Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) has been used to treat many diseases effectively. 7α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (7α-HSDH) and 7β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (7β-HSDH) are two key enzymes that drive the efficient biosynthesis of TUDCA from taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA) in vitro. In this study, a metagenomic approach was used to isolate 7α- and 7β-HSDHs from fecal samples of black bears...

Androstenone is one of the main compounds responsible for boar taint, and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3βHSD) might be involved in its metabolism. In this study, the gene expression of 3βHSD and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17βHSD) were determined by real-time PCR analysis and related to the concentrations of androstenone, testosterone, and estrone sulphate (E1S). The experiments were ...

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Although congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency generally reveals a predominance of Delta(5)-3beta-hydroxysteroids, on occasion substantial quantities of pregnanetriol have been found as well. It appears that the latter steroid more often occurs in the subjects who have survived beyond infancy. The use of the measurement of pregnanetriol alone may th...

The identification of small molecules that fall within the biologically relevant subfraction of vast chemical space is of utmost importance to chemical biology and medicinal chemistry research. The prerequirement of biological relevance to be met by such molecules is fulfilled by natural product-derived compound collections. We report a structural classification of natural products (SCONP) as o...

Lead poisoning often prevails in children and industrial workers. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of lead acetate on steroidogenic functions of testis, serum levels of gonadotrophins and testosterone in albino rats. Testicular steroidogenic activity was evaluated by measuring the activities of two steroidogenic key enzymes, Delta5-3beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (Del...

11beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 is selectively expressed in aldosterone target tissues, where it confers aldosterone selectivity for the mineralocorticoid receptor by inactivating 11beta-hydroxyglucocorticoids with a high affinity for the mineralocorticoid receptor. The present investigation aimed to elucidate the mechanisms accounting for the rigorous control of the HSD11B2 gene in ...

In this study we attempted to determine the number of 2-enoyl-CoA hydratases involved in peroxisomal beta-oxidation. We therefore separated peroxisomal proteins from rat liver on several chromatographic columns and measured hydratase activities on the eluates with different substrates. The results indicate that rat liver peroxisomes contain two hydratase activities: (1) a hydratase activity ass...

Brucella melitensis 7α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (Bm7α-HSDH) catalyzes the oxidation of chenodeoxycholic acid to 7-oxolithocholic acid. In this work, we investigated effects terminal modification (His-tags location and truncation) on its catalytic efficiency thermostability. Compared with C-terminal His-tagged Bm7α-HSDH (C-Bm7α-HSDH), N-Bm7α-HSDH showed a 3.6-fold higher kcat 1.3-fold lower ...