The kynurenine pathway (KP) is a major route of L-tryptophan catabolism resulting in the production of the essential pyridine nucleotide nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, (NAD(+)). Up-regulation of the KP during inflammation leads to the release of a number of biologically active metabolites into the brain. We hypothesised that while some of the extracellular KP metabolites may be beneficial f...

Vanadium complexes have been previously utilised as potent inhibitors of cysteine based phosphatases (CBPs). Herein, we present the synthesis and characterisation of two new fluorescently labelled vanadyl complexes (14 and 15) with bridged di-picolinic acid ligands. These compounds differ significantly from previous vanadyl complexes with phosphatase inhibition properties in that the metal-chel...

AIMS We have studied urine metabolic signature of chronic alcoholism (CA) before and after treatment with an Ayurvedic drug Tinospora cordifolia aqueous extract (TCE). METHODS Urinary metabolites of chronic alcoholics and apparently healthy subjects were profiled using HPLC-Q-TOF-MS. Discrimination models from the initial data sets were able to correctly assign the unknown samples to the CA, ...

3-Hydroxyanthranilic acid has been well established as an intermediate in the conversion of tryptophan to niacin (1)) quinolinic acid (21, and picolinic acid (3). A fourth fate of 3-hydroxyanthranilate has been proposed by Dalgliesh and Tabechian (4) who suggested that tryptophan might be metabolized to COz by way of the unstable primary oxidation product (5,6) tentatively identified by Wiss (7...

The effects of nutritional and environmental conditions on sporulation and the properties of the spore have been extensively studied with the hope that these may provide a clue to the mechanism of dormancy and resistance of the bacterial endospore. However, there is no general agreement and our knowledge of these is still limited. The extensive literature dealing with the various aspects of spo...

Very little is known of the precursors of the dipicolinic acid (pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid) in bacterial spores. C'4-2,6-diaminopimelic acid was shown to contribute to the formation of dipicolinic acid in Bacillus cereus var. mycoides (Perry and Foster, 1955; Foster, 1956) but the efficiency of the conversion was low, possibly because of a slow penetration of the cells by the exogenously su...

The effects of picolinic acid (PA) on the intramacrophagic growth of Mycobacterium avium were studied. PA reduced M. avium growth inside mouse macrophages and led to a complete control of mycobacterial growth when added together with IFN-gamma. The mechanism involved did not require TNF-alpha, NO, or the respiratory burst, and was not dependent on either iron or zinc withholding. The mycobacter...