This study investigated the hypoglycemic effect of the Padina arborescens extract in STZ-induced diabetic mice. Freeze-dried Padina arborescens were extracted with 80% methanol and concentrated for use in this study. The hypoglycemic effect was determined by inhibitory activities against α-glucosidase and α-amylase as well as the alleviation of postprandial blood glucose level. Padina arboresce...

Rap1 has recently been identified on the secretory granule membrane and plasma membrane of rat parotid acinar cells (N. J. D'Silva, D. DiJulio, C. B. Belton, K. L. Jacobson, and E. L. Watson. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 45: 965-973, 1997). In the present study, we examined the cellular redistribution of Rap1 following treatment of acini with isoproterenol (ISO), the β-adrenergic agonist, and determ...

The current objective of the study is to evaluate the α-amylase inhibitory activity of butein and tricetin using in silico docking studies. In this perspective, butein and tricetin ligands were prepared for the docking evaluation. Acarbose, a known α-amylase inhibitor was used as the standard. In silico docking studies were carried out using recent version of AutoDock 4.2, which has the basic p...

We evaluated the enzymic mechanism by which 3-keto butylidene-beta-2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl maltopentaoside (3KB-G5-CNP) serves as a substrate for serum pancreatic (p-) and salivary (s-) amylases. In aliquots of the reaction mixture, three kinds of beta-2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl oligosaccharides (glucose, maltoside, and maltotrioside) were separated from the substrate by high-performance liquid chro...

D’Silva, Nisha J., Kerry L. Jacobson, Sabrina M. Ott, and Eileen L. Watson. b-Adrenergic-induced cytosolic redistribution of Rap1 in rat parotid acini: role in secretion. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Cell Physiol. 43): C1667–C1673, 1998.—Rap1 has recently been identified on the secretory granule membrane and plasma membrane of rat parotid acinar cells (N. J. D’Silva, D. DiJulio, C. B. Belton, K. L. Jac...

Alpha amylase (α-1, 4-glucan-glucanhydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1), an extracellular enzyme, degrades α, 1-4 glucosidic linkages of starch and related substrates in an endo-fashion producing oligosaccharides including maltose, glucose and alpha limit dextrin (7). The present study deals with the production and comparative study of production of α-amylase from two strains of Bacillus licheniformis, MTCC ...

To identify the muscarinic subtype present on the rat pancreatic acinar cell, we examined the effects of different muscarinic receptor antagonists on amylase secretion and proteolytic zymogen processing in isolated rat pancreatic acini. Maximal zymogen processing required a concentration of carbachol 10- to 100-fold greater (10-3 M) than that required for maximal amylase secretion (10-5 M). Alt...

Genetically modified (GM) legumes expressing the α-amylase inhibitor 1 (αAI-1) from Phaseolus vulgaris L. or cysteine protease inhibitors are resistant to several bruchid pests (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). In addition, the combination of plant resistance factors together with hymenopteran parasitoids can substantially increase the bruchid control provided by the resistance alone. If the strateg...

HWTI is a 55-residue protein isolated from the venom of the spider Ornithoctonus huwena. It is a potent trypsin inhibitor and a moderate voltage-gated potassium channel blocker. Here, we designed and expressed two HWTI mutants, HWTI-mut1 and HWTI-mut2, in which the potassium channel inhibitory activity was reduced while the trypsin inhibitory activity of the wild type form (approximately 5 EPU/...