Objective(s):Fuzheng Huayu recipe (FZHY) exerts significant protective effects against liver fibrosis by strengthening the body’s resistance and removing blood stasis. However, the molecular mechanisms through which FZHY affects liver fibrosis are still unclear. In this study, we examined the expression levels of factors involved in the inhibitor κB kinase-β (IKK-β)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) an...

In an earlier study, based on the ferric enterobactin receptor FepA of Escherichia coli, we identified and modeled a TonB-dependent outer membrane receptor protein (LB191) from the genome of Leptospira interrogans serovar Lai. Based on in silico analysis, we hypothesized that this protein was an iron-dependent hemin-binding protein. In this study, we provide experimental evidence to prove that ...

Enterocytes maintain fluid-electrolyte homeostasis by keeping a tight barrier and regulating ion channels. Carbon monoxide (CO), a product of heme degradation, modulates electrolyte transport in kidney and lung epithelium, but its role in regulating intestinal fluid-electrolyte homeostasis has not been studied. The major source of endogenous CO formation comes from the degradation of heme via h...

Mutants H-14 and H-18 of Staphylococcus aureus require hemin for growth on glycerol and other nonfermentable substrates. H-14 also responds to delta-aminolevulinate. Heme-deficient cells grown in the presence of nitrate do not have lactate-nitrate reductase activity but gain this activity when incubated with hemin in buffer and glucose. Lactate-nitrate reductase activity is also restored to the...

Hemin is an important nutrient for Porphyromonas gingivalis growth and pathogenicity. We examined the gene expression profile of P. gingivalis, including genes involved in its pathogenicity, at various growth stages under hemin-standard and limited conditions by using a custom-made microarray. The transcription of many genes decreased after late-log and mid-log phases under hemin-standard and l...

The initiation of globin synthesis in intact reticulocytes and in reticulocyte lysates is maintained by the addition of hemin. The specificity of this effect has been studied to determine whether it is restricted to hemoglobin and erythroid cells. In intact reticulocytes, hemin (500 muM) enhances the synthesis of carbonic anhydrase as well as of hemoglobin. Similar enhancement of protein synthe...

Hemin is an activator of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), enzyme catalyzing degradation. Up-regulation HO-1 observed in response to various pathological conditions. Moreover, pharmacological activation associated with numerous beneficial effects the organism. was shown exert, among other, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity properties. These are strongly linked adipose tissue. However, direct influence hemi...

Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is an iron-containing protein encoded by the same gene that codes for uteroferrin, a placental iron transport protein. In human peripheral mononuclear cells, TRAP expression is inhibited by both hemin (ferric protoporphyrin IX) and protoporphyrin IX. Nuclear run-on assays confirmed that this inhibition occurs at the level of gene transcription. Previou...

The purpose of this investigation was to find out why hemin catalyzes the oxidation of linoleic acid or its esters by O2 only in the biphasic oil-in-water system but not in homogeneous solutions. We find that only those molecules of linoleic acid or methyllinoleate which form a monomolecular ti at the oil-water interface react with hemin and OZ. The high affinity of hemin and hemoglobin for the...