Formaldehyde was shown to be a normal metabolite when Handler, Bernheim, and Klein (1) found sarcosine oxidase which catalyzes the oxidative demethylation of sarcosine to glycine and formaldehyde. Sakami (2), Welsh and Sakami (3), and Stekol et al. (4) have recently presented evidence that formate may provide the animal with necessary methyl groups. It was therefore of interest to investigate t...

Formaldehyde was shown to be a normal metabolite when Handler, Bernheim, and Klein (1) found sarcosine oxidase which catalyzes the oxidative demethylation of sarcosine to glycine and formaldehyde. Sakami (2), Welsh and Sakami (3), and Stekol et al. (4) have recently presented evidence that formate may provide the animal with necessary methyl groups. It was therefore of interest to investigate t...

OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of pepsin detection in tracheal aspirate (TA) samples of mechanically ventilated premature neonates and its association with feedings and methylxanthine therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Serial TA samples (days 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28 and >28 days) were collected from premature neonates receiving ventilatory support. An enzymatic assay with a fluorescent subst...

Gout is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality. Possible causes the disease include persistent uncontrolled hyperuricemia, chronic microcrystalline inflammation that develops in vascular wall even atherosclerotic plaques. These processes, which contribute to oxidative stress formation peroxidation products, may be target for xanthine oxidase inhibitors — allopurino...

of disease process & therapeutic targets Hyperuricemia, as defined by a serum urate ≥6.8 mg/dl, is necessary but not sufficient to produce the clinical manifestations of gouty arthritis (gout) [1]. Hyperuricemia develops whenever there is a relative imbalance of production and excretion of urate. There are several other risk factors associated with the development of gout, mostly related to the...

Par many years it has been known that purine catabolism in the rat results in the formation and subsequent urinary excretion of allantoin as the main end-product. Individual enzymes catalyzing the steps in purine catabolism have been identified and methods for assaying these enzymes in vitro have been developed. With the discovery that xanthine oxidase activity in vitro is influenced greatly by...

We evaluated the effect of nicergoline on superoxide production by rat microglias using a 2-methyl-6-(p-methoxyphenyl)-3, 7-dihydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyrazin-3-one-dependent chemiluminescence assay. Nicergoline dose-dependently inhibited superoxide production by microglias stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate or opsonized zymosan, while it had no effect on superoxide production by a hypoxanthin...

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR), a complex flavoprotein, catalyzes the metabolic reactions leading from hypoxanthine to xanthine and from xanthine to urate, and both reactions take place at the molybdenum cofactor. The enzyme is a target of drugs for therapy of gout or hyperuricemia. We review the chemical nature and reaction mechanisms of the molybdenum cofactor of XOR, focusing on molybdenum-de...