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Biomedical subjects

G Pieroni

Publications and source records attributed to G Pieroni.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Behavior of diluted activated partial thromboplastin time in pregnant women with a lupus anticoagulant.

The present study was developed to verify whether a reduction in phospholipid concentration could increase the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) sensitivity to detect lupus anticoagulant (LA) during pregnancy. The authors studied 38 pregnant women (10 normal subjects and 28 patients with associated clinical complications) and 40 nonpregnant control subjects. Tests to detect LA, including APTT, platelet neutralization procedure (standard APTT), the kaolin clotting time, the diluted Russell viper venom test neutralized by lysed platelets, and factor assays, were performed. Positive results were found in 5 of 28 pregnant women with associated clinical complications. The APTT, using three different phospholipid concentrations (standard and more diluted cephalin), was performed on plasma samples and on its 1:1 mixture with normal plasma. The behavior of standard and diluted APTT was similar in negative LA pregnant women and nonpregnant control subjects. The mean values showed nonsignificant differences. Four of five pregnant women with positive LA findings had a prolonged APTT, which was not corrected by the addition of normal plasma using standard conditions. When diluted phospholipids were used, only one of them had a prolonged APTT that was corrected by the addition of normal plasma. Therefore, the highest sensitivity (80%) and specificity (100%) of the APTT to detect LA in pregnant women were obtained using the standard conditions.

Female↗
PubMed1990

Lipases catalyse hydrolysis of fatty acid anhydrides.

Regio-specific and non-regio-specific lipases from mammals and microorganisms catalyse the hydrolysis of short, medium and long-chain fatty acid anhydrides. All the lipases tested in the present study can catalyse the hydrolysis of pure fatty acid anhydrides more efficiently than that of glycerol tributyrate. Molecular turnovers more than four times higher than that measured using glycerol tributyrate were calculated. The presence of 0.5% (by mass) anhydride in a triacylglyceride can double the initial rate of proton release during enzymatic hydrolysis. This should be taken into account when testing the chain specificity of a lipase for various synthetic substrates. Lipase inhibition was found to be associated very often with anhydride hydrolysis. The inhibition rates depended on the anhydride and the origin of the lipase. Inhibition of lipase activity is probably due to the formation of a poorly reversible acyl-lipase complex which differs from the classical fully reversible acyl-lipase complex at the catalytic centre.

Anhydrides↗
PubMed1989

Role of a sulfhydryl group in gastric lipases. A binding study using the monomolecular-film technique.

Native human and rabbit gastric lipases (HGL and RGL, respectively) were inactivated after modification of one sulfhydryl group/enzyme molecule. HGL and RGL were covalently labeled using 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitro-[14C]benzoic acid) and the interaction of 2-nitro-5-thio-[14C]benzoic-acid-labeled lipases ([14C]Nbs-lipases) with monomolecular lipid films was investigated. Our results show that [14C]Nbs-lipases bind to lipid films as efficiently as native HGL or RGL. The critical surface pressure pi c and the maximal surface pressure (delta pi max) of [14C]Nbs-lipases were enhanced in comparison with those of native RGL and HGL. These changes in behavior were probably due to an increase in hydrophobicity brought about, directly or indirectly, by the binding of the Nbs radical. This chemical modification thus blocks the hydrolysis site and reinforces the hydrophobic character of the gastric lipases.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Importance of sulfhydryl group for rabbit gastric lipase activity.

We have shown recently that rabbit gastric lipase (RGL) purified from gastric tissue presents catalytic properties comparable with those of human gastric lipase (HGL). We report here that only one sulfhydryl group was modified per molecule of native RGL after incubation at pH 8.0 with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (NbS2) for 4 h or 4,4'-dithiopyridine (4-PDS) for 60 min. With both reagents, a direct correlation was found between the modification of one sulfhydryl group per enzyme molecule and loss of RGL activity. Incubation of RGL with the new hydrophobic sulfhydryl reagent, dodecyldithio-5-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (C12-NbS), at 30-fold molar excess, at pH 3.0, 5.0 and 8.0, induced immediate and complete inactivation of RGL. Unlike NbS2 and 4-PDS, C12-NbS almost instantaneously stopped the course of tributyrin hydrolysis by RGL, in contrast to porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL). RGL can be included with HGL in the group of sulfhydryl enzymes.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

A new kinetic approach for studying phospholipase C (Clostridium perfringens alpha toxin) activity on phospholipid monolayers.

The enzymatic activity of purified phospholipase C (alpha toxin) from Clostridium perfringens was investigated with various phospholipid monolayers. A two-step reaction was used. Enzymatic hydrolysis of insoluble lecithin films by phospholipase C, generating 1,2-diacylglycerol and water-soluble phosphocholine, was coupled with the action of pancreatic lipase in order to give rise to fatty acid and 2-monoacylglycerol, which are rapidly desorbed from the interface. With this new procedure, it is possible to obtain continuous and accurate kinetic measurements of the phospholipase C catalyzed reaction with phospholipid monolayers as the substrate. It is thus possible to avoid the use of radiolabeled substrates as necessary in previous studies, and the difficulties caused by diacylglycerol accumulation in the lipid film are minimized. No hydrolysis was detected when either phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, or phosphatidylglycerol films were used as substrates. By means of a film transfer technique, Ca2+ and Zn2+ ions were found to play a specific and critical role. The present study demonstrates clearly for the first time that Ca2+ is essential for enzyme binding to lipid films, whereas Zn2+ is specifically involved in the catalytic hydrolysis of the substrate.

Calcium↗
PubMed1988

Human gastric lipase: a sulfhydryl enzyme.

One sulfhydryl group was modified per mol of native human gastric lipase after incubation at pH 8.0 with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) for 18 h or with 4,4'-dithiopyridine for 100 min. With both reagents a direct correlation was found between the modification of one sulfhydryl group and the loss of human gastric lipase activity. Incubation of human gastric lipase with a new hydrophobic sulfhydryl reagent dodecyldithio-5-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) in 30-fold molar excess, at pH 3.0, 5.0, and 8.0, induced immediate and complete human gastric lipase inactivation. Unlike 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) and 4,4'-dithiopyridine, dodecyldithio-5-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) almost instantaneously stopped the course of tributyrin hydrolysis by human gastric lipase. Human gastric lipase can thus be said to be a sulfhydryl enzyme.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Human gastric lipase: variations induced by gastrointestinal hormones and by pathology.

Secretin and cholecystokinin-pancreozymin had no effect on the secretion of human gastric lipase, in contrast to pentagastrin, which increased the gastric lipase output but not the enzyme concentration in gastric juice. The secretion of gastric lipase was not significantly different in patients with duodenal ulcer or chronic pancreatitis and in controls. In contrast, basal gastric lipase concentration was significantly lower in children with cystic fibrosis than in normal children. This shows that neither in adults nor in children is there a compensation for a decreased lipase secretion by an increased gastric lipase secretion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Human gastric lipase. A kinetic study with dicaprin monolayers.

The effects of several proteins on the hydrolysis at pH 3.0 of didecanoylglycerol monolayers by human gastric lipase were investigated. Among the six proteins tested (bovine serum albumin, myoglobin, a protein inhibiting lipase isolated from soya bean, melittin, beta-lactoglobulin and ovalbumin), only the first three proteins were found to inhibit lipase activity. The inhibition capacity of the proteins was not related to the decrease in interfacial tension or to their isoelectric points. However, inhibition of human gastric lipase by proteins may be correlated with the penetration power of the protein into the lipid interface. It is hypothesized that this lipase has a higher penetration power than that of pancreatic lipase, even though the former enzyme is more susceptible to interfacial denaturation.

Diglycerides↗
PubMed1987

Molecular cloning of a human gastric lipase and expression of the enzyme in yeast.

The molecular cloning of a cDNA coding for human gastric lipase and its expression in yeast is described. A lipase present in human gastric aspirates was purified and its N-terminal amino-acid sequence was determined. This was found to be homologous with the N-terminal sequence of rat lingual lipase. A cDNA library was constructed from mRNA isolated from human stomach tissue and probed with cloned rat lingual lipase DNA. One clone, pGL17, consisting of approximately 1450 base-pairs, contained the entire coding sequence for a human gastric lipase. The amino-acid sequence from the isolated protein and the DNA sequence obtained from the cloned gene indicated that human gastric lipase consists of a 379 amino acid polypeptide with an unglycosylated Mr of 43,162. Human gastric lipase and rat lingual lipase amino-acid sequences were closely homologous but were unrelated to porcine pancreatic lipase apart from a 6 amino-acid sequence around the essential Ser-152 of porcine pancreatic lipase. A yeast expression plasmid containing the phosphoglycerate kinase promoter and terminator sequences together with the human gastric lipase gene was constructed. Yeast transformed with this vector synthesised the lipolytically active enzyme.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Importance of human gastric lipase for intestinal lipolysis: an in vitro study.

Using soybean triacylglycerols emulsified with egg lecithin we have studied, in vitro, the influence of substrate prehydrolysis by human gastric lipase upon subsequent degradation by the pancreatic lipase-co-lipase system. Fatty acids liberated by pure human gastric lipase or juice trigger immediate activity of human pancreatic lipase. Gastric lipolysis appears to be of prime importance for dietary lipid digestion in human.

Emulsions↗
PubMed1986

Human gastric lipase. The effect of amphiphiles.

Human gastric lipase (HGL) activity on tributyrin emulsion was detected only in the presence of amphiphiles such as bile salts, proteins (serum albumin, beta-lactoglobulin or ovalbumin) or phosphatidylcholine. These findings are contrary to the strong inhibitory effect of amphiphiles observed on pure pancreatic lipase. To reveal HGL activity, amphiphiles should be added prior to HGL. This may prevent irreversible interfacial denaturation. HGL activity was found to be restricted to a triacylglycerol/water surface tension ranging from 8 dyn/cm to 13 dyn/cm. All amphiphiles, which decrease the interfacial tension below 8 dyn/cm, act as irreversible inhibitors of HGL in the absence and in the presence of bile salts. Our results confirm that HGL is capable of hydrolysing triacylglycerol in the presence of the physiological concentration of bile salts prevailing in the upper small intestine and in the presence of alimentary proteins. These observations could explain the high dietary lipid absorption observed under pancreatic lipase deficiency.

Bile Acids and Salts↗
PubMed1986

Kinetic assay of human gastric lipase on short- and long-chain triacylglycerol emulsions.

Under optimal conditions, assay for pure human gastric lipase was carried out with short- and long-chain triacylglycerol emulsions. Maximal specific activities of 1160 and 620 U/mg were obtained with tributyrin and soybean emulsion, respectively. We observed that with a tributyrin substrate, bovine serum albumin or bile salts must be added before the addition of the enzyme in order to prevent its irreversible interfacial denaturation. With long-chain triacylglycerols as substrate, a decrease with time in the rate of hydrolysis was associated with release of protonated long-chain fatty acids. The inhibitory effect of protonated fatty acids was also observed using tributyrin at pH 3.0. These observations support the conclusion that human gastric lipase shows no intrinsic specificity for short-chain triacylglycerols and that its apparent specificity is modulated by pH and presence of amphiphile in the incubation medium. Our conclusions support the view that, in the human, gastric lipolysis may play an important role in long-chain fat digestion.

Bile Acids and Salts↗
PubMed1986

[Lipases of the digestive system].

Studies on gastrointestinal lipolysis have underestimated several important points. In view of recent in vitro data obtained in our laboratories, this review focuses on the role of gastric lipolysis during fat digestion. Polyclonal antibodies generated from purified rat lingual lipase were used to screen a cDNA library prepared from mRNA isolated from the serous glands of rat tongue cloned in E. coli expression vectors. A cDNA clone was isolated and the nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences obtained. Comparison with the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified enzyme confirmed the identity of the cDNA. The amino acid sequence of rat lingual lipase consisted of 377 residues and showed little homology with porcine pancreatic lipase, apart from a short region containing a serine residue at an analogous position to the Ser 152 of the porcine enzyme. Human gastric lipase activity on tributyrin emulsion was detected only in the presence of amphiphiles. This behaviour was in sharp contrast with the strong inhibitory effect of amphiphiles observed on pure pancreatic lipase. To reveal human gastric lipase activity, amphiphiles must be added to human gastric lipase in order to prevent irreversible interfacial denaturation. Human gastric lipase activity was found to be restricted to triacylglycerol/water surface tensions ranging from 8 to 13 dynes/cm. All amphiphiles which decrease interfacial tension to less than 8 dynes/cm act as irreversible inhibitors of human gastric lipase in the absence or presence of bile salts. Our results confirm that human gastric lipase is capable of hydrolysing triacylglycerol in the presence of the bile salts concentration prevailing in the upper small intestine and in the presence of alimentary proteins. These observations could explain the high dietary lipid absorption observed under pancreatic lipase deficiency.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1985

Inhibition of lipases by proteins. A kinetic study with dicaprin monolayers.

We report further investigations on protein inhibition of pancreatic and microbial lipases carried out with the monolayer technique. When beta-lactoglobulin A, melittin, serum albumin, myoglobin, and a protein inhibiting lipase from soybean were preincubated with a dicaprin film at a surface pressure of 35 dynes/cm, no activity was detected with horse pancreatic or Rhizopus delemar lipases. By contrast, Rhizopus arrhizus and Geotrichum candidum lipase activities were not impaired under the same conditions. Experiments using mixed lipid-protein film transfer clearly show that the inhibition of pancreatic lipase is due to the protein associated with lipid and not caused by direct protein-enzyme interaction in the aqueous phase. Three parameters were used to determine the surface properties of the various proteins at the dicaprin/water interface; namely, the initial rate of surface pressure increase, (delta pi/delta t)t = 0, the maximal surface pressure increase, delta pi max, and the critical surface pressure, pi c. A positive correlation was observed between values of (delta pi/delta t)t = 0 of proteins and their respective capacity to inhibit pancreatic and R. delemar lipases. By contrast, there was no apparent correlation with the two other parameters, delta pi max or pi c.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Observations on the critical micellar concentration of 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and a series of its homologs and analogs.

In a study designed to explore the physical chemical characteristics of platelet activating factor (PAF), or 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, the critical micellar concentration of this compound, as well as the propionyl, butyryl and hexanoyl homologs was determined. In addition, an analogous series of compounds, in which the 1-O-alkyl was replaced by a 1-O-hexadecanoyl or a 1-O-octadecanoyl group, were examined for their critical micellar concentration. A variety of analytical techniques including NMR, gas liquid chromatography, infra-red spectrometry, thin layer chromatography, phosphorus, choline, glyceryl ether and fatty acid analyses were used to confirm the high purity of the individual derivatives. A dye binding assay and a surface tension technique were compared as to their suitability for determination of the critical micellar concentration of these compounds. Whereas the dye binding method proved highly variable, the surface tension procedure proved to be a facile, reproducible technique and was the assay of choice. The critical micellar concentration of the 1-O-alkyl and the 1-O-acyl derivatives showed comparable values for each short chain substituent at carbon 2, with values, in microM, ranging from 1.3 +/- 0.03 for 1-O-hexadecanoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1.1 +/- 0.10 for 1-O-hexadecyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine to 0.22 +/- 0.01 for 1-O-hexadecanoyl-2-hexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 0.18 +/- 0.03 for 1-O-hexadecyl-2-hexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. The data show that at the molar concentration usually employed in biological studies with these compounds, i.e., 1 X 10(-7) to 10(-11) M, one can assume that they will be present as monomolecular species. Thus, it seems unlikely that the widely diverse biological activities of these compounds can be explained by this physical parameter.

Acylation↗
PubMed1984

Studies on the inhibition of pancreatic and microbial lipases by soybean proteins.

A protein, molecular weight 70,000 that inhibits pancreatic lipase has been isolated from soybean seeds. Inhibition is not reversed by colipase unless bile salts are added to the assay system. Inhibitory properties of the purified protein are very similar to those of serum albumin or alpha-lactoglobulin. It has been confirmed that, during intestinal lipolysis of dietary fats, bile salts play an essential role for the activation of the lipase-colipase system in the presence of inhibitory proteins. The purified soybean lipase inhibitory protein was shown to be highly surface-active and able to penetrate monomolecular films of various glycerides and phospholipids at high surface pressure. Inhibition of pancreatic lipase by proteins is related to their capacity to interact with lipids and to modify the quality of the substrate-water interface. The protein isolated from soybeans inhibits pancreatic and Rh. delemar lipase in contrast to the Rh. arrhizus enzyme.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1983

Metabolic behavior of acetyl glyceryl ether phosphorylcholine on interaction with rabbit platelets.

The metabolic fate of 1-O-[3H]alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine ([3H]-AGEPC) upon interaction with rabbit platelets was investigated. [3H]AGEPC was converted to a product identified as the long-chain fatty acyl analog. The reaction was unaffected by extracellular calcium. After a lag time of 30 to 60 s the kinetics of the conversion was linear. The rate of the reaction was found to be a function of platelet and AGEPC concentrations. Of the [3H]AGEPC (10(-9) M) 85 +/- 5% was processed into the-long chain fatty acyl analog within 1 h when incubated at 37 degrees C with a 1.25 X 10(9) platelets per milliliter suspension. A maximal number of 1200 to 3600 [3H]AGEPC molecules were converted to the long-chain fatty acyl derivative per minute per platelet in the presence of 2 mM EDTA. Under similar conditions the 1-O-[3H]alkyl-2-(lyso)-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine ([3H]lysoGEPC) also was transformed to a comparable long-chain fatty acyl derivative at a much slower rate and to a lower extent. No significant increase in lysoGEPC was noted in incubation mixtures containing [3H]AGEPC. The possible direct transacylation of AGEPC upon interaction with platelets is discussed as well as the possible involvement of this reaction in directly triggering the platelet response to AGEPC stimuli.

Animals↗