Enzymic destruction of

is hydrolysed by a heat-labile, non-dialysable substance, present in plasma and various tissues of the rabbit and man as 

The enzyme responsible for the reaction is insensitive to fluoride, and it is not related to phosphatase, cholinesterase or esterase.  

The reaction is important in detoxication in the liver, which contains a relatively high proportion of the enzyme, and plays an important part in the destruction of D.F.P. in the intact animal. 

Mounter and his co-workers designate this enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of D.F.P. as dialkylfluorophosphcUase (D.F.P.-ase). They have shown that D.F.P.-ase from hog kidney is activated by cobalt and manganese ions. In the presence of 

ase is further activated by cysteine, histidine, thiolhistidine, and serine, histamine and 2 2 -dipyridyl. Reagents reacting with metal ions, SH groups and carbonyl groups inhibit D.F.P.-ase activity. Work is proceeding on the further elucidation of such mechanisms. In a somewhat similar connexion attention is called to the fact that the non-enzymic hydrolysis of D.F.P. is accelerated by heavy metals and their complexes, in particular by copper chelates of ethylene diamine, 0 phenanthroline, 2 2 -dipyridyl and histidine.  

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Cloud loss may also be prevented by enzymic destruction of low ester pectins prior to their precipitation as pectates. Commercial fungal PG preparations (AO, Al) or PG derived from yeast (A2) have been used successfully to stabilize cloud of unpasteurized PE active juice. As only the low ester pectins need be destroyed to prevent cloud loss, considerably less PG is required than PL (30). Cloud stabilization with pectinases permits production of cloud stable juices with lower pasteurization temperatures (AO). 

Extraction of tissues with water or 70-80% alcohol in the cold (86) has been used as the first step in the estimation of free choline although some of the older methods recommend the use of hot water extraction as a means for reducing or eliminating enzymic destruction of phospholipids (13). This procedure is likely to extract other water-soluble choline compounds, such as acetylcholine, phosphorylcholine, and glycerylphosphoryl-choline and subsequent analytical methods must be chosen with care in order to eliminate these compounds from consideration. 

Chemical lysis, or solubilization of the cell wall, is typically carried out using detergents such as Triton X-100, or the chaotropes urea, and guanidine hydrochloride. This approach does have the disadvantage that it can lead to some denaturation or degradation of the produci. While favored for laboratory cell disruption, these methods are not typically used at the larger scales. Enzymatic destruction of the cell walls is also possible, and as more economical routes to the development of appropriate enzymes are developed, this approach could find industrial application. Again, the removal of these additives is an issue. 

Destruction of the casein micelles in the milk with subsequent precipitation of the casein can be accomplished in a number of ways. The action of heat or the action of alcohols, acids, salts and the enzyme rennet all bring about precipitation. In commercial practise the two techniques used employ either acid coagulation or rennet coagulation mechanisms. 

Bergmann has suggested that oxidation is ruled out at positions (where hydration occurs readily) which are not accessible to the enzyme after the pteridine is adsorbed on it. Alternatively, the destruction of co-planarity by hydration may prevent adsorption of the pteridine on the enzyme. The case of xanthopterin (2-amino-4,6-dihydroxypteridine) may be relevant. The neutral species of this substance exists as an equilibrium mixture of approximately equal parts of the anhydrous and 7,8-hydrated forms (in neutral aqueous solution at 20°). Xanthine oxidase cataljrzes the oxidation of the anhydrous form in the 7-position but leaves the hydrated form unaffected and about two hours is required to re-establish the former equilibrium. 

Proteins have been hydrolyzed by treatment with sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, barium hydroxide, proteolytic enzymes, and other hydrolytic reagents, but no condition has been found which avoids some destruction or incomplete liberation of tryptophan, cystine, and some other amino acids. The early work on this problem has been reviewed by Mitchell and Hamilton (194). The literature and their own excellent experiments on the hydrolysis problem in relation to the liberation and destruction of tryptophan have been presented recently by Spies and Chambers (269). 

Plasma also contains numerous other enzymes that perform no known physiologic function in blood. These apparently nonfunctional plasma enzymes arise from the routine normal destruction of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and other cells. Tissue damage or necrosis resulting from injury or disease is generally accompanied by increases in the levels of several nonfunctional plasma enzymes. Table 7-2 lists several enzymes used in diagnostic enzymology. 

It is possible to deplete the brain of both DA and NA by inhibiting tyrosine hydroxylase but while NA may be reduced independently by inhibiting dopamine jS-hydroxylase, the enzyme that converts DA to NA, there is no way of specifically losing DA other than by destruction of its neurons (see below). In contrast, it is easier to augment DA than NA by giving the precursor dopa because of its rapid conversion to DA and the limit imposed on its further synthesis to NA by the restriction of dopamine S-hydroxylase to the vesicles of NA terminals. The activity of the rate-limiting enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase is controlled by the cytoplasmic concentration of DA (normal end-product inhibition), presynaptic dopamine autoreceptors (in addition to their effect on release) and impulse flow, which appears to increase the affinity of tyrosine hydroxylase for its tetrahydropteridine co-factor (see below). 

Carotenoid oxidation products are also supposed to have detrimental effects in vivo. As mentioned earlier, they are suspected to be involved in the adverse effects of high doses of 3-carotene supplementation in smokers and asbestos workers (CARET and ATBC studies) and in smoke-exposed ferrets. The mechanisms potentially involved have been investigated in vitro. P-Apo-8 -carotenal, an eccennic cleavage oxidation product of P-carotene, was shown to be a strong inducer of CYPlAl in rats, whereas P-carotene was not active. Cytochrome P450 (CYP 450) enzymes thus induced could enhance the activation of carcinogens and the destruction of retinoic acid. ... 

This enzyme catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to formate and acetyl CoA and is a key enzyme in the anaerobic degradation of carbohydrates in some Enterobacteriaceae. Using an enzyme selectively C-labeled with glycine, it was shown by EPR that the reaction involves production of a free radical at C-2 of glycine (Wagner et al. 1992). This was confirmed by destruction of the radical with O2, and determination of part of the structure of the small protein that contained an oxalyl residue originating from gly-734. 

In inflammatory conditions, activated PMNs may pro-teolytically (by release of lysosomal enzymes) and oxidatively (by release of HOCl) inactivate ai-antitrypsin. Studies of synovial fluid samples from patients with RA showed that a i-antitrypsin was both cleaved and oxidized, resulting in inactivation (Chidwick et al., 1991, 1994). Free-radical attack on ai-antitrypsin and its subsequent inactivation may contribute to the destruction of joint tissues in arthritis due to the imbalance between elastase and its inhibitors. 

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