Various anti-platelet drugs, including quinones, are being investigated as potential treatments for cardiovascular disease because of their ability to prevent excessive platelet aggregation. In the present investigation 3 naphthoquinones (2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone [DMNQ], menadione, and 1,4-naphthoquinone [4-NQ]) were compared for their abilities to inhibit platelet aggregation, deplete ...

Exposure of endothelial cells to oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) leads to diverse cellular effects, including induction of the intracellular antioxidant GSH. It is not known whether lipid-or protein-derived oxidation products cause GSH induction and whether this involves increased activity of the key enzyme in its synthesis, glutamate-cysteine ligase (GCL). Furthermore, the effect of o...

Resveratrol, an important antioxidant found in grapes and wine, is likely to contribute to red wine's potential to prevent human cardiovascular disease. In addition to its known (direct) antioxidant effect, we have found that resveratrol also regulates the gene expression of pro-oxidative and anti-oxidative enzymes in human endothelial cells. NADPH oxidases (Nox) are the predominant producers o...

There is increasing recognition that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with the autism spectrum disorders. However, little attention has been given to the etiology of mitochondrial dysfunction or how mitochondrial abnormalities might interact with other physiological disturbances associated with autism, such as oxidative stress. In the current study we used respirometry to examine reserve...

Airway epithelial cells are constantly exposed to environmental insults such as air pollution or tobacco smoke that may contain high levels of reactive nitrogen and reactive oxygen species. Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that the reactive oxygen species (ROS), hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), specifically activates neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) to generate ceramide and induc...

Previously we have shown that ONIOM type (QM/MM) calculations can be used to simulate isotope edited FTIR difference spectra for neutral ubiquinone in the QA binding site in Rhodobacter sphaeroides photosynthetic reaction centers. Here we considerably extend upon this previous work by calculating isotope edited FTIR difference spectra for reaction centers with a variety of unlabeled and (18)O l...

Human dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (DD) isoforms are aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) that activate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by oxidizing trans-dihydrodiol proximate carcinogens to reactive and redox-active ortho-quinones. Of these, human AKR1C1 (DD1) and AKR1C2 (DD2) oxidize trans-7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene to the cytotoxic and genotoxic metabolite benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dione ...