Ischemic preconditioning (IP) protects the rat liver. In pigs, in which hepatic tolerance to ischemia is similar to that in humans, information on IP is lacking. Therefore, in enflurane-anesthetized pigs, hepatic vessels were occluded for 120 min (protocol 1) or 200 min (protocol 2) without (control) and with IP (3 times 10 min ischemia-reperfusion each). In protocol 1, cumulative bile flow (CB...

A Leishmania major full-length cDNA encoding a functional dUTP nucleotidohydrolase (dUTPase; EC 3.6.1.23) was isolated from a cDNA expression library by genetic complementation of dUTPase deficiency in Escherichia coli. The cDNA contained an open reading frame that encoded a protein of 269 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 30.3 kDa. Although eukaryotic dUTPases exhibit ext...

The known archaeal family B DNA polymerases are unable to participate in the PCR in the presence of uracil. Here, we report on a novel archaeal family B DNA polymerase from Nanoarchaeum equitans that can successfully utilize deaminated bases such as uracil and hypoxanthine and on its application to PCR. N. equitans family B DNA polymerase (Neq DNA polymerase) produced lambda DNA fragments up to...

An obstacle to development of methods to quantify beta-cell turnover from pancreas tissue is the lack of conversion factors for the frequency of beta-cell replication or apoptosis detected by immunohistochemistry to rates of replication or apoptosis. We addressed this obstacle in islets from 1-mo-old rats by quantifying the relationship between the rate of beta-cell replication observed directl...

The incorporation of potentially catalytic groups in DNA is of interest for the in vitro selection of novel deoxyribozymes. A series of 10 C5-modified analogues of 2'-deoxyuridine triphosphate have been synthesised that possess side chains of differing flexibility and bearing a primary amino or imidazole functionality. For each series of nucleotide analogues differing degrees of flexibility of ...

The chlorovirus PBCV-1, like many large double-stranded DNA-containing viruses, contains several genes that encode putative proteins involved in nucleotide biosynthesis. This report describes the characterization of the PBCV-1 dCMP deaminase, which produces dUMP, a key intermediate in the synthesis of dTTP. As predicted, the recombinant protein has dCMP deaminase activity that is activated by d...

Testicular damage is one of the most hazardous effects chemotherapy as it frequently associated with oligozoospermia and azoospermia. This study aimed at evaluating protective effect melatonin in a rat model busulfan-induced testicular injury. Rats were divided into four groups: control, melatonin, busulfan, busulfan plus melatonin. After 15 days, semen was collected from epididymis testes asse...

To evaluate the effects of ambroxol hydrochloride on lung tissue cell apoptosis and vascular remodeling in rats with smoke induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Sprague Dawley were randomly divided into normal, model, experimental control groups (n=20). The rat model disease was established by fumigation using Yan’an Cigarettes for 64 d. After fumigation, subcutaneously injected 5 mL A...