Policosanol is a mixture of long-chain primary alcohols that has been shown to decrease serum cholesterol in animals and in humans. The hypocholesterolemic effect results from a decrease in cholesterol synthesis by suppression of HMG-CoA reductase activity, but the mechanism of this suppression and the active components of policosanol have not been established. In the present study, we investig...

We investigated hypocholesterolemic mechanisms of linalool, an aromatic anti-oxidative monoterpene, which is abundant in teas and essential oils. Oral administration of linalool to mice for 6 weeks significantly lowered total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, and HMG-CoA reductase protein expression (-46%; P<0.05) by both transcriptional and posttranscriptional mechanisms....

We investigated the role of the intrinsic mevalonate cascade in the neuronal cell death (NCD) induced by the inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase in rat primary cortical neurons cultured from the brains of 17-d-old fetal SD rats. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors induced NCD [HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor-induced NCD (H-NCD)] in time- and dose-dependent manners. The apoptot...

The activities of cytosolic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A synthase [3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA acetoacetyl-CoA-lyase (CoA-acylating), EC 4.1.3.5] and microsomal 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase[mevalonate:NADP+ oxidoreductase (CoA-acylating), EC 1.1.1.34], two sequential enzymes in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, were shown to be regulated coordinately in the ad...

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity in microsomes isolated from cultured lymphoid (IM-9) cells or freshly isolated human leukocytes was markedly decreased by either ascorbic acid or its oxidized derivative, dehydroascorbate. Inhibition of IM-9 leukocyte HMG-CoA reductase activity was log linear between 0.01 and 10 mM ascorbic acid (25 and 81% inhibition, respectiv...

Monascus purpureus is known to produce pigment molecules. The pigments were extracted from M. fermented rice. In-vitro antioxidant effects of observed and presumed alleviate oxidative stress related atherosclerosis effect in rats fed with high fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks. formation lipid peroxide due the oxidation serum was higher HFD. While, feeding rice (groups III-V) significantly lowered (2...

Methods were developed for determination of microsomal HMG-CoA reductase activity from freshly isolated human lymphocytes, monocytes, and granulocytes or cultured human lymphoid cells. Reductase activity in monocytes is approximately twice that in lymphocytes or granulocytes. The activity in cultured cells is approximately 34-fold greater than that in freshly isolated cells. Assay conditions we...

The activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase) was considerably inhibited during incubation with ATP + Mg2+. The inactivated enzyme was reactivated on further incubation with partially purified cytosolic phosphoprotein phosphatase. The inactivation was associated with a decrease in the apparent Km of the reductase for hydroxymethylglutaryl-...

Coenzyme A (CoA) mediates thiol-based acyl-group transfer (acetylation and palmitoylation). However, a role for CoA in the thiol-based transfer of NO groups (S-nitrosylation) has not been considered. Here we describe protein S-nitrosylation in yeast (heretofore unknown) that is mediated by S-nitroso-CoA (SNO-CoA). We identify a specific SNO-CoA reductase encoded by the alcohol dehydrogenase 6 (...

The intestinal worm, Ascaris lumbricoides, ferments carbohydrate to a mixture of end products, of which the two major ones are Z-methylbutyrate and 2-methylvalerate. The mode of formation of branched chain acids with a methyl group at C-2 or other even numbered carbon atoms is still not completely understood. It has been proposed that these compounds could be formed either from the fatty acid s...