Gly-Leu-Phe (GLF), an immunostimulating peptide derived from alpha-lactalbumin, prevented alopecia induced by an anticancer agent etoposide in a neonatal rat model after intraperitoneal injection at a dose of 100 mg/kg for 4 d or oral administration at a dose of 300 mg/kg for 6 d. By microscopic analysis of skin sections, GLF proved to inhibit etoposide-induced loss of hair, thickening of the e...

Two galactosyltransferases with nearly identical Mr values were purified 5000-7000-fold from microsomal membranes of chick-embryo livers by using several affinity columns. One enzyme transfers galactose from UDP-galactose to form a beta-(1----4)-linkage to GlcNAc (N-acetylglucosamine) or AsAgAGP [asialo-agalacto-(alpha 1-acid glycoprotein)]. The other enzyme forms a beta-(1----3)-linkage to AsO...

Oxidative refolding of the denatured/reduced lysozyme was examined in the presence of small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) essentially composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC). SUVs facilitated the recovery of the enzymatic activity of lysozyme like molecular chaperones through the interaction with the refolding intermediate of lysozyme. The highest reactivation yield (8...

The molecular mechanisms underlying cell attachment and subsequent cell spreading on laminin are shown to be distinct form one another. Cell spreading is dependent upon the binding of cell surface galactosyltransferase (GalTase) to laminin oligosaccharides, while initial cell attachment to laminin occurs independent of GalTase activity. Anti-GalTase IgG, as well as the GalTase modifier protein,...

Equine lysozyme (EL) is a calcium (Ca)-binding lysozyme and is an intermediary link between non-Ca-binding C-type lysozyme and alpha-lactalbumin. The feature of lysozymes to assemble into the fibrils has recently gained considerable attention for the investigation of the functional properties of these proteins. To study the structural and functional properties of EL, a synthetic gene was cloned...

BACKGROUND Antisperm antibodies (ASA) may be an important cause of infertility, but current tests for the detection of ASA have poor prognostic value. Identification of the sperm proteins that ASA bind to may aid the development of more useful diagnostic tests. METHODS One- and two-dimensional PAGE and western blotting analyses, as well as amino acid sequencing, were used to identify a novel ...

Although adsorption-induced conformational changes of proteins play an essential role during protein adsorption on interfaces, detailed information about these changes is lacking. To further the current understanding of protein adsorption, in this study, the orientation, conformation, and local stability of bovine alpha-lactalbumin (BLA) adsorbed on polystyrene nanospheres is characterized at t...

The complete amino acid sequence of bovine oc-lactalbumin has been established. The unique seq,uence was deduced by characterization of the tryptic, chymotryptic, and peptic peptides isolated from enzymic hydrolysates of the two unique fragments obtained on cleavage of S-aminoethyl-a-lactalbumin with cyanogen bromide as described earlier. Important overlapping peptides were also obtained by seq...