INTRODUCTION Gamma-hydroxybutyrate is a potent sedative-hypnotic agent and a popular drug of abuse. In the United States, gamma-hydroxybutyrate is a Schedule I controlled substance (sodium oxybate) with orphan drug status for the treatment of narcolepsy within approved clinical studies. Physostigmine is a carbamate inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase that is reported to attenuate the sedative eff...

BACKGROUND Microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biopolyesters consisting of diverse monomers. PHA synthase PhaC2Ps cloned from Pseudomonas stutzeri 1317 is able to polymerize short-chain-length (scl) 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) monomers and medium-chain-length (mcl) 3-hydroxyalkanoates (3HA) with carbon chain lengths ranging from C6 to C12. However, the scl and mcl PHA production in Escherichi...

Genes responsible for the synthesis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) in Azotobacter sp. FA8 were cloned and analyzed. A PHB polymerase gene (phbC) was found downstream from genes coding for beta-ketothiolase (phbA) and acetoacetyl-coenzyme A reductase (phbB). A PHB synthase mutant was obtained by gene inactivation and used for genetic studies. The phbC gene from this strain was introduced into ...

Octanoic and decanoic acid, the major constituents of the Medium Chain Triglyceride (MCT) Emulsion diet, have been detected in appreciable quantities in the peripheral blood of children with intractable seizures treated with the MCT diet. Serum concentrations of these acids as well as beta hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate rose as the diet was introduced and on full diet showed pronounced diurna...

Phospholipid compositions of 20 strains of marine and estuarine bacteria were determined. Results showed that phospholipids of marine bacteria differed very little from those of nonmarine organisms with phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and diphosphatidylglycerol being the predominant phospholipids in all strains examined. Lyso-phosphatidylethanolamine occurred in significant quan...