Low serum concentrations of micronutrients, intestinal abnormalities, and an inflammatory state have been associated with HIV progression. These may be ameliorated by micronutrients, N-acetyl cysteine, probiotics, and prebiotics. This review aims to integrate the evidence from clinical trials of these interventions on the progression of HIV. Vitamin B, C, E, and folic acid have been shown to de...

Acylases catalyze the hydrolysis of a range of S-substituted N-acetyl-L-cysteines. The hydrolysis of N-acetyl-L-cysteine is catalyzed by cytosolic acylase I, and activity is present in human endothelial cells and rat lung, intestinal, and liver homogenates. Many haloalkenes are metabolized to mercapturates, which also undergo acylase-catalyzed hydrolysis. The acylases that catalyze the deacetyl...

Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common causes of deafness and, at present, there is no treatment for the recovery of the normal hearing threshold after prolonged exposure to loud acoustic stimuli and the generation of acoustic trauma. Prolonged exposure to noise can cause oxidative stress in the cochlea which results in the loss (via apoptotic pathways) of the outer hair cells of ...

The last steps of cysteine biosynthesis are catalysed by a bi-enzyme complex composed of serine acetyltransferase (SAT) and cysteine synthase, also called O-acetyl-serine (thiol) lyase (OASTL). SAT is responsible for the production of O-acetyl-serine (OAS) from serine and acetyl-coenzyme A, while OASTL catalyses the formation of cysteine from OAS and hydrogen sulphide. Several distinct nuclear ...

Cysteine synthetase in Salmonella typhimurium is a multifunctional protein complex of molecular weight 309,000 which catalyzes the two-step synthesis of L-cysteine from L-serine, acetyl-CoA, and sulfide. Certain enzymic and chemical properties of a purified preparation of cysteine synthetase have been studied. 0-Acetyl-L-serine at a concentration of lop4 to 10m3 IVI causes this complex to disso...

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects various structural and functional domains in the lungs. It is characterized by damage of small airways due to an inflammatory process, oxidative stress and imbalance of proteolytic and anti-proteolytic activities. The aim of this work is to investigate the mechanisms involved in COPD and the role of erythromycin and/or N-acetyl cy...

Excretion of mercapturic acids in the urine is indicative of the formation of electrophiles in the metabolism of xenobiotics. The determination of these mercapturic acids thus may be a useful method to estimate the exposure. We identified the nephrotoxic and mutagenic mercapturic acids N-acetyl-S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L- cysteine and N-acetyl-S-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine in the urine of worke...