Estrogen exerts vascular protective effects, but the underlyingmechanisms remain to be understood fully. In recent years, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has increasingly been recognized as an important signalingmolecule in the cardiovascular system.VascularH2S is produced from L-cysteine, catalyzed by cystathionine g-lyase (CSE). In our study, apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-deficient mice were ovariectomized ...

Ligands that can bind selectively to proteins with single amino-acid point mutations offer the potential to detect or treat an abnormal protein in the presence of the wild type (WT). However, it is difficult to develop a selective ligand if the point mutation is not associated with an addressable location, such as a binding pocket. Here we report an all-chemical synthetic epitope-targeting stra...

Sulfur is an indispensable element for plants. It is found in sulfur-containing amino acids, cysteine and methionine, and in various other important biochemical components and processes. Inhibitors of sulfur assimilation, or cysteine and methionine synthesis, could be potential herbicides. In the present paper, the sulfur assimilation pathway in plants is described, followed by the introduction...

Previously, we have shown that hydrogen sulphide (H2 S) might be pro-inflammatory during acute pancreatitis (AP) through inhibiting apoptosis and subsequently favouring a predominance of necrosis over apoptosis. In this study, we sought to investigate the detrimental effects of H2 S during AP specifically with regard to its regulation on the impaired autophagy. The incubated levels of H2 S were...

ATP-sensitive K+ (K(ATP)) channels in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are important targets for endogenous metabolic regulation and exogenous drug therapy. H2S, as a novel gasotransmitter, has been shown to relax rat aortic tissues via opening of K(ATP) channels. However, interaction of H2S, exogenous-applied or endogenous-produced, with K(ATP) channels in resistance artery VSMC has not bee...

Pentamethoxyflavone (PMF) was isolated from the rhizomes of Kaempferia parviflora, a plant that is claimed to have anti-hypertensive effects. We have investigated the activity of the PMF on isolated rat thoracic aortic rings. PMF caused a relaxation of phenylephrine precontracted aortic rings, and this effect was inhibited by N-nitro-L-arginine (LNA), ODQ (guanylyl cyclase inhibitor), or by rem...

Parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) is a method for enhancing NMR sensitivity. The pairwise addition of parahydrogen in aqueous media by heterogeneous catalysts can lead to applications in chemical and biological systems. Polarization enhancement can be transferred from 1H to 13C for longer lifetimes by using zero field cycling. In this work, water-dispersible N-acetylcysteine- and l-cyste...

5-Methylthioribose (MTR) is an intermediate in the methionine recycling pathway of organisms containing the enzyme MTR kinase. Analogs of MTR have been proposed as a new class of antimicrobial agents because of their ability to perturb the growth of MTR kinase-containing pathogens through inhibition of methionine salvage or by conversion to toxic products. One such analog, 5-trifluoromethylthio...

Systemic vascular resistance (R(sys)) of freshwater turtles increases substantially during anoxia, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. We investigated whether hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S), an endogenously produced metabolite believed to be an O(2) sensor/transducer of vasomotor tone, contributes to the increased R(sys) of anoxic red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta). Vasc...