Coix lacryma-jobi, commonly known as job's tear, is a tall grain-bearing tropical plant of the family Poaceae. The ethanolic root extract (ERE) of the plant was investigated for the first time for anti-venom activity against Indian cobra Naja naja venom. In-vitro studies were conducted to determine neutralization of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity of the Naja naja venom by the ERE. ERE showed ...

Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is produced by inflammatory cells, bound to LDL and other lipoproteins, and hydrolyzes oxidized phospholipids in LDL. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes some investigations show the association of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 mass and activity with the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in populations with high...

Ceramide is a novel second messenger generated by hydrolysis of membrane sphingomyelin by a neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase). Cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) have been shown to increase intracellular ceramide through phospholipase A2(PLA2)-dependent activation of nSMase. TNF-α has been shown to cause endothelium-independent relaxation in isolated blood vessels. We have previo...

Phosphorothioate oligonucleotides were identified which directly inhibited human type II phospholipase A2 (PLA2) enzyme activity in a sequence specific manner. The minimum pharmacophore common to all oligonucleotides which inhibited PLA2 enzyme activity consisted of two sets of three or more consecutive guanosine residues in a row. These oligonucleotides appear to form G quartets resulting in t...

Enhancing factor (EF), a growth regulatory molecule, isolated from mouse small intestines, has been well characterized in this laboratory. It increases the binding of epidermal growth factor in a unique manner via its own receptor. In the first 20 N-terminal amino acids sequenced, EF showed 50% homology to human Group II phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Here we propose that EF is yet another, unidentif...

The death of macrophages contributes to atheroma formation. Oxidation renders low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cytotoxic to human monocyte-macrophages. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), also termed platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase, hydrolyses oxidised phospholipids. Inhibition of Lp-PLA2 by diisopropyl fluorophosphate or Pefabloc (broad-spectrum serine esterase/protease ...

We investigated the effects of glucocorticoids on group II phospholipase A2 (PLA2) expression in rat cultured smooth muscle cells. Both forskolin-induced and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced PLA2 release responses were almost completely blocked by 10 and 100 nM dexamethasone, respectively, as assayed by protein blotting and PLA2 activity assays. Dexamethasone-mediated inhibition of PLA2 rele...

A novel kinetic and membrane-binding assay for phospholipase A2 (PLA2) has been developed utilizing phospholipid-coated hydrophobic styrene-divinylbenzene beads (5.2 +/- 0.3 microm diameter). Phospholipids formed a stable monolayer film on styrene-divinylbenzene beads with average surface packing density of (1.3 +/- 0.2) x 10(-2) molecule/A2. Secretory PLA2 readily hydrolyzed 1-palmitoyl-2-[3H]...

BACKGROUND Biodegradable poly(lactide- co -glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres are a promising carrier for vaccine delivery capable of maturing antigen-presenting cells to stimulate T-cell-mediated immune responses. However, the potential of microspheres to downregulate an allergic response in vivo is unknown. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine whether microspheres could potentiate D...

Paraquat is a pneumotoxin that causes lung injury by enhancing oxidative stress; however, the cellular responses to these redox events are undefined. We previously showed that paraquat produced selective peroxidation of phosphatidylserine that preceded apoptosis in 32D cells. We now report that the phospholipase A2(PLA2) inhibitor quinacrine can attenuate phosphatidylserine oxidation and also b...