Biochemical aspects of inflammation

This review considers biochemical aspects of inflammation. The international literature until December 2006 has been analyzed, with the principal attention paid to the most dynamic problems: enzymology of inflammation, its regulation by hormones and signal transducers, and negative feedbacks, which underlie intensive current studies on pathogenesis, diagnostics, and therapy of inflammation. Such achievements as discoveries of defensins, toll-like receptors, interconnections of inflammation and iron metabolism, the roles of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense, lipoxins, inflammatory components of "non-inflammatory" diseases, and action mechanisms of effective drugs are discussed.     

Biochemical indicators of hepatotoxic effects of pesticides

Pesticides can cause damage to man and beneficial organisms. Some sub-lethal effects of pesticides were studied in birds with a view to identifying characteristic biochemical responses that may be useful for the monitoring of exposure to sub-lethal levels in the field. Pesticides were used: demeton-S-methyl, (DSM), chlorpyriphos, chlorfenviphos, triazophos, pirimicarb, methiocarb and permethrin. Blood was collected before dosing, and 2, 6, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the treatment from the brachial vein of birds. Enzyme activities were assayed in the plasma or serum samples obtained. The assays used were GOT, MDH, GDH, SDH, GAMMA GT and ChE. The results showed an increase in plasma and serum GOT and gamma-GT levels were found in all animals treated with the previous pesticides. The level of ChE increased in birds after treatment with permethrin. It was concluded that the pesticides cause structural and functional changes in the liver and also, the measurement of the previous parameter activities may be useful for assessing exposure and sub-lethal effects of pesticides on the wildlife.     

Biochemical aspects of free radicals

Toxic free radicals can be produced by many reactions required for the maintenance of normal metabolism and the production of energy in the cell. The reactivity of both primary and secondary radicals with biomolecules and in whole tissue systems is of interest, not only because of their importance in radiobiology but also because of the role these species play in toxicity and various disorders. Oxidant stress is known to increase the production of free radicals. In the presence of metals, especially iron, these radicals are converted into more damaging species. Trace elements play an important role in many systems that have evolved to deal with free radicals. The dietary status of the cell can affect the preventative antioxidant constituents of the cell. The chain-breaking antioxidant status can clearly be influenced by the dietary content of substances such as vitamins E and C.     

Biochemical aspects of cardiac hypertrophy

Cardiac hypertrophy is a basic adaptive response to increased functional demands on the heart. The mechanisms regulating protein synthesis and energetic efficiency in the hypertrophying myocardium have important implications for the pump performance of the heart. Although our knowledge of the initial steps in the transduction of hypertrophic stimuli to increased RNA and protein synthesis is scanty, progress is being made in elucidating the control of nuclear RNA synthesis in the normal and hypertrophied myocardium. It is expected that application to the myocyte of recently acquired knowledge about growth control in other cell systems will lead to new concepts with potential clinical relevance.     

Biochemical aspects of bovine ketosis

1. The concentrations of acetoacetate, β-hydroxybutyrate and metabolites related to gluconeogenesis were determined in biopsy samples of the livers of ketotic, normal lactating and normal non-lactating cows. Key enzymes of gluconeogenesis in the liver were also assayed. 2. Significant decreases were found in the ketotic liver in the concentrations of glucogenic amino acids (glutamate, glutamine, alanine) and of glucogenic oxo acids (α-oxoglutarate, pyruvate, oxaloacetate). 3. The β-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate concentration ratios were generally much higher than in rat liver. 4. The concentration of total fat was sevenfold higher in the ketotic liver, and that of glucose plus glycogen fourfold lower than in normal liver. 5. The blood of ketotic cows showed a marked rise in the concentration of free fatty acids. 6. The activities of pyruvate carboxylase, propionyl-CoA carboxylase, phosphopyruvate carboxylase and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase showed no clear-cut differences between normal and ketotic animals. 7. Glucose injection promptly relieved the ketotic condition with respect to both the clinical and biochemical signs. The fall in the concentrations of the ketone bodies in the blood was preceded by a fall in the concentrations of free fatty acids and glycerol. 8. The findings are taken to be consistent with the concept that an increased rate of gluconeogenesis, causing a decrease in the concentration of oxaloacetate, is a major causal factor in ketogenesis.     

Biochemical aspects of conceptus--endometrial interactions

Mammalian conceptuses must provide a chemical signal to the maternal system to insure maintenance of corpus luteum (CL) function and of progesterone production and continuation of uterine endometrial secretory activity. These events insure that the developing conceptus is provided with appropriate nutrients, regulatory enzymes and endocrine state to allow successful establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Pig blastocysts begin to produce estrogens by Day 11 of pregnancy, which prevents secretion of the uterine luteolytic factor (PGF2 alpha) in an endocrine direction, but allows secretion in an exocrine direction, i.e., into the uterine lumen. Therefore, CL are "protected." Blastocyst estrogens also trigger secretion of a group of proteins, including uteroferrin, an iron transport protein, and a family of protease inhibitors whose biosynthesis within the uterine glandular epithelium is under the control of progesterone. Estrogen also appears to promote accumulation of glucose and fructose within the uterine lumen. A complex in vivo "culture medium" is thereby established to promote conceptus development. Pig blastocysts do not undergo invasive implantation within the uterine lumen although they produce the protease, plasminogen activator. Invasion may be prevented by endometrial secretion of progesterone-induced protease inhibitors which are produced in large amounts. In addition to estrogens of conceptus origin, calcium and prostaglandins PGF2 alpha and E2 may affect the uterine vasculature, water and electrolyte transport, capillary permeability, conceptus steroid production, and related events during pregnancy. The blastocysts of the large domestic animals also secrete proteins which include a large glycoprotein (Mr approximately 600,000) and a small acidic protein (Mr approximately 17,000). The latter has been purified from sheep and named ovine trophoblast protein I. These proteins may play unique roles in early pregnancy with respect to establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in the ewe, sow, mare, and cow.