing hormone prevented the entry of spermatogonial cells into meiosis, (iii) testosterone may be involved in spermatogonia] proliferation providing a mitotic signal and (v) both follicle stimulating hormone and testosterone act synergistically and lack of any one of the hormones results in impairment of spermatogonial proliferation. A part of the data was presented at the 16th International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, New Delhi, September 1994.