Vascular calcification is strongly linked with increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Vascular calcification is an active, cell-mediated process that involves the differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to an osteoblast-like phenotype. Several inhibitors of this process have been identified, including Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-1). These studies ex...

In 1930, Kay (6, 7) introduced a method for the quantitative determination of “alkaline” phosphatase activity of blood, employing sodium P-glycerophosphate as the substrate. Of the many modifications which have been introduced in which this substrate is employed, Bodansky’s (3, 4) method seems to have found the greatest usage because of its short incubation period and its accuracy. For our stud...

Vascular calcification (VC) is frequent prevalence in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and atherosclerosis. Lanthanum carbonate is used as an orally administered phosphate-binding agent to reduce the gastrointestinal absorption of phosphate and ameliorate VC in advanced CKD. In this study, we used bovine vascular smooth muscle cells as a model VC in vitro and studied the effects of la...

Enzyme cytochemistry was used to investigate possible lysosome involvement in capsaicin induced degranulation of the eosinophilic granule cell (EGC) of the rainbow trout intestine. Three adult rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were injected intraperitoneally with capsaicin in a saline vehicle (0.5 micrograms.g-1 body weight). Following a 2 hour period of incubation, the fish were killed, and ...

Lipolysis of triglycerides goes on constantly in adipose tissue producing glycerol and free fatty acids. The fatty acids can be activated and reesterified. Glycerol, on the other hand, is not metabolized to any significant extent (1-3). Glycerokinase, the enzyme that catalyzes the formation of a-glycerophosphate from glycerol and adenosine triphosphate, is apparently absent and glycerol is not ...

A sensitive radioactive assay of acyl CoA:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.15) was developed to study the properties and subcellular distribution of this enzyme in rat epididymal adipose tissue. The esterification of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate was measured in the presence of palmitoyl CoA or palmitate, ATP, CoA, and Mg(2+) at pH 7.5. The presence of glycerophosphate acyltransfer...

Acyl-CoA, UDP-Galactose, Envelope, Impermeability, Lipid Transport De «ovo-synthesis of glycerolipids in chloroplasts is initiated by a stroma enzyme which catalyzes the formation of lyso-phosphatidic acid from glycerophosphate and acyl-CoA. When these substrates are added to isolated, intact chloroplasts, only glycerophosphate can readily pass through the chloroplast envelope which represents ...

“Microsomal” particulate fractions of rat organ homogenates are capable of catalyzing the synthesis of glycerol l-phosphate’ from inorganic pyrophosphate and glycerol. The product has been isolated and characterized by elementary analysis, specific rotation, and chemical and enzymatic studies. PPi-glycerol phosphotransferase is presumably specific for the primary carbinol group of glycerol oppo...