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J Gillette

Publications and source records attributed to J Gillette.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Individual trajectories of cognitive decline in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

The course of decline was studied in 16 patients with probable or definite dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) over 2.7 to 6.8 years from first to last evaluation. Overall severity of dementia was measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), at approximately annual intervals. An initial plateau phase, during which language and cognitive functions did not change for periods of 9 to 35 months, was observed in 5 patients who initially had an isolated memory impairment without significant impairment of nonmemory language or visuospatial function. Once nonmemory functions began to decline, the rate of decline was remarkably steady in most individual patients but varied markedly among patients. The initial rate of decline after the plateau phase, as measured with the WAIS and DRS, was a significant predictor of subsequent rate in individual patients (r = .66, p less than .01, and r = .67, p less than .01, for the WAIS and DRS, respectively). The MMSE was a less reliable measure of longitudinal change in dementia severity and did not predict future rates of decline (r = .29). These results demonstrate a biphasic trajectory of decline in patients with DAT. Stable interindividual differences in rate of decline may provide a basis for designing more sensitive studies of treatments intended to slow or halt the progress of DAT.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Estradiol metabolism by complementary deoxyribonucleic acid-expressed human cytochrome P450s.

Twelve forms of human cytochrome P450 were synthesized in human hepatoma Hep G2 cells by means of cDNA-directed expression using vaccinia virus. The cDNA-expressed enzymes were tested for their ability to oxidize estradiol. Incubation of [14C]estradiol with cell lysates containing P450 IA2 resulted in the production of 2-hydroxy and 4-hydroxy metabolites with substrate turnovers of 2.74 and 0.27 min-1, respectively. P450s IIIA3 and IIIA4 yielded the same metabolites at about one third the rate of P450 IA2. Low levels of estradiol hydroxylation were also catalyzed by P450s IIC9, IIIA5, and IVB1. Six other P450 forms yielded no detectable metabolism. The roles of P450s IA2, IIA3, and IIIA4 were further established by immunoinhibition using antirat P450 antibodies. Antibody that specifically binds to P450 IIIA3 and IIIA4 inhibited 60-70% of estradiol hydroxylation, and antibody against P450 IA2 inhibited 20-40% of the estradiol hydroxylase activity in microsomes from two human liver specimens, suggesting that these enzymes constitute the major forms catalyzing estradiol oxidation in human liver. Immunoinhibition results also suggest that 2-hydroxy- and/or 4-hydroxycatechol estrogens are further metabolized to other yet uncharacterized metabolites by P450s IIIA3 and IIIA4.

Antibodies↗
PubMed1989

Sequence requirements for cytochrome P-450IIB1 catalytic activity. Alteration of the stereospecificity and regioselectivity of steroid hydroxylation by a simultaneous change of two hydrophobic amino acid residues to phenylalanine.

The phenobarbital-inducible P-450 forms IIB1 and IIB2 are identical in sequence except for 14 amino acid differences within the carboxyl-terminal half of the molecule. IIB1 has about a 5-10-fold higher turnover number for most monooxygenase substrates examined although the substrate specificities of both enzymes are virtually identical. Both P-450s oxygenate testosterone to yield the 16 alpha-hydroxy, 16 beta-hydroxy, 17-keto, and 16 beta-hydroxy, 17-keto metabolites as major products. A variant IIB2 cDNA, isolated from an uninduced rat liver lambda gt11 library, and when expressed in Hep G2 cells using a vaccinia virus vector, was found to code for a protein that produced the 16 alpha-hydroxy and 17-keto metabolites of testosterone but no 16 beta-hydroxylated products. Although the published sequences of IIB1 and IIB2 are identical within the N-terminal halves of the proteins, sequence analysis of the variant cDNA revealed two amino acid substitutions in this region; Leu58----Phe and I1e114----Phe. When these two amino acid changes were incorporated into IIB1, via construction of a chimeric cDNA, the resultant expressed enzyme did not catalyze the 16 beta-hydroxylation of testosterone or androstenedione. Formation of the 16 alpha-hydroxy and 17-keto metabolites, however, was only slightly reduced compared with the parent IIB1. A IIB1 protein that possessed only the I1e114----Phe replacement catalyzed the production of all four testosterone metabolites with only slightly different product ratios compared with the parent enzyme. The substrate specificity of a IIB1 variant containing only the Leu58----Phe replacement could not be determined, since that protein did not accumulate in cells infected with the corresponding recombinant vaccinia virus. These data suggest that two distinct amino acid residues located within the amino-terminal fourth of IIB1 and IIB2 can affect substrate orientation at the active site.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Novel exogenous heme-dependent expression of mammalian cytochrome P450 using baculovirus.

Rat P450 IIA1 is a membrane-bound hemoprotein that catalyzes the 7 alpha- and 6 alpha-hydroxylation of testosterone. A recombinant baculovirus, containing the cDNA encoding IIA1, was constructed and used to infect Spodoptera frugiperda cells. Infected cells contained up to 10% IIA1 protein as quantified by Western blot analysis; however, only a small percentage of this protein contained heme and was catalytically active. Addition of hemin to the culture medium during the course of viral infection resulted in a marked sixfold increase in both testosterone hydroxylase activity and heme-containing IIA1 protein. When the exogenously added protoheme was substituted with modified heme molecules containing hydrogen or ethyl groups at the 2 and 4 positions of the protoporphyrin IX, enzymes with only marginal changes in catalytic properties were produced. These data indicate that baculovirus can be used as a system to produce high levels of mammalian cytochrome P450s containing custom modified heme moieties.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

cDNA-directed expression of rat testosterone 7 alpha-hydroxylase using the modified vaccinia virus, T7-RNA-polymerase system and evidence for 6 alpha-hydroxylation and delta 6-testosterone formation.

The modified vaccinia virus, T7-RNA-polymerase cDNA-expression system was used to express rat cytochrome P-450a. Various parameters such as host-cell type and density, and duration of infection were tested to optimize the level of expression of cytochrome P-450a enzyme activity. Cytochrome P-450a expressed from the cDNA sequence was exclusively incorporated into the membrane-containing portions of the cell lysates, as expected from its normal association in the liver endoplasmic reticulum. The enzyme displayed a carbon-monoxide-reduced-cytochrome-P-450a difference spectrum with a Soret maximum of 450 nm. Activity measurements revealed that cytochrome P-450a produced three metabolites of testosterone; 7 alpha-hydroxytestosterone and 6 alpha-hydroxytestosterone and delta 6-testosterone at a ratio of about 38:1:1. Under the appropriate conditions, the vaccinia-virus, T7-RNA-polymerase system produces high levels of a single form of cytochrome P-450 in cells that are virtually devoid of endogenous cytochrome P-450. Analysis of the cytochrome P-450 in its natural membrane-bound state, as opposed to artificial-lipid reconstitution studies of purified enzymes, allows accurate and confident measurements of substrate specificities.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Rat testosterone 7 alpha-hydroxylase. Isolation, sequence, and expression of cDNA and its developmental regulation and induction by 3-methylcholanthrene.

A P-450, designated P-450a, with high testosterone 7 alpha-hydroxylase activity was purified from rat liver microsomes. Specific polyclonal antibody against this P-450 was used to screen a lambda gt11 expression cDNA library and a 1687-base pair cDNA was isolated and sequenced. The deduced protein had 492 amino acids, a calculated Mr of 56,016, and it shared 51 and 45% amino acid similarities to P-450e and P-450f, respectively. Regions of similarity were distributed in distinct areas of high and low similarity along the P-450a primary sequence. P-450a cDNA was introduced into yeast cells using the expression vector pAAH5, and the resultant yeast microsomes contained both a protein of identical electrophoretic mobility to that of rat P-450a and testosterone 7 alpha-hydroxylase activity. These results confirm enzyme reconstitution data and antibody inhibition data that P-450a possesses testosterone 7 alpha-hydroxylase activity. The antibody and cDNA probes were used to examine the mechanism of regulation of P-450a by inducers and during development. P-450a and its mRNA were present at low level in newborn rats and increased to maximal level at 1 week of age in both males and females. At age 12 weeks, however, the P-450a level decreased in males but remained elevated in females. Concomitant with the decrease in P-450a in adult males was an increase in level of another immunologically related P-450. In adult male rats, P-450a was induced almost 5-fold by administration of 3-methylcholanthrene and this induction was the result of an increase in its mRNA. These results establish testosterone 7 alpha-hydroxylase as a member of the P-450e gene family that is developmentally regulated, sex-dependent, and markedly inducible by 3-methylcholanthrene.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase: characterization of a new P450 gene subfamily, regulation, chromosomal mapping, and molecular analysis of the DA rat polymorphism.

Debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase (P450db1) was purified from rat liver microsomes. Polyclonal antibody was produced and, in conjunction with immunoblots, was used to identify and purify a second immunorelated P450 (P450db2) that does not have debrisoquine hydroxylating activity. The cDNA clones to db1 and db2 were isolated from a lambda gt11 expression library, sequenced, and found to share 78% nucleotide and 73% deduced amino acid similarities. These similarities are evenly dispersed along the sequence except for a region of 190 nucleotides with 99% similarity near the carboxyl terminus of the protein-coding region; this similarity is probably the remnant of a gene conversion event. Both proteins share between 38% and 43% amino acid similarity with P450a, P450b, P450e, P450f, P450PB1, and P450j; these data indicate that P450db1 and P450db2 are members of a separate subfamily within the P450II gene family. Southern blot analysis and preliminary genomic cloning suggest that at least four genes exist in the subfamily, although the present evidence suggests that only db1 and db2 are expressed in rat liver. With the use of 19 mouse X hamster somatic cell hybrids, the db1 and db2 genes were localized to mouse chromosome 15 (P450-2D locus). A polymorphism has been described for debrisoquine metabolism in the DA rat strain, adult females having markedly decreased debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase activity. Our immunoblot analysis and mRNA analysis suggest that debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase deficiency in the female DA rat is not due to a decrease in db1 protein or mRNA. The db1 and db2 proteins are differentially regulated: during development db2 is present at birth while db1 is absent, and db1 increases by 1 week of age; in addition, db1 is slightly induced by phenobarbital, 3-methyl-cholanthrene, and dexamethasone whereas db2 is marginally increased by these latter two agents. These results demonstrate that debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase is a member of a new constitutively expressed P450II sub-family containing two or more genes in the rat and establish that the debrisoquine polymorphism in the DA rat is probably due to a structurally altered db1 protein.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

cDNA-directed expression of rat P450s IIA1 and IIA2. Catalytic activities toward steroids and xenobiotics and comparison with the enzymes purified from liver.

Cytochromes P-450IIA1 and IIA2 are steroid hydroxylases that are expressed in rat liver. The cDNAs for these enzymes were recently sequenced and compared. To study and compare the catalytic activities of IIA1 and IIA2, their cDNAs were inserted into a vaccinia virus expression vector and expressed in human hepatoma Hep G2 cells. IIA2 was able to efficiently catalyze ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation and propoxycoumarin O-depropylation, while IIA1 was inactive toward these substrates. Neither enzyme could catalyze ethoxy- and pentoxyresorufin dealkylation reactions. Both cDNA-expressed IIA1 and IIA2 metabolize testosterone and these activities were quantitatively and qualitatively similar to those obtained with the purified enzymes. IIA1 produced 7 alpha-hydroxy, 6 alpha-hydroxy, and delta 6-testosterone at ratios of 9:0.5:0.5 while IIA2 formed 15 alpha-hydroxytestosterone, an unknown metabolite and four minor metabolites. Progesterone metabolism was also studied. IIA1 yielded a 9.5:0.5 ratio of 7 alpha-hydroxy and 6 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, while IIA2 produced at least six metabolites. These studies establish the conditions and verify the reliability and accuracy of the vaccinia virus expression system for studies on the enzymology of IIA1 and IIA2.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Advocacy and nursing: implications for women's health care.

A recent government report indicates that women in Victoria are dissatisfied with the health care they receive. Advocacy is presented as a core concept which could be utilized by nurses to effect change in women's health care. Some models of advocacy in the nursing literature are examined and related to the aims of the women's health movement. The model of patients' rights advocate appears to have the greatest congruence with the aims of this movement and could be adopted by nurses to improve women's experience of the health care they receive.

Female↗