Acid Phosphatase

In T47D breast cancer cell line, progestin (R5020) induces de novo synthesis of an alkaline phosphatase enzyme. Based on inhibitor profiles and antigenic specificity, it is apparent that this enzyme belongs to the class of membrane-associated tissue-unspecific alkaline phosphatases. Enzyme induction was uniquely specific to progestins and not altered by other steroid hormones or synthetic analogues. The progestin induction of the tissue-unspecific alkaline phosphatase was time and dose dependent. The protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide blocks the enzyme synthesis and tunicamycin blocks the enzyme activity, showing that the induction was new synthesis of protein in its complete glycosylated form and not activation of a preexisting enzyme. To our knowledge this is the first report of progesterone-induced expression of a tissue-unspecific alkaline phosphatase gene of such magnitude (about 30- to 100-fold) in a progesterone-responsive tissue.

Lithium (Li) was given to female Swiss-Webster strain mice at the doses of 15 and 30 mg/kg body weight in their drinking water. Treatment started from the first day of pregnancy until the postnatal day fifteen of delivery. Thereafter, the dams were switched to plain tap water. All offspring were subjected to various tests. The rate of body weight gain was relatively slower in Li exposed pups. Furthermore, the opening of eyes and appearance of body hairs in Li exposed pups were also slower as compared to the controls. The sensory motor reflexes in Li exposed pups were found to be affected in a dose-dependent manner. Significant relative changes were also noticed in the levels of acid and alkaline phosphatases in the liver, and acetylcholinesterase in the brain tissues of the Li exposed developing offspring in a dose-dependent manner. 'Locomotor Activity Test' was performed in the male offspring only which showed a significant suppressive effect on most of the elements of this...

Background: The detection of semen is often an important issue in the investigation of rape and other sexual assaults. The most commonly used procedures for semen identification is acid phosphatase test, which are being used in the Forensic laboratories to solve the sexual assault cases. Objectives: The objective was to determine variability in sensitivity of acid phosphatase in detection of human seminal stains by modified acid phosphatase test. Materials and Methods: Totally, 40 samples of human seminal fluid were collected from male volunteers who were neither be connected in blood relation nor showed any heredity to each other. Serial dilution of seminal fluid, preparation of seminal stain, detection and identification of seminal stains steps were used to analyze, and detection done by modified acid phosphatase test. Results: Modified acid phosphatase test can locate a 1/512 serial diluted seminal stain. Minimum level of acid phosphates enzyme detected in a serial dilution sample of seminal stains was 1/512, 1/256, 1/128, and 1/64. Conclusions: The response may vary from person to person according to the quantity of acid phosphatase enzyme in seminal fluid. Semen could be detected in 1 min on dilution up to 1/512.

Summary: The ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis GL was tested for its applicability to the detection of botulinum neurotoxins. Botulinum neurotoxins attack different proteins of the SNARE-complex, which is involved in fusion processes of the cellular membrane traffic. The exocytosis of enzymes and the phagocytosis of germs include several presumptive SNARE-dependent pathways within T. pyriformis. Acid phosphatase was chosen as indicator enzyme

BackgroundBreast cancer is the commonest malignancy of women in Nigeria. Change in serum levels of some biochemical parameters could assist diagnosis and follow-up of breast cancer.ObjectiveTo determine serum levels of calcium, inorganic phosphates, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and acid phosphatase (ACP) activities in patients with breast cancer, and change in the serum levels over time.MethodsTotal serum calcium and inorganic phosphates, and serum ALP and ACP activities were determined in 25 women with breast cancer and 25 age-matched controls using colorimetric and enzymatic methods, over 6 months with bimonthly analysis.ResultsThe serum calcium level, ALP and ACP activities were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the study group than in the control group. No significant difference was seen in the inorganic phosphate levels of both groups. There were significant increases in serum calcium levels, ALP and ACP activities in the study group with time (p<0.05), whereas no significant increase was observed in the control group.ConclusionBreast cancer patients have higher calcium levels and higher ALP and ACP activities. The increase in the levelsof these parameters with time shows that they could be of importance in monitoring treatment and disease progress in a resource-poor setting.

This experiment investigated the effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) on the survival and immune responses of scallop Chlamys farreri. The scallops (initial mean dry weight of soft tissue 1.52±0.10 g) were cultivated in the seawater with different DO levels (8.5, 6.5, 4.5, ...

Traditionally, the dependence of enzyme activity on temperature has been described by a model consisting of two processes: the catalytic reaction defined by ΔGDaggercat, and irreversible inactivation defined by ΔGDaggerinact. However, such a model does not account for the observed temperature-dependent behaviour of enzymes, and a new model has been developed and validated. This model (the Equilibrium Model) describes a new mechanism by which enzymes lose activity at high temperatures, by including an inactive form of the enzyme (Einact) that is in reversible equilibrium with the active form (Eact); it is the inactive form that undergoes irreversible thermal inactivation to the thermally denatured state. This equilibrium is described by an equilibrium constant whose temperature-dependence is characterized in terms of the enthalpy of the equilibrium, ΔHeq, and a new thermal parameter, Teq, which is the temperature at which the concentrations of Eact and Einact are equal; Teq may there...

Background: The detection of semen is often an important issue in the investigation of rape and other sexual assaults. The most commonly used procedures for semen identification is acid phosphatase test, which are being used in the Forensic laboratories to solve the sexual assault cases. Objectives: The objective was to determine variability in sensitivity of acid phosphatase in detection of human seminal stains by modified acid phosphatase test. Materials and Methods: Totally, 40 samples of human seminal fluid were collected from male volunteers who were neither be connected in blood relation nor showed any heredity to each other. Serial dilution of seminal fluid, preparation of seminal stain, detection and identification of seminal stains steps were used to analyze, and detection done by modified acid phosphatase test. Results: Modified acid phosphatase test can locate a 1/512 serial diluted seminal stain. Minimum level of acid phosphates enzyme detected in a serial dilution sample of seminal stains was 1/512, 1/256, 1/128, and 1/64. Conclusions: The response may vary from person to person according to the quantity of acid phosphatase enzyme in seminal fluid. Semen could be detected in 1 min on dilution up to 1/512.

Mineralized (FDBA) and demineralized freeze-dried bone allografts (DFDBA) have been proposed as substitutes for autologous bone in oral surgery. The demineralization process has been shown, in rodents, to determine osteoinduction in tissues other than bone. Other investigators have reported poor clinical results, in man, with the use of DFDBA. The aim of the present study was a comparative light microscopical

Acid phosphatase (AcP) is a commonly observed enzyme in animal semen. In this study, AcP in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) spermatozoa was partly purified and characterized. Extraction in 0.85% NaCl with 0.1% Triton X-100 enabled obtaining 95% of total AcP activity observed in sperm supernatant. Kinetic characteristics were described for the enzyme from sperm extract and for the partly purified

Mutations in superoxide dismutase (SOD1) cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of motor neurons and accompanied by accumulation of misfolded SOD1 onto the cytoplasmic faces of intracellular organelles, including mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Using inhibition of misfolded SOD1 deposition onto mitochondria as an assay, a chaperone activity abundant in nonneuronal tissues is now purified and identified to be the multifunctional macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), whose activities include an ATP-independent protein folding chaperone. Purified MIF is shown to directly inhibit mutant SOD1 misfolding. Elevating MIF in neuronal cells suppresses accumulation of misfolded SOD1 and its association with mitochondria and the ER and extends survival of mutant SOD1-expressing motor neurons. Accumulated MIF protein is identified to be low in motor neurons, implicating correspondingly low chaperone activity as a comp...

Covalent modifications of the histone N tails play important roles in eukaryotic gene expression. Histone acetylation, in particular, is required for the activation of a subset of eukaryotic genes through the targeted recruitment of histone acetyltransferases. We have reported that a histone C tail modification, ubiquitylation of H2B, is required for optimal expression of several inducible yeast genes, consistent with a role in transcriptional activation. H2B was shown to be ubiquitylated and then deubiquitylated at the GAL1 core promoter following galactose induction. We now show that the Rad6 protein, which catalyzes monoubiquitylation of H2B, is transiently associated with the GAL1 promoter upon gene activation, and that the period of its association temporally overlaps with the period of H2B ubiquitylation. Rad6 promoter association depends on the Gal4 activator and the Rad6-associated E3 ligase, Bre1, but is independent of the histone acetyltransferase, Gcn5. The SAGA complex, ...