The activities of jejunal mucosal peptide hydrolases for glycylglycine, glycyl-L-leucine and L-leucylglycine, were assayed in 37 patients. Eight patients, four of whom had Crohn's disease, were found to have a marked reduction in the activity of glycylglycine dipeptidase and, to a lesser extent, of the other two hydrolases. Although absorption of glycine in the two groups was similar, there was...

Small peptide analogues representing the C-terminal portion of angiotensin I sequence were designed as inhibitors of human renin. Among synthesized compounds, benzyloxycarbonyl (-"Z")-(1-naphthyl)Ala-His-leucinal (ES-188), Z-(1-naphthyl)Ala-His-statine ethyl ester (ES-226), and Z-(1-naphthyl)Ala-His-statine 2-methylbutylamide (ES-254) markedly inhibited human and primate renins (inhibitory conc...

East African runners are continually successful in international distance running. The extent to which genetic factors influence this phenomenon is unknown. The insertion (I) rather than deletion (D) of a 287 bp fragment in the human angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene is associated with lower circulating and tissue ACE activity and with endurance performance amongst Caucasians. To assess ...

Scientific and technological advances brought about in the recent part of this decade have provided great insight regarding the catalytic mechanism of the prototypical zinc-requiring protease carboxypeptidase A (CPA). Importantly, some of our ideas regarding the general theory of enzyme catalysis have been inspired and developed through studies of this enzyme. Just as importantly, CPA serves as...