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Identification of the bioactive peptide PEC-60 in brain.

PEC-60 is a 60-residue peptide originally isolated from pig intestine. It inhibits glucose-induced insulin secretion from perfused pancreas in a hormonal manner and also has biological activity in the immune system. PEC-60-like immunoreactive material has been reported in catecholamine neurons of the central and peripheral nervous systems, but the peptide has not been identified from that material. We have now isolated PEC-60 from pig and rat brains with a method that combines column purification procedures with the specificity of a radioimmunoassay and the sensitivity of mass spectrometry to directly identify the peptide. The results show that PEC-60, like many other peptides, is expressed in the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. The specific regional brain distribution and interaction with classical neurotransmitters raise the possibility that PEC-60 may play a role in the central nervous system disorders involving dopamine dysregulation.

Animals↗

Immunochemical demonstration of Eisenia tetradecapeptide, a bioactive peptide isolated from the gut of the earthworm Eisenia foetida, in tissues of the earthworm.

The quantity and localization of Eisenia tetradecapeptide which was isolated from the gut of the earthworm Eisenia foetida were examined in tissues of the same species by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemistry. Analysis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that Eisenia-tetradecapeptide-like immunoreactivity was present in both the central nervous system (cerebral ganglion, subesophageal ganglion, ventral ganglia, and ventral nerve cord) and the gut (esophagus, crop, gizzard, and intestine). The central nervous system contained a higher amount of Eisenia-tetradecapeptide-like immunoreactivity (1.3 pmol/mg wet weight) than the gut (0.2-0.6 pmol/mg wet weight). Eisenia-tetradecapeptide-like immunoreactivity was scarcely detected in the body-wall muscle, nephridia, and sexual organs (testis, ovary, seminal vesicle, and ovisac). Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that intense Eisenia-tetradecapeptide-like immunopositive cells and nerve fibers were present in the central nervous system. Immunoreactivity was found in the epithelial cells lining the esophagus and in the submucous plexus in various parts of the gut. Thus, the present study suggests that Eisenia tetradecapeptide is a neuropeptide and/or peptide hormone present in both the central nervous system and the gut of the earthworm and that its role involves the regulation of gut motility.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Amidating processing enzyme complex for bioactive peptides (PAM) shows differences in specific activity and form in secretory granules isolated from the proximal and distal parts of the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal tract in rats.

In rats the PAM specific activity in hypothalamic and neurohypophyseal extracts was 0.58 +/- 0.8, respectively 1.78 +/- 0.6 nmol.mg prot.-1 x h-1 (n = 5). PHM specific activity in the soluble part of the granules was higher in the neurohypophyseal than in the hypothalamic granules, and the fraction of total PHM and PAL present in the soluble part increased with the distance from the hypothalamus from some 45% to approx. 85%. Western blots of membrane and soluble granule fractions showed prevalence of higher mol. wt. forms in hypothalamic granules. It would appear that higher mol. wt. forms of PAM are processed by proteolytic enzymes during transport in the neuron and that non-neural cells in the neurohypophysis have a considerable PAM activity.

Animals↗

A novel approach to the design of potent bioactive peptides by incorporation of proline brackets: antiplatelet effects of Arg-Gly-Asp peptides.

Enhancing the potency of peptides is a critical and important step in the development of peptide drugs. We have proposed that proline residues flanking protein-protein interaction sites perform a structural role in enhancing their interaction [R.M. Kini and H.J. Evans, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 212 (1995) 1115-1124]. To test this theory, we incorporated proline residues on either or both sides of the interaction site of an antiplatelet peptide, IARGDMNA and determined the inhibitory potency of the peptides in whole blood aggregation. Inclusion of one proline residue, on either the amino or carboxy terminal side of the interaction site, enhances the antiplatelet activity to approximately the same extent (1.5- to 2.5-fold). Incorporation of proline residues on both sides enhances the activity by 7- to 13-fold. This enhancement of the biological activity of the peptide is probably due to a reduction in the number of possible conformations of the peptide, without introducing the rigidity that would accompany cyclization. Incorporation of proline brackets thus provides a novel approach to the design and development of more potent peptide drugs and ligands.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes by bioactive peptides derived from bovine milk proteins.

The in vitro modulation of the proliferation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes by different synthetic peptides derived from milk proteins was investigated. Therefore, proliferation changes were followed up after incorporation of BrdU into the DNA, and the influence on protein biosynthesis was measured using the [3H]leucine incorporation test. Tyr-Gly and Tyr-Gly-Gly significantly enhanced (maximal 90 and 35%, respectively) the proliferation of PBL. For beta-casomorphin-7 and beta-casomorphin-10,lymphocyte proliferation was suppressed at lower concentrations, but stimulated at higher concentrations (> or = 10(-7) mol/l). Protein synthesis was stimulated (maxima at 25%) only with Tyr-Gly and Tyr-Gly-Gly. The findings point to a need for further studies on the possible function of peptides derived from milk proteins as orally bioavailable immunopotentiatory compounds.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Structure, localization, and action of buccalin B: a bioactive peptide from Aplysia.

The cholinergic motor neurons for the accessory radula closer (ARC) contain several neuropeptides that affect muscle contractions. In the present study, we have purified and sequenced a sixth ARC neuropeptide, using a combination of high pressure liquid chromatography and bioassays. This neuropeptide, Gly-Leu-Asp-Arg-Tyr-Gly-Phe-Val-Gly-Gly-Leu-amide, has been named buccalin B (BUCb) because it is significantly homologous to the previously characterized neuropeptide buccalin A. BUCb was found to be two-three times more potent than buccalin A in depressing motor neuron induced contractions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Purification and characterization of bioactive peptides from skin extracts of Rana esculenta.

The peptide fraction extracted by methanol from the skin of Rana esculenta, a species widely distributed in Western Europe, was investigated. The pharmacological activity found in the extract is attributable to the presence of authentic bradykinin, together with a shorter, partially active version of this molecule, des-Arg9-bradykinin. Also the bradykinin fragment 1-7 has been isolated, but it was inactive in our bioassay system. Moreover, a family of hydrophobic peptides has been purified and characterized, which appeared devoid of pharmacological activities when tested on smooth muscle preparations, but were provided with hemolytic activities.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Further identification of bioactive peptides in the anterior byssus retractor muscle of Mytilus: two contractile and three inhibitory peptides.

1. Two contractile and three inhibitory peptides were newly isolated from the anterior byssus retractor muscles (ABRMs) of the bivalve mollusc Mytilus edulis by using the muscle as the bioassay system. 2. The structures of the two contractile peptides were GPFGTHIKamide (GPFG-8) and GPFGLNKHGamide (GPFG-9). The contractile response of the ABRM to the first-time application of GPFG-8 or GPFG-9 was of considerable size. The threshold concentrations of the peptides were around 10(-9) M. However, the contractile response to the second-time application was far smaller than that to the first-time application in both cases. Namely, the muscle showed tachyphylaxis to the peptides. 3. Two of the three inhibitory peptides were members of the Mytilus-inhibitory-peptide (MIP) family. Their structures were RAPLFIamide (MIP6) and RSPMFVamide (MIP7). The peptides, as well as the other MIPs previously identified, showed a potent inhibitory effect on phasic contraction of the ABRM in response to repetitive electrical stimulation. The remaining one was an MIP-related peptide (MIP-RP) having the sequence of MRYFVamide. The MIP-RP was less potent than the two MIPs in inhibiting the contraction of the ABRM.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The presence of microcystins and other cyanobacterial bioactive peptides in aquatic fauna collected from Greek freshwaters.

Toxic bloom-forming cyanobacteria can cause animal death and adversely affect human health. Blooms may contain microcystins (MCs), cyanobacterial heptapeptide hepatotoxins and other peptides such as anabaenopeptins and anabaenopeptilides. MCs have been shown to occur in various aquatic organisms including mussels, water snails, crustaceans and fish. Muscle and viscera samples from eight species of fish (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, Carassius auratus, Carassius gibelio, Cyprinus carpio, Perca fluviatilis, Rutilus rubilio, Silurus aristotelis and Silurus glanis), a frog (Rana eperotica), a mussel (Anodonta sp.) and a water snail (Viviparus contectus) were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) inhibition assay (PP1IA) and ELISA. MC(s) was detected in all fish, frog, mussel and water snail samples tested by PP1IA and ELISA, including the frog R. eperotica and the freshwater snail V. contectus, in which the occurrence of MCs was not previously known. MC concentration ranged from 20 to 1500 ng g(-1)dw and from 25 to 5400 ng g(-1)dw in muscle and visceral tissue of fishes and frogs, respectively. In mussel and water snail tissue MC concentration ranged from 1650 to 3495 ng g(-1)dw. HPLC analysis revealed peaks having the same UV spectrum as anabaenopeptin- or anabaenopeptilide-like compounds, not previously known to occur in aquatic fauna tissue. The concentrations of the compounds detected ranged from 1.5 to 230 microg g(-1)dw. Comparison of the PP1IA and ELISA showed that values obtained with PP1IA where higher than those obtained with ELISA. Anabaenopeptins and/or anabaenopeptilides occurring in faunal tissue may account for the higher PP1IA values as we found that PP1 activity was inhibited by the purified anabaenopeptins A (45-60% inhibition) and B (5-75% inhibition). Purified anabaenopeptilides 90A and 90B exhibited weaker PP1 inhibition activity (5-35 and 5-23% inhibition, respectively). This is the first report of MC occurrence in aquatic animals collected from freshwaters of southern Europe.

Animals↗

Effect of beta-lactoglobulin hydrolysis with thermolysin under denaturing temperatures on the release of bioactive peptides.

In this study, bovine beta-lactoglobulin A (beta-Lg A) was hydrolysed with thermolysin under non-denaturing and heat-denaturing conditions. The peptides released during hydrolysis were identified by HPLC-MS/MS. A total of 25 peptides were identified in the hydrolysate obtained at 37 degrees C for 5 min. Some of these peptides survived to further proteolysis even at higher incubation temperatures. Furthermore, novel cleavage sites localised in the most buried zones of beta-Lg and available for thermolysin were recognised when the incubation temperature increased in the range between 60 and 80 degrees C. Three new peptides, LDA, LKPTPEGD, and LQKW, appeared after 30 min hydrolysis at these incubation temperatures, but they were not identified in the 30-min hydrolysates obtained at 37 and 50 degrees C. Of special interest was the peptide LQKW, corresponding to the fragment f(58-61) that had been previously described as a potent angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitor (IC50 value of 34.7 microM).

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Direct spectrophotometric measurement of angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity for screening bioactive peptides.

A direct, extraction-free spectrophotometric assay was developed for determination of angiotensin I-converting enzyme activity (ACE) in the presence of ACE inhibitors using hippuryl-l-histidyl-l-leucine (HHL) as the ACE-specific substrate. This method relies on previously published spectrophotometric determination of hippuric acid (HA) content in the urine, the method of which was based on the specific colorimetric reaction of HA with benzene sulfonyl chloride (BSC) in the presence of quinoline. The proposed ACE inhibition assay was applied to the measurement of the ACE inhibitory activity of Captopril. IC(50) value of Captopril corresponded well with literature data. Furthermore, Alcalase hydrolysates of mung bean and rice protein isolates were assessed for ACE inhibitory activity by this method. These two hydrolysates showed high ACE inhibitory activity. This method proposed here was shown to be direct, sensitive, accurate, reproducible, and less expensive without separation of HA from ACE reaction mixture, and can be used for the screening of ACE inhibitory peptides derived from food proteins.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors↗

Design of genetically modified soybean proglycinin A1aB1b with multiple copies of bioactive peptide sequences.

The peptide IIAEK derived from beta-lactoglobulin has a hypocholesterolemic activity greater than that of beta-sitosterol. To create food proteins with multiple copies of this valuable peptide sequence, we introduced tandem multimers of the nucleotide sequence encoding the peptide into DNA regions corresponding to the five variable regions of soybean glycinin A1aB1b subunit, and expressed the mutants in Escherichia coli. The expression level and solubility of the five mutants, each containing four IIAEK sequences in each of the variable regions, were compared. Overall, the expression level and solubility of the mutants with four IIAEK sequences in the variable regions IV and V were the best followed by II > III > I. Further, introduction of the fifth IIAEK sequence to the variable region IV did not decrease expression level and solubility. Increasing the number of IIAEK to 7 and 10 slightly decreased expression level, while their solubility decreased to as low as 40 and 1%, respectively. Various mutations were combined to get a mutant containing as many IIAEK sequences as possible. Some of the resulting mutants were expressed in the soluble form. The mutant containing eight IIAEK from the combination of variable regions IV and V (IV-4 + V-4) showed the best balance of the expression level and solubility, followed by the combination of variable regions II and III (II-4 + III-4). The soluble fractions of these mutants were purified by hydrophobic, gel filtration and ion-exchange column chromatography. Yields of IIAEK peptide released by in vitro digestion with trypsin from both mutants were around 80%. This is the first report that a large amount of a physiologically active peptide could be introduced into food protein.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Proteolytic degradation of hemoglobin by endogenous lysosomal proteases gives rise to bioactive peptides: hemorphins.

Hemorphin generation by mice peritoneal macrophages has been recently reported, nevertheless no conclusive data exist to localize clearly the macrophage proteolytic activity implicated in their generation. Because lysosomes are believed to be the main site of degradation in the endocytic pathway, we have studied their potential implication in the generation of hemorphins from hemoglobin. When this protein is submitted to purified rat liver lysosomes, an early generation of hemorphin-7-related peptides, detected by a radioimmunoassay, was observed. These peptides seemed to be relatively stable during the first hours of hydrolysis.

Animals↗

Purification and primary structure determination of Tf4, the first bioactive peptide isolated from the venom of the Brazilian scorpion Tityus fasciolatus.

In the present study Tityus fasciolatus crude venom toxicity was evaluated and we also report the purification and characterization of a 6.6 kDa neurotoxin isolated from T. fasciolatus venom. This new toxin, named Tf4, has a molecular mass of 6614Da and its primary structure is homologous to TbIT-I from T. bahiensis and TsTX-VI and TsNTxP from T. serrulatus. Tf4 delays frog sodium channel inactivation reversibly, but it is non-toxic to mammals or crustaceans. An attempt to identify the residues responsible for the partial loss of toxicity in Tf4 was carried out based on homology modeling and sequence comparison.

Action Potentials↗

Optimisation and validation of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition assay for the screening of bioactive peptides.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) plays a major role in the regulation of blood pressure. A diagnostic assay to measure angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity was transformed into an enzyme inhibition assay and optimised, which led to a more sensitive and less expensive assay. By this spectrophotometric method, ACE inhibition is measured using the substrate furanacryloyl-Phe-Gly-Gly and as ACE source rabbit lung acetone extract. The optimised as well as the original ACE inhibition assay were used to verify the ACE inhibitory activity of captopril. The ACE inhibition assay was further validated by enalapril, its active derivative enalaprilat and the ACE-inhibitory peptide Ala-Leu-Pro-Met-His-Ile-Arg, corresponding to a tryptic fragment of bovine beta-lactoglobulin. Sigmoid curves could be fit adequately to the data points representing ACE inhibition in function of inhibitor concentration. IC(50) values for these compounds corresponded well with literature data. Furthermore, pea and whey protein hydrolysates obtained by digestion with trypsin showed ACE inhibitory activity in the ACE inhibition assay. Hence, this optimised assay is suitable to screen for ACE inhibitory peptides derived from food proteins with a possible antihypertensive effect in vivo.

Acetone↗