This study was undertaken to search for the endogenous dithiol cofactor of the reductases of the vitamin K cycle. As a starting point, the redox-active lipophilic endogenous compounds lipoic acid and lipoamide were looked at. The study shows that microsomes contain NADH-dependent lipoamide reductase activity. Reduced lipoamide stimulates microsomal vitamin K epoxide reduction with kinetics comp...

Nuclear magnetic resonance techniques were used to study the kinetics and products of the reaction of a variety of epoxides with various amines under varying pH conditions. In agreement with a previous finding, the amine-epoxide reactions were found to be water-catalyzed and not directly dependent on the pH of the reaction environment. At pH values higher than the pK(a) of the particular amine,...

In Euphorbia lagascae the major fatty acid in triacylglycerol is the epoxidated fatty acid vernolic acid (cis-12-epoxyoctadeca-cis-9-enoic acid). The enzymic reactions occurring during the catabolism of epoxidated fatty acids during germination are not known, but it seems likely that the degradation requires the activity of an epoxide hydrolase. Epoxide hydrolases are a group of functionally re...

Engineered enzyme variants of potato epoxide hydrolase (StEH1) display varying degrees of enrichment of (2R)-3-phenylpropane-1,2-diol from racemic benzyloxirane. Curiously, the observed increase in the enantiomeric excess of the (R)-diol is not only a consequence of changes in enantioselectivity for the preferred epoxide enantiomer, but also to changes in the regioselectivity of the epoxide rin...

In the present study, xanthophyll composition of eight parasitic Cuscuta species under different light conditions was investigated. Neoxanthin was not detected in four of the eight species examined, while in others it occurred at the level of several percent of total xanthophylls. In C. gronovii and C. lupuliformis it was additionally found that the neoxanthin content was considerably stimulate...

Epidemiological studies suggest that aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)), a mycotoxin produced by certain Aspergillus species, may play a role in human respiratory cancers in occupationally-exposed individuals. AFB(1) requires bioactivation to the corresponding exo-8,9-epoxide for carcinogenicity, and glutathione S-transferase (GST)-catalyzed conjugation of the epoxide with glutathione (GSH) is a critical ...

the levels of 19 organochlorine pesticides (ocps) in surface water and under water sedimentsfrom tanks located nearby the prime agricultural areas of kanyakumari district, tamil nadu, india wereinvestigated to evaluate their pollution risks. a total of 36 surface water samples at 9 sampling sites and27 sediment samples at 9 sampling stations were collected from tanks, which were the water sourc...

In recent years there has been considerable interest in the effect of variations in activities of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes on cancer incidence. This interest has accelerated with the development of methods for analyzing genetic polymorphisms. However, progress in epidemiology has been slow and the contributions of polymorphisms to risks from individual chemicals and mixtures are often co...

Cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) plays a key role in the metabolism of carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) and metabolites to ultimate carcinogens. Three human allelic variants, namely wild-type (CYP1A1.1), CYP1A1.2 (I462V) and CYP1A1.4 (T461N), were coexpressed by coinfection of baculovirus-infected insect cells with human NADPH-P450 reductase. These recombinant enzymes (in microsomal memb...