ABSTRACT: Androgenetic alopecia is the chief type of scalp hair loss regardless of gender, causing anxiety, depression, arterial stiffness, and cardiovascular disease. The areal parts of Olea europaea (OE) and Trigonella foenum-graecum (TF), as well as the bulbs of Allium sativum (AS) are vastly used in Persian folklore for a great range of culinary and medicinal purposes. This study was an att...

Mercuric ion, Hg(II), inactivates generalized transcription in the crenarchaeote Sulfolobus solfataricus. Metal challenge simultaneously derepresses transcription of mercuric reductase (merA) by interacting with the archaeal transcription factor aMerR. Northern blot and primer extension analyses identified two additional Hg(II)-inducible S. solfataricus genes, merH and merI (SSO2690), located o...

Aldose reductase (alditol:NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.21), an enzyme that converts glucose to sorbitol, the first step of the polyol pathway, has been implicated in secondary complications of diabetes, such as cataracts, retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. Aldose reductase inhibitors have been observed to prevent or delay the onset of these complications; however, more potent and speci...

A dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) reductase has been isolated in 50% yield from Dunaliella tertiolecta by rapid chromatography on diethylaminoethyl cellulose. The activity was located in the chloroplasts. The enzyme was cold labile, but if stored with 2 molar glycerol, most of the activity was restored at 30 degrees C after 20 minutes. The spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) reductase isoforms wer...

Aldose reductase (alditol:NADP+ 1-oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.21) has been partially purified from human erythrocytes by DEAE-cellulose (DE-52) column chromatography. This enzyme is activated severalfold upon incubation with 10 microM each glucose 6-phosphate, NADPH, and glucose. The activation of the enzyme was confirmed by following the oxidation of NADPH as well as the formation of sorbitol wit...

Mercury-mediated toxicity remains one of the greatest barriers against microbial survival, even though bacterial resistance to mercury compounds can occur. However, the genetic and physiological adaptations of bacteria to mercury stress still remains unclear. Here, we show that the marine bacterium Pseudomonas stutzeri 273 is resistant to 50 μM Hg2+ and removes up to 94% Hg2+ from culture. Usin...

Crenarchaeota include extremely thermoacidophilic organisms that thrive in geothermal environments dominated by sulfidic ores and heavy metals such as mercury. Mercuric ion, Hg(II), inactivates transcription in the crenarchaeote Sulfolobus solfataricus and simultaneously derepresses transcription of a resistance operon, merHAI, through interaction with the MerR transcription factor. While mercu...

The question of whether the effects of insulin and glucagon on hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity are mediated largely by changes in the phosphorylation state of the enzyme or by changes in the quantity of enzyme protein was investigated by measuring enzyme protein and mRNA levels. If phosphorylation/dephosphorylation is responsible for the observed chang...

Seventeen hours after a single oral dose of the cyclic monoterpenes cineole or menthol, rat liver 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity was inhibited by up to 70%. The transient nature of this effect (no inhibition 41 h after dosing) was compatible with the rapid metabolism and excretion of these terpenes. Neither menthol, and its major metabolite, menthylglucuronid...