PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N Shimamoto

Publications and source records attributed to N Shimamoto.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Autocrine and paracrine effects of endothelium-derived relaxing factor on intracellular Ca2+ of endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. Identification by two-dimensional image analysis in coculture.

To elucidate the effects of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) released from vascular endothelial cells (ECs) on handling of intracellular calcium ion (Ca2+i) in ECs themselves and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), we measured the Ca2+i by two-dimensional digital image analysis of fura-2-loaded ECs and VSMCs in tissue culture. In isoculture of one cell type, adenosine triphosphate (ATP, 1 microM) transiently increased the Ca2+i of both ECs and VSMCs. High-K+ depolarization or angiotensin II also elevated the Ca2+i of VSMCs, whereas neither stimulants changed the Ca2+i of ECs. In coculture of ECs with VSMCs, the same dose of ATP rapidly increased the Ca2+i of ECs and then transiently decreased the Ca2+i of VSMCs to below the resting level. The maximal Ca2+i-modulating effects of ATP on both cell types were reproducible after the second application of ATP. Three kinds of EDRF blockers (L-NG-monomethylarginine, methemoglobin, or methylene blue) potentiated the ATP-induced Ca2+i rise in ECs and attenuated the Ca2+i reduction in VSMCs, suggesting the autocrine and paracrine effects of EDRF on ECs and VSMCs, respectively. However, neither indomethacin, superoxide dismutase, nor neutralizing monoclonal antibody to endothelin-1 altered the second responses. Thus, two-dimensional Ca2+i image analysis of ECs and VSMCs in coculture enabled direct visualization of the EDRF actions in ECs and VSMCs and their modifications.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1992

Morphological pathway of flagellar assembly in Salmonella typhimurium.

The process of flagellar assembly was investigated in Salmonella typhimurium. Seven types of flagellar precursors produced by various flagellar mutants were purified by CsCl density gradient protocol. They were characterized morphologically by electron microscopy, and biochemically by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The MS ring is formed in the absence of any other flagellar components, including the switch complex and the putative export apparatus. Four proteins previously identified as rod components, FlgB, FlgC, FlgF, FlgG, and another protein, FliE, assemble co-operatively into a stable structure. The hook is formed in two distinct steps; formation of its proximal part and elongation. Proximal part formation occurs, but elongation does not occur, in the absence of the LP ring. FlgD is necessary for hook formation, but not for LP-ring formation. A revised pathway of flagellar assembly is proposed based on these and other results.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1991

Requirement for the beta,gamma-pyrophosphate bond of ATP in a stage between transcription initiation and elongation by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase.

A linear fragment of DNA was fixed to acrylamide or agarose beads by its ends. When a fragment containing the lambda PR promoter is immobilized and transcribed, the RNA products are unchanged from those obtained on the unfixed DNA. Transcription from the immobilized fragment can be interrupted by diluting the reaction mixture into a large volume of the same buffer. Brief centrifugation allows isolation of the transcription complex with the immobilized DNA. If interruption occurs during elongation, the elongation can be resumed upon a second addition of substrates. If ATP is replaced by a beta, gamma-unhydrolyzable analogue in the second addition, the elongated products are similar to those obtained when the substrate contain ATP. When ATP is replaced by the analogue at the initiation step, however, the yield of elongated products is decreased to less than one-sixth and that of short abortive products is increased. Thus the ATP analogues are good substrates once elongation has been established in the presence of ATP, but not good enough to get past a stage just after initiation in the absence of ATP. We conclude that the beta, gamma-pyrophosphate bond of ATP is important for preparation of efficient elongation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1991

Contribution of endogenous endothelin to the extension of myocardial infarct size in rats.

Pathophysiological roles of endogenous endothelin have been studied from the viewpoint of its contribution to the extension of myocardial infarct size. A monoclonal antibody against endothelin 1 (AwETN40) suppressed changes induced by endothelin 1 and endothelin 2 but did not modify those by endothelin 3 in vivo or in vitro. Effects of AwETN40 on myocardial infarct size were investigated. Coronary ligation (1 hour) and reperfusion (24 hours) in rats caused infarction in 35% of the left ventricle. Repetitive or single administration of AwETN40 reduced the infarct size; an intravenous injection of 22.5 mg/kg of the antibody 5 minutes after coronary occlusion or 5 minutes before reperfusion reduced the size by 38% or 31% of the control, respectively. Plasma and tissue endothelin 1 and plasma big endothelin 1 in rats were measured at various stages after occlusion. Plasma endothelin 1 showed a fourfold increase 10 minutes after reperfusion (from 1.02 to 3.96 pg/ml) and had returned to the control value after 8 hours. Plasma big endothelin 1 showed changes similar to those of plasma endothelin 1. No significant changes in plasma endothelin 2 and endothelin 3 were observed. Cardiac tissue contained seven times as much endothelin 1 as the control value 1 hour after reperfusion (4.59 versus 33.1 pg/g tissue), and a high concentration (13.2 pg/g tissue) was maintained even after 48 hours. We concluded that an increase in endogenous endothelin 1 plays an important role in the extension of myocardial infarct size.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Effects of pretreatment with 2-O-octadecylascorbic acid, a novel free radical scavenger, on reperfusion-induced arrhythmias in isolated perfused rat hearts.

The effects of pretreatment with 2-O-octadecylascorbic acid (CV-3611), a novel liposoluble free radical scavenger, on reperfusion-induced arrhythmias were studied in isolated perfused rat hearts (n = 15 per group). The hearts were subjected to 10 min of coronary artery occlusion and 3 min of reperfusion. Pretreatment with CV-3611 (5 and 20 mg/kg) reduced the incidence of ventricular fibrillation (VF; reversible plus sustained) from its control value of 93% to 47% (p less than 0.05). Furthermore, CV-3611 reduced the incidence of sustained VF in a dose-dependent manner, from 67% in the control group to 13% in the CV-3611, 20 mg/kg treated group (p less than 0.01). CV-3611 (5 and 20 mg/kg) reduced the incidence of ventricular tachycardia (VT) from its control value of 93% to 73%. Pretreatment with ascorbic acid (5 mg/kg) had no effect on VF and VT. The myocardial content of CV-3611 was proportional to the dosage. We concluded that CV-3611 could reduce significantly the susceptibility to reperfusion-induced arrhythmias, especially VF, and that its effect may be due to the elimination of oxygen-derived free radicals by CV-3611 present in the membrane and the capture of lipid radicals, thereby inhibiting lipid peroxidation.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Cardiovascular effects of endothelin in dogs: positive inotropic action in vivo.

Endothelin, administered i.v. to anesthetized dogs, dose dependently increased the cardiac output, left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), and maximum upstroke velocity (max dp/dt) of the LVSP for about 10 min without changing the heart rate. Thereafter the cardiac output decreased to below the control level but max dp/dt decreased to the control level. The arterial pressure and total peripheral resistance showed an initial, transient decrease followed by a sustained increase. These results suggest that endothelin has positive inotropic and long-lasting vasoconstrictive effects preceded by transient vasodilatation in vivo.

Anesthesia↗
PubMed1989

Purification of an autocrine growth factor in conditioned medium obtained from primary cultures of scleral fibroblasts of the chick embryo.

Scleral fibroblasts of the chick embryo were found to secrete autocrine growth factors. One of the factors was purified from conditioned medium collected from growing-phase cultures of these cells by DEAE-Sepharose column chromatography and following non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The specific activity was increased 1100-fold by this purification. The chromatographically purified growth factor was still active after incubation at 95 degrees C, at pH 10 or pH 3, or with glycosidase H, but inactive after incubation with dithiothreitol or trypsin. An active protein having a molecular weight of 32 kDa was found to be the major component of the final preparation.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Positive inotropic and vasoconstrictive effects of endothelin-1 in in vivo and in vitro experiments: characteristics and the role of L-type calcium channels.

Cardiac and vascular effects of endothelin-1 (ET-1) were studied in hemodynamic models in vivo and in isolated artery and heart tissues. The hemodynamic changes induced by ET-1 (30-300 pmol/kg i.v.) in dogs were increases in blood pressure, cardiac output, and ventricular contractility. Ring preparations of canine coronary artery and rabbit thoracic aorta showed vasoconstrictive responses to ET-1 (10(-10) M and over) with an EC50 of 3-10 x 10(-9) M. Nifedipine 10(-5) M did not reverse these effects completely. ET-1 had positive inotropic effects from 10(-10) M in rabbit papillary muscles. It lengthened the action potential duration by 16% and increased the developed tension by 180% (10(-8) M). In contrast, Bay K 8644 (10(-7) M) produced similar lengthening (17%) in the duration with only a 37% increase in the tension. This suggests a difference in the mechanisms of the positive inotropic effects between these two agents. We conclude that ET-1 has positive inotropic and vasoconstrictive effects, and that these ET-1-induced contractions in ventricular muscles and arteries cannot be explained thoroughly by the increase in currents through voltage-dependent calcium channels.

3-Pyridinecarboxylic acid, 1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethy↗
PubMed1988

Studies on scavengers of active oxygen species. 1. Synthesis and biological activity of 2-O-alkylascorbic acids.

A novel series of 2-O-alkylascorbic acids (5a-u) was synthesized, and their scavenging activities against active oxygen species as well as their suppressive effects on the arrhythmias in rat heart ischemia-reperfusion models were evaluated. Some 2-O-alkylascorbic acids (5e-1) exhibited potent inhibiting activities against lipid peroxidation in rat brain homogenates and in alleviating effects in the ischemia-reperfusion models. Studies on the structure-activity relationship demonstrated that a free 3-enolic hydroxyl group and the longer alkyl chains substituted on the 2-hydroxyl group of ascorbic acid were beneficial for the biological and pharmacological activities. 2-O-Octadecylascorbic acid (5k, CV-3611), one of the most potent and promising compounds, markedly inhibited lipid peroxidation (IC50 = 4.3 X 10(-6) M) and alleviated myocardial lesions induced by ischemia-reperfusion at an oral dose of 1 mg/kg in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Catch-relaxing peptide isolated from Mytilus pedal ganglia.

A peptide that relaxes catch tension of the anterior byssus retractor muscle of Mytilus edulis was purified from pedal ganglion extracts of the mussel. Its primary structure was determined to be H-Ala-Met-Pro-Met-Leu-Arg-Leu-NH2. This peptide was found to have not only catch-relaxing action on the byssus retractor muscle but also modulatory actions on contractions in various molluscan muscles.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Specific and cooperative binding of E. coli single-stranded DNA binding protein to mRNA.

Fluorometric titration of E. coli single-stranded DNA binding protein with various RNAs showed that the protein specifically and cooperatively binds to its own mRNA. The binding inhibited in vitro expression of ssb and bla but not nusA. This inhibition takes place at a physiological concentration of SSB. The function of the protein in gene regulation is discussed.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1987

Coronary hyperperfusion and myocardial metabolism in isolated and intact hearts.

We determined the independent influence of coronary hyperperfusion on myocardial metabolism in isolated and intact hearts. In an isovolumic blood-perfused rat heart preparation working against a left ventricular (LV) balloon, the effect of increasing coronary perfusion pressure from 100 to 150 mmHg was assessed. In three groups of rat hearts LV volume was fixed to obtain LV peak pressures of 42 +/- 3, 101 +/- 5, and 130 +/- 6 mmHg. With coronary hyperperfusion, LV pressure increased 27, 18, and 16%, LV maximum time derivative of pressure (dP/dt) increased 39, 20, and 22%, and myocardial O2 consumption (VO2) increased 16, 17, and 33%, respectively. In a fourth group, LV peak pressure was held constant at 92 +/- 4 mmHg during coronary hyperperfusion by decreasing LV volume. In this group, despite an increase in coronary blood flow of 48%, there was no significant difference in LV maximum dP/dt or myocardial VO2. Thus, in isolated rat hearts, coronary hyperperfusion was not an independent stimulus to myocardial VO2. To further test this, the effect of coronary hyperperfusion on myocardial metabolism was studied in an intact working swine heart preparation where the cardiac output was fixed with a right heart bypass circuit. Fatty acid oxidation in the left anterior descending bed was assessed by production of 14CO2 from [14C(U)]palmitate. A comparison of coronary perfusion 106 +/- 5 vs. 197 +/- 5 mmHg resulted in no significant change in global LV function, including LV internal diameter. Despite a 70% increase in coronary blood flow, there was no significant change in myocardial VO2 or fatty acid utilization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Release of the sigma subunit of Escherichia coli DNA-dependent RNA polymerase depends mainly on time elapsed after the start of initiation, not on length of product RNA.

To elucidate the mechanism of sigma release in the transcript by Escherichia coli DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, we obtained the time courses of sigma release and elongation of product RNA by a rapid kinetic technique; transcription was synchronously initiated from A1 promoter on T7 DNA by the addition of four substrates to a stoichiometric mixture of holoenzyme and template DNA, and then quenched by the addition of EDTA. The elongation rate was changed by limiting the concentration of one of four substrates, GTP. At reduced GTP concentration, elongation was decelerated, but the time course of sigma release was unchanged. No connection between sigma release and length of RNA product was found. The results lead to the conclusion that sigma is released depending only on time elapsed after initiation, not on the length of RNA product. We propose a two-step model for sigma release with a rapid triggering and a slow dissociation of about 5 s. This dissociation, the rate-determining step of sigma release, is independent of the rate of elongation.

DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases↗
PubMed1985

Enhanced responsiveness of the coronary blood vessel of the dog heart-lung preparation to PGI2 after chronic chemical sympathectomy.

Chronic chemical denervation of the sympathetic nervous system with 6-OH dopamine resulted in an augmentation of the coronary blood flow (CBF) increase inherent in the canine heart-lung preparation, but not in an augmented accumulation of 6-keto PGF1 alpha in the circulating blood. In denervated HLP, 6-keto PGF1 alpha was lower and the vasodilator response to PGI2 larger at the start of the experiments. It was concluded that exaggerated increase in CBF was due to a potentiation of the vasodilator response to PGI2.

6-Ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha↗