Glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) affects genetic stability by (a) regulating the ratio of S-adenosylmethionine to S-adenosylhomocystine and (b) binding to folate. Based on the identification of GNMT as a 4 S polyaromatic hydrocarbon-binding protein, we used liver cancer cell lines that expressed GNMT either transiently or stably in cDNA transfections to analyze the role of GNMT in the benzo(a...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) is associated with vascular calcification and mortality in hemodialysis patients, but AP derives from various tissues of origin. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of bone-specific AP (BAP) on morbidity and mortality in dialysis patients. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS From a prospective cohort study of incid...

ŠIMKO P., SKLÁRŠOVÁ B., ŠIMON P., BELAJOVÁ E. (2006): Effect of plastic packages on benzo[a]pyrene concentration in sunflower oil. Czech J. Food Sci., 24: 143–148. Commercially available sunflower oil and the same oil distilled additionally in a molecular evaporator (to remove naturally occurring compounds) was spiked with benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) at the levels of 37.1 and 38.6 μg/kg, respectively....

The Malnad region located in the Western Ghats of Karnataka is known for the cultivation of indigenous rain fed land race cultivar of rice. The present study was to investigate the callogenic and caulogenic potentialities of the two indigenous rice cultivar namely Karimundaga and Kanadatumba using dehusked mature embryo explants. For callus and shoot bud differentiation, the explants were cultu...

BACKGROUND Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are suspected developmental neurotoxicants, but human exposures typically occur in combination with other neurotoxic contaminants. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS We explored the effects of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) on neurodifferentiation in PC12 cells, in combination with a glucocorticoid (dexamethasone, used in preterm labor), an organophosphate pesticide (chlo...

Mutant phoR cells show a clonal variation phenotype with respect to bacterial alkaline phosphatase (BAP) synthesis. BAP clonal variation is characterized by an alternation between a Bap+ and Bap- phenotype. The switching is regulated by the phoM operon and the presence of glucose; the pho-510 mutant form of the phoM operon abolishes both BAP clonal variation and the effect of glucose (B.L. Wann...

BACKGROUND/AIM Bone alkaline phosphatase (bAP) is known to be an important biochemical marker of bone formation. Through the present study, we intended to find out whether there is any advantage in bAP determination, as a routine biochemical marker, besides intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) in hemodialysis patients. METHODS In a population of 140 hemodialysis patients, bAP and iPTH were deter...

Benzopyrene (BaP) is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), and is chemically modified in the animal body to form a number of metabolites that may elicit a various toxicity. However, the effect of BaP on neuroblastoma differentiation has remained unclear. We have studied the effect of BaP on neurite outgrowth using human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells induced to differentiate by all-trans-retinoic...

We recently described a novel fluorescent compound, 2-amino,6-amidobiotinyl-pyridine (BAP), that allows the tagging of oligosaccharides, their fractionation by reversed-phase HPLC with picomole scale detection, and the formation of functional neoglycoprotein equivalents with (strept) avidin for the detection of receptors and the generation of monospecific antibodies (Rothenberg et al., Proc. Na...