BACKGROUND We aimed to compare ghrelin, obestatin, homocysteine (Hcy), vitamin B12 and folate levels in the serum and saliva of ischaemic heart disease patients. METHODS Serum and saliva were collected from 33 ischaemic heart disease (IHD) patients and 28 age- and body mass index-matched healthy individuals. Levels of acylated and desacylated ghrelin, obestatin and Hcy were determined using t...

ATP, GTP, CoA, Mg(2+), and Mn(2+) did not inhibit biosynthesis of steryl glycoside and acylated steryl glycoside when added singly to enzyme preparations from spinach leaves. The combination of ATP (but not GTP), CoA, and Mg(2+) or Mn(2+) caused marked inhibition, especially of steryl glycoside biosynthesis, when reaction mixture concentrations of the additions were 0.2 millimolar. Inhibition w...

The major flavonoids of Pisum are derivatives of kaempferol and quercetin, including both triglucosides and acylated triglucosides in which the acyl group is p-coumaric acid. Although hydroxycinnamic acid esters of flavonoids are common pigments in many plants, neither the enzymes nor the precursors involved in their biosynthesis have been demonstrated. We report here that crude enzyme preparat...

The stability of anthocyanins from grape skins after applying different extraction techniques has been determined. The following compounds, previously extracted from real samples, were assessed: delphinidin 3-glucoside, cyanidin 3-glucoside, petunidin 3-glucoside, peonidin 3-glucoside, malvidin 3-glucoside, peonidin 3-acetylglucoside, malvidin 3-acetylglucoside, malvidin 3-caffeoylglucoside, pe...

Twenty-nine new oxypregnane glycosides were obtained along with two known cardenolides, frugoside and gofruside, and three known 12-O-acylated pregnane glycosides from the roots of Asclepias incarnata L. (Asclepiadaceae). By detailed studies of the 1H- and 13C-NMR spectra, the structures were determined to be tri- to penta glycosides of isolineolon, 12-O-acetyllineolon, ikemagenin, 12-O-benzoyl...

Anthocyanins, the naturally occurring pigments responsible for most red to blue colours of flowers, fruits and vegetables, have also attracted interest because of their potential health effects. With the aim of contributing to major insights into their structure-activity relationship (SAR), we have evaluated the radical scavenging and biological activities of selected purified anthocyanin sampl...

Albumin is a multifunctional transport protein that binds a wide variety of endogenous substances and drugs. Insulins with affinity for albumin were engineered by acylation of the epsilon-amino group of LysB29 with saturated fatty acids containing 10-16 carbon atoms. The association constants for binding of the fatty acid acylated insulins to human albumin are in the order of 10(4)-10(5) M-1. T...