Purine oxidative catabolism

Allopurinol markedly reduces xanthine oxide catabolism of the purine analogs, potentially increasing active 6-thioguanine nucleotides that may lead to severe leukopenia. The dose of 6-MP or azathioprine should be reduced by at least half in patients taking allopurinol. 

Acetate is a final product of ethanol oxidation. Its utilization by muscles and brain cells requires its conversion to acetyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA synthase. This consumes ATP, yielding AMP and energy deficits, which in turn stimulate purine nucleotide catabolism and hyperuricemia (Lavoie and Butterworth 1995). Through such mechanisms, alcohol may exert direct toxic elfects uncovering pre-existing subclinical TD-dependent energy shortages. 

The conventional pathway for the formation of ALN and ALA in animals and microbes involves the oxidative catabolism of purine nucleotides [Eq. (1)]. 

Fig. 7. Model for the subcellular localization of reactions of purine synthesis and ureide biogenesis in nodules of ureide-exportlng legumes. The model is based on results of subcellular fractionation and ultrastructural studies. The processes (shown in the hatched boxes) involved in ureide biogenesis (i.e., nitrogen fixation, ammonium assimilation, precursor synthesis, purine synthesis, energy-yielding metabolism, and purine oxidation and catabolism) may occur in more than one subcellular compartment. The location of the enzymes involved in the conversion of IMP to xanthine is not certain. We have proposed that in soybean nodules these reactions [shown in bold-face type with bold arrows] occur in the plastid while in other species such as cowpea these reactions may take place in the ground cytoplasm. In all cases the intermediate exported from the plastid is uncertain. This uncertainty is indicated with the dashed lines and question marks.

Although demethylation, which occurs in the liver, is normally considered to be a catabolic process, it may result in conversion of an inactive form of a drug to the active form. Thus 6-(methylthio)purine (XXXIX) is demethylated by the rat to 6-mercaptopurine [205]. This demethylation occurs in the liver micro-somes and is an oxidative process which converts the methyl group to formaldehyde [204, 207]. The 1-methyl derivative of 4-aminopyrazolo[3,4-d] pyrimidine (XLI) is demethylated slowly, but 6-mercapto-9-methylpurine (XLII) not at all [208]. The A -demethylation of puromycin (XLlIl) [209, 210], its aminonucleoside (XLIV) [211], and a number of related compounds, including V-methyladenine and V,V-dimethyladenine, occurs in the liver microsomes of rodents [212]. In the guinea-pig the rate-limiting step in the metabolism of the aminonucleoside appears to be the demethylation of the monomethyl compound, which is the major urinary metabolite [213]. The relationship of lipid solubility to microsomal metabolism [214], and the induction of these demethylases in rats by pre-treatment with various drugs have been studied [215]. 

As indicated in Fig. 25-18, free adenine released from catabolism of nucleic acids can be deaminated hydrolytically to hypoxanthine, and guanine can be deaminated to xanthine.328 The molybdenum-containing xanthine oxidase (Chapter 16) oxidizes hypoxanthine to xanthine and the latter on to uric acid. Some Clostridia convert purine or hypoxanthine to xanthine by the action of a selenium-containing purine hydroxylase.3283 Another reaction of xanthine occurring in some plants is conversion to the trimethylated derivative caffeine. 328b One of the physiological effects of caffeine in animals is inhibition of pyrimidine synthesis.329 However, the effect most sought by coffee drinkers may be an increase in blood pressure caused by occupancy of adenosine receptors by caffeine.330... 

Inosine formed by either route is then phosphorolyzed to yield hypoxanthine. Although, as we have previously seen, much of the hypoxanthine and guanine produced in the mammalian body is converted to IMP and GMP by a phosphoribosyltransferase, about 10% is catabolized. Xanthine oxidase, an enzyme present in large amounts in liver and intestinal mucosa and in traces in other tissues, oxidizes hypoxanthine to xanthine, and xanthine to uric acid (see fig. 23.20). Xanthine oxidase contains FAD, molybdenum, iron, and acid-labile sulfur in the ratio 1 1 4 4, and in addition to forming hydrogen peroxide, it is also a strong producer of the superoxide anion 02, a very reactive species. The enzyme oxidizes a wide variety of purines, aldehydes, and pteridines. 

Mammals other than primates further oxidize urate by a liver enzyme, urate oxidase. The product, allantoin, is excreted. Humans and other primates, as well as birds, lack urate oxidase and hence excrete uric acid as the final product of purine catabolism. In many animals other than mammals, allantoin is metabolized further to other products that are excreted Allantoic acid (some teleost fish), urea (most fishes, amphibians, some mollusks), and ammonia (some marine invertebrates, crustaceans, etc.). This pathway of further purine breakdown is shown in figure 23.22. 

The enzymes are widely distributed in microorganisms, plants, and animals. " Three Mo-MPT enzymes have been found in mammals (1) xanthine dehydrogenase see Dehydrogenase) has many, varied roles in purine catabolism, drug metabolism, and oxidative stress response, (2) aldehyde oxidase is important in drug metabolism and the synthesis of retinoic acid from retinal, and (3) sulfite oxidase plays a cmcial role in the detoxification of sulfite produced in the degradation of cysteine and methionine. Genetic Mo-MPT deficiency in... 

The xanthine oxidoreductases are large, complex molybdo-flavoproteins with roles in the catabolism of purines, for example, oxidizing hypoxanthine to xanthine and xanthine to uric acid (equation 9). Xanthine oxidase can also catalyze the reduction of nitrate to nitrite (or in the presence superoxide, peroxynitrite) and the reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide. Peroxynitrite, a powerfiil and destructive oxidant, has been implicated in diseases such as arthritis, atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer s and Parkinson s diseases. The microbicidal role of milk and intestinal xanthine oxidase may also involve the generation of peroxynitrite in the gut. The high levels of the enzyme in the mammary glands of pregnant... 

The detailed mechanism of myocardial protection via PC is not fully understood yet. Many pathways have been proposed and include myocardial stunning, synthesis of heat-shock proteins, involvement of G-proteins, and nitric oxide production [3-5]. The generally accepted model is that the ischemic phase leads to enhanced catabolism of purine nucleotides, resulting in a high level of adenosine. These activate PKC and a cascade of signaling steps leading to activation of MAP, MAPK and MAPKK, culminating in a marked effect on ATP-dependent channels [3,4,6, ]. 

Xanthine dehydrogenase The enz)une is used in the catabolism of the purine ring. It catalyzes the NAE>-dependent oxidation of xanthine to uric acid. The enzyme also contains FAD and molybdenum. A fraction of the enzyme normally occurs in the body as xanthine oxidase, which represents an altered form of the enzyme. Xanthine oxidase uses O2 as an oxidant, rather than NAD. Xanthine oxidase converts xanthine to uric acid, and O2 to HOOH and the hydroxyl radical. 

Uric acid is the major product of catabolism of purine nucleosides adenosine and guanosine. Hypoxanthine and xanthine are intermediates along this pathway (Fig. 2). Under normal conditions, they reflect the balance between the synthesis and breakdown of nucleotides. Levels of these compounds change in various situations (e.g., they decrease in experimental tumors) when synthesis prevails over catabolism, and are enhanced during oxidative stress and hypoxia. Uric acid serves as a marker for tubular... 

Inhibition of Xanthine Oxidase Uric acid, the end product of purine catabolism in humans, is formed by the serial oxidation of hypoxanthine and of xanthine, catalyzed by xanthine oxidase. 

In most cells, more than 90% of the oxygen utilized is consumed in the respiratory chain that is coupled to the production of ATP. However, electron transport and oxygen utilization occur in a variety of other reactions, including those catalyzed by oxidases or oxygenases. Xanthine oxidase, an enzyme involved in purine catabolism (Chapter 27), catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine, and of xanthine to uric acid. In these reactions, reducing equivalents are transferred via FAD, and Fe and Mo " ", while the oxygen is converted to superoxide anion (O2) ... 

Xanthine oxidoreductase and aldehyde oxidase are the principal enzymes involved in the oxidation of exocydic DNA adducts. Their role in purine catabolism and in the oxidation of nitrogen-rich heterocycles is well documented [143-145]. 

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