Collagen turnover in normal and degenerate human intervertebral discs as determined by the racemization of aspartic acid

Knowledge of rates of protein turnover is important for a quantitative understanding of tissue synthesis and catabolism. In this work, we have used the racemization of aspartic acid as a marker for the turnover of collagen obtained from healthy and pathological human intervertebral disc matrices. We measured the ratio of the D- and L-isomers in...

Genomotyping of Pseudomonas putida strains using P. putida KT2440-based high-density DNA microarrays: Implications for transcriptomics studies

Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is the only fully sequenced P. putida strain. Thus, for transcriptomics and proteomics studies with other P. putida strains, the P. putida KT2440 genomic database serves as standard reference. The utility of KT2440 whole-genome, high-density oligonucleotide microarrays for transcriptomics studies of other Pseudomonas...

Health issues of whey proteins: 1. Protection of lean body mass

Loss of muscle mass as a consequence of changes in protein metabolism during periods of catabolic stress is a serious complication in a variety of conditions. These conditions are weight loss programs, sarcopenia in the elderly and several clinical states. It appears from many studies that improved protein nutrition by ingestion of high-quality...

The cell wall stress response in Aspergillus niger involves increased expression of the glutamine: Fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase-encoding gene (gfaA) and increased deposition of chitin in the cell wall

Perturbation of cell wall synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, either by mutations in cell wall synthesis-related genes or by adding compounds that interfere with normal cell wall assembly, triggers a compensatory response to ensure cell wall integrity. This response includes an increase in chitin levels in the cell wall. Here it is shown that...

Bromobenzene-induced hepatotoxicity at the transcriptome level

Rats were exposed to three levels of bromobenzene, sampled at 6, 24, and 48 h, and liver gene expression profiles were determined to identify dose and time-related changes. Expression of many genes changed transiently, and dependent on the dose. Few changes were identified after 6 h, but many genes were differentially expressed after 24 h, while...

A comparative analysis of bone and cartilage metabolism in two strains of guinea-pig with varying degrees of naturally occurring osteoarthritis

Objective: To evaluate the interaction of bone and cartilage in knee osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis in two guinea-pig strains with appreciable differences in bone metabolism. Design: Two guinea-pig strains were evaluated for their susceptibilities to OA using semi-quantitative histological grading of knee joints and quantification of...

Age-related accumulation of the advanced glycation endproduct pentosidine in human articular cartilage aggrecan: The use of pentosidine levels as a quantitative measure of protein turnover

During aging, non-enzymatic glycation results in the formation and accumulation of the advanced glycation endproduct pentosidine in long-lived proteins, such as articular cartilage collagen. In the present study, we investigated whether pentosidine accumulation also occurs in cartilage aggrecan. Furthermore, pentosidine levels in aggrecan...

Effect of collagen turnover on the accumulation of advanced glycation end products

Collagen molecules in articular cartilage have an exceptionally long lifetime, which makes them susceptible to the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). In fact, in comparison to other collagen-rich tissues, articular cartilage contains relatively high amounts of the AGE pentosidine. To test the hypothesis that this higher AGE...

Vitamin B6 status and requirements in older adults

Chemicals/CAS: Homocysteine, 454-28-4; Proteins; Pyridoxic Acid, 82-82-6; Pyridoxine, 65-23-6

The marginal efficiency of utilization of all ileal digestible indispensable amino acids for protein gain is lower than 30% in preruminant calves between 80 and 240 kg live weight

A previous study showed that the marginal efficiency of utilization of digestible nitrogen for deposition in the body in preruminant calves is only ~30%. The study consisted of two similar experiments that were performed in two live weight ranges: 80-160 and 160-240 kg. In each experiment, 36 calves were allotted to one of twelve dietary...

Reduced very-low-density lipoprotein fractional catabolic rate in apolipoprotein C1-deficient mice

The function of apolipoprotein (apo) C1 in vivo is not clearly defined. Because transgenic mice overexpressing human apoC1 show elevated triacylglycerol (TG) levels, an as yet unknown role for apoC1 in TG metabolism has been suggested. Here we investigated directly the effect of the complete absence of apoC1 on very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL...

Analysis of heterologous protein production in defined recombinant Aspergillus awamori strains

A study was carried out to obtain more insight into the parameters that determine the secretion of heterologous proteins from filamentous fungi. A strategy was chosen in which the mRNA levels and protein levels of a number of heterologous genes of different origins were compared. All genes were under control of the Aspergillus awamori 1,4-β...

Hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis - Dutch type: A study of fibrinolysis

In view of reported associations between increased bleeding tendency and systemically decreased alpha 2-antiplasmin in patients with systemic amyloid deposition we studied alpha 2-antiplasmin, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein and blood levels of locally produced endothelial hemostasis factors in the acute and quiescent phase in 16 patients with...