Early-weaned gilts fitted with simple ileal T-cannulas were used to determine the effect of protein source on N and amino acid (AA) digestibility. The digestibilities of N and AA in 25- to 53-d-old pigs fed either dried skim milk (DSM), isolated soybean protein (ISP), soybean protein concentrate (SPC), or soybean meal (SBM) as the only protein source were determined. The pigs were fed semipurif...

Protein supplementation during human pregnancy does not improve fetal growth and may increase small-for-gestational-age birth rates and mortality. To define possible mechanisms, sheep with twin pregnancies were infused with amino acids (AA group, n = 7) or saline (C group, n = 4) for 4 days during late gestation. In the AA group, fetal plasma leucine, isoleucine, valine, and lysine concentratio...

Amyloid A (AA) amyloidosis is a debilitating, often fatal, systemic amyloid disease associated with chronic inflammation and persistently elevated serum amyloid A (SAA). Elevated SAA is necessary but not sufficient to cause disease and the risk factors for AA amyloidosis remain poorly understood. Here we identify an extraordinarily high prevalence of AA amyloidosis (34%) in a genetically isolat...

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases establish the genetic code by matching each amino acid with its cognate tRNA. Aminoacylation errors lead to genetic code ambiguity and statistical proteins. Some synthetases have editing activities that clear the wrong amino acid (aa) by hydrolysis of either of two substrates: misactivated aminoacyl-adenylates ("pretransfer" of aa to tRNA) or misacylated aa-tRNA ("pos...

It has recently been shown that formation of podocyte foot processes is dependent on a constant source of lipids and proteins (Simons M, Saffrich R, Reiser J, and Mundel P. J Am Soc Nephrol 10: 1633-1639, 1999). Here we characterize amino acid transport mechanisms in differentiated cultured podocytes and investigate whether it may be disturbed during podocyte injury. RT-PCR studies detected mRN...

Angiotensin II (Ang II) stimulates hypertrophy of glomerular mesangial cells. The signalling mechanism by which Ang II exerts this effect is not precisely known. Downstream potential targets of Ang II are the extracellular-signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/ERK2). We demonstrate that Ang II activates ERK1/ERK2 via the AT1 receptor. Arachidonic acid (AA) mimics the action of Ang II on ERK1/E...

DANKSAGUNG Die vorliegende Dissertation wurde in der Abteilung Biotechnologie (RPR/BT) der ABBREVIATIONS i Abbreviations aa amino acid(s) ARDS acute respiratory distress syndrome bp base pair(s)

We investigated whether the normal anabolic effects of acute hyperaminoacidemia were maintained after 5 days of oxandrolone (Oxandrin, Ox)-induced anabolism. Five healthy men [22 +/- 3 (SD) yr] were studied before and after 5 days of oral Ox (15 mg/day). In each study, a 5-h basal period was followed by a 3-h primed-continuous infusion of a commercial amino acid mixture (10% Travasol). Stable i...

To enable preclinical studies on homologous interleukin-3 (IL-3) in primate species, we isolated the gene encoding Rhesus monkey IL-3 (RhlL-3). The nucleotide sequence of the RhlL-3 gene displayed 92.9% homology with that of the human IL-3 (hlL-3) gene. The isolated RhlL-3 gene encodes a 143-amino acid (aa) precursor polypeptide, nine C-terminal residues shorter than the human protein. Protein ...

A cytochrome in an extremely halophilic archaeon, Haloferax volcanii, was purified to homogeneity. This protein displayed a redox difference spectrum that is characteristic of a-type cytochromes and a CN(-) complex spectrum that indicates the presence of heme a and heme a(3). This cytochrome aa(3) consisted of 44- and 35-kDa subunits. The amino acid sequence of the 44-kDa subunit was similar to...