Celastrol, a quinone methide triterpene isolated from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F., has various biochemical and pharmacological activities, and is now being developed as a promising anti-tumor agent. Inhibitory activity of compounds towards UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) is an important cause of clinical drug-drug interactions and herb-drug interactions. The aim of the present study is to ...

BACKGROUND In a previous study, anthocyanin levels in potato plants were increased by manipulating genes connected with the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. However, starch content and tuber yield were dramatically reduced in the transgenic plants, which over-expressed dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR). RESULTS Transgenic plants over-expressing dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) were subsequently t...

Drug-metabolizing enzymes within enterocytes constitute a key barrier to xenobiotic entry into the systemic circulation. Furanocoumarins in grapefruit juice are cornerstone examples of diet-derived xenobiotics that perpetrate interactions with drugs via mechanism-based inhibition of intestinal CYP3A4. Relative to intestinal CYP3A4-mediated inhibition, alternate mechanisms underlying dietary sub...

Several classes of compounds are able to induce a spectrum of drug-metabolizing enzymes without inducing cytochrome P450s. Examples include antioxidants such as tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole and its metabolite tert-butylhydroquinone, dithiolthiones such as oltipraz, and N-heterocycles such as 1,7-phenanthroline. The events associated with induction of UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT), glutathio...

UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are classified into three subfamilies in mice: Ugt1a, 2b, and 2a. In the Ugt1a subfamily, Ugt1a1 and 1a6 appear to correspond to human UGT1A1 and 1A6 The mouse is an important animal for its use in investigations, but the substrate specificities of Ugt isoforms belonging to the 2b subfamily in mice remain largely unknown. To address this issue, we characteriz...

Hepatocytes in the afferent (periportal) and efferent (perivenous) acinar zones have different morphological and biochemical characteristics [ I ] . Periportal hepatocytes have a greater capacity for gluconeogenesis and urea synthesis, and a lower capacity for lipogenesis and glutamine formation compared to perivenous hepatocytes [I]. The pathways of detoxification such as monooxygenation and s...

Thioacetamide (TAA) is a potent hepatotoxicant and has been widely used to develop experimental liver fibrosis/cirrhosis models. Although the liver toxicity of TAA has been extensively studied, little is known about its potential influence on UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) associated with the development of liver fibrosis. The study presented here aimed to uncover the regulation patterns o...

OBJECTIVE Sex hormones are metabolized to less active compounds via (a) glucuronidation catalyzed by UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) and (b) sulfation catalyzed by sulfotransferases (SULT). Functional UGT and SULT polymorphisms can affect clearance of sex hormones, thereby influencing exposure in hormone-sensitive tissues, such as the breast. We assessed relationships between functional poly...

Plants contain large numbers of family 1 UDP-glucose-dependent glycosyltransferases (UGTs), including members that conjugate xenobiotics. Arabidopsis contains 107 UGT genes with 99 family members successfully expressed as glutathione transferase (GST)-fusion proteins in E. coli. A high-throughput catalytic screen was developed based on quantification of the fusion by measuring GST activity. UGT...

Bavachalcone and corylin are two major bioactive compounds isolated from Psoralea corylifolia L., which has been widely used as traditional Chinese medicine for many years. As two antibiotic or anticancer drugs, bavachalcone and corylin are used in combination with other drugs; thus it is necessary to evaluate potential pharmacokinetic herb-drug interactions (HDI) of the two bioactive compounds...