The effect of first synthesized dipeptide L-Leu-Lys was studied on cell proliferation and apoptosis using the organotypic culture of spleen tissue from 3-mont-old rats. The dipeptide at concentrations in diapason 0.001 -10 ng/ml produce a clearly defined stimulating effect on cell proliferation in these tissues, accompanying by an increase of expression of Ki67 and decrease of P53 expression. O...

The review presents the results of studies on pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and bioavailability new neurotropic dipeptide cyclo-Lprolilglycine (CPG) their pharmacological activity. It was shown that pharmacologically active metabolite nootropic drug noopept is an endogenous dipeptide, it a fragment terminal Tripeptide insulin-like nerve growth factor IGF-1. Much attention paid both in Russia ab...

To further an understanding of the nature of information available from Xe chemical shifts in cavities in biological systems, it would be advantageous to start with Xe in regular nanochannels that have well known ordered structures built from amino acid units. In this paper, we report the experimental observation of Xe NMR lineshapes in peptide channels, specifically the self-assembled nanochan...

The scope of photobiological processes that involve absorbers within a protein matrix may be limited by the vulnerability of the peptide group to attack by highly reactive redox centers consequent upon electronic excitation. We have explored the nature of this vulnerability by undertaking comprehensive product analyses of aqueous photolysates of 12 N-p-toluenesulfonyl peptides with systematical...

Four new iodobenzene-containing dipeptides (1-4), a related bromotryptophan-containing dipeptide (5), and an iodophenethylamine (6) were isolated from the ascidian Aplidium sp. collected off the coast of Chuja-do, Korea. The structures of these novel compounds, designated as apliamides A-E (1-5) and apliamine A (6) were determined via combined spectroscopic analyses. The absolute configuration ...

Small peptides of two to six residues serve as important sources of amino acids and nitrogen required for growth by a variety of organisms. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the membrane transport protein Ptr2p, encoded by PTR2, mediates the uptake of di/tripeptides. To identify genes involved in regulation of dipeptide utilization, we performed a systematic, functional examination of this...

The amino acid prodrug of acyclovir (ACV), valacyclovir (VACV), is an effective antiherpetic drug. Systemic availability of ACV in humans is 3 to 5 times higher after oral administration of VACV. Enhanced bioavailability of VACV has been attributed to its carrier-mediated intestinal absorption via hPEPT1 peptide transporter followed by rapid and complete conversion to ACV. An earlier report sug...

Crystal structures of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) proteins have implied that the translocation of a flexible loop containing a highly conserved Ser-Tyr dipeptide is necessary for the protection of the proposed oxocarbonium ion transition state of the enzyme (Eads, J. C., Scapin, G. T., Xu, Y., Grubmeyer. C., and Sacchettini, J. C. (1994) Cell 78, 325-334; Schumacher, ...

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the advanced stage of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), accounts for >80% of vision loss in AMD. Carboxyethylpyrrole (CEP) protein modifications, uniquely generated from oxidation of docosahexaenoate-containing lipids, are more abundant in Bruch's membrane from AMD eyes. We tested the hypothesis that CEP protein adducts stimulate angiogenesis and possib...

Royal jelly (RJ) is known to possess several physiological and pharmacological properties. A dipeptide YY derived from RJ proteins is known to inhibit angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity. Our previous study showed that the dipeptide YY inhibited the human renin activity at physiological pH. In this study, we investigated the pH dependency of the inhibitory effect of the dipeptide YY to...