AIMS/INTRODUCTION An elevated level of plasma homocysteine has long been suspected as a metabolic risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic vascular diseases in diabetes. Berberine (BBR) has several preventive effects on cardiovascular diseases. The effects of BBR on atherosclerotic plaque stability increased by homocysteine thiolactone (HTL) remain unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS The...

Patients with chronic renal disease (CRD) represent an important segment of Tunisian population, and mostly because of the high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with renal insufficiency, detection and treatment of chronic renal disease is now a public health priority (Abderrahim E et al., 2001, Ben Maïz H et al., 2006, Counil E et al., 2008). The increased incidence of CVD is lik...

Recently, Roht et al. [J. Contam. Hydrol., 2013, 145, 10-16] observed that the presence of suspended non-Brownian macroscopic particles decreased the dispersivity of a passive solute, for a pressure-driven flow in a narrow parallel-plate channel at low Reynolds numbers. This result contradicts the idea that the streamline distortion caused by the random diffusive motion of the particles increas...

A cyclic sulfur compound, identified as cysteine thiolactone by several chemical and enzymatic tests, is formed from cysteine during in vitro tRNA(Cys) aminoacylation catalyzed by Escherichia coli cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase. The mechanism of cysteine thiolactone formation involves enzymatic deacylation of Cys-tRNA(Cys) (k = 0.017 s-1) in which nucleophilic sulfur of the side chain of cysteine in...

Moderately elevated plasma homocysteine levels are an important independent risk factor for arterial and venous thrombosis and for atherosclerosis. Some investigators have proposed that homocysteine's effects result from oxidant injury to the vascular endothelium or from an alteration in endothelial function. However, homocysteine may have other cellular targets. We now report that homocysteine...

A cyclic sulfonium compound, S-methyl homocysteine thiolactone (SMHT), is formed from methionine during in vitro tRNA aminoacylation catalyzed by Escherichia coli methionyl-tRNA synthetase. The mechanism of SMHT formation involves enzymatic deacylation of Met-tRNA (k = 0.06 s-1) and, to a lesser extent, Met-AMP (k = 0.02 s-1). Cyclization of methionine, reminiscent of cyclization of homocystein...

Homocysteine (Hcy) is an accepted independent risk factor for several major pathologies including cardiovascular disease, birth defects, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, and renal failure. Interestingly, many of the pathologies associated with homocysteine are also linked to oxidative stress. The enzyme paraoxonase (PON1) - so named because of its ability to hydrolyse the toxic metabolite of ...