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Galactosamine
Galactosamine is a hexosamine derived from galactose with the molecular formula C6H13NO5. This amino sugar is a constituent of some glycoprotein hormones such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Precursors such as uridine diphosphate (UDP), UDP-''N''-acetyl-D-glucosamine, or glucosamine are used to synthesize galactosamine in the human body. A derivative of this compound is ''N''-acetyl-D-galactosamine. Galactosamine is a hepatotoxic, or liver-damaging, agent that is sometimes used in animal models of liver failure. Hepatotoxicity Galactosamine is used to induce hepatitis in rodent liver for research purposes. The result of using galactosamine to induce hepatitis is a disease model in which there is necrosis and inflammation of the liver. This type of tissue damage triggered by galactosamine resembles drug-induced liver disease in humans. Mechanism of hepatotoxicity The proposed mechanism behind galactosamine-induced hepatitis is depletion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hexosamine
Hexosamines are amino sugars created by adding an amine group to a hexose. Examples include: * Fructosamine (based upon fructose) * Galactosamine (based upon galactose) * Glucosamine (based upon glucose) * Mannosamine (based upon mannose Mannose is a sugar monomer of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylation of certain proteins. Several congenital disorders of glycosylation ...) External links * * {{organic-compound-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amino Sugar
In organic chemistry, an amino sugar (or more technically a 2-amino-2-deoxysugar) is a sugar molecule in which a hydroxyl group has been replaced with an amine group. More than 60 amino sugars are known, with one of the most abundant being ''N''-Acetyl--glucosamine, which is the main component of chitin. Derivatives of amine containing sugars, such as ''N''-acetylglucosamine and sialic acid, whose nitrogens are part of more complex functional groups rather than formally being amines, are also considered amino sugars. Aminoglycosides are a class of antimicrobial compounds that inhibit bacterial protein synthesis. These compounds are conjugates of amino sugars and aminocyclitols. Synthesis From glycals Glycals are cyclic enol ether derivatives of monosaccharides, having a double bond between carbon atoms 1 and 2 of the ring. ''N''-functionalized of glycals at the C2 position, combined with glycosidic bond formation at C1 is a common strategy for the synthesis of amino sugars. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uridine Monophosphate
Uridine monophosphate (UMP), also known as 5′-uridylic acid (conjugate base uridylate), is a nucleotide that is used as a monomer in RNA. It is an ester of phosphoric acid with the nucleoside uridine. UMP consists of the phosphate group, the pentose sugar ribose, and the nucleobase uracil; hence, it is a ribonucleotide monophosphate. As a substituent or radical its name takes the form of the prefix uridylyl-. The deoxy form is abbreviated dUMP. Covalent attachment of UMP (e.g. to a protein such as adenylyltransferase) is called uridylylation (or sometimes uridylation). Biosynthesis Uridine monophosphate is formed from Orotidine 5'-monophosphate (orotidylic acid) in a decarboxylation reaction catalyzed by the enzyme orotidylate decarboxylase. Uncatalyzed, the decarboxylation reaction is extremely slow (estimated to occur on average one time per 78 million years). Adequately catalyzed, the reaction takes place once per second, an increase of 1017-fold. In humans, the orotidyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uridine Triphosphate
Uridine-5′-triphosphate (UTP) is a pyrimidine nucleoside triphosphate, consisting of the organic base uracil linked to the 1′ carbon of the ribose sugar, and esterified with tri-phosphoric acid at the 5′ position. Its main role is as substrate for the synthesis of RNA during transcription. UTP is the precursor for the production of CTP via the help of CTP Synthetase. UTP can be biosynthesized from UDP by Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase after using phosphate group from ATP. UDP + ATP ⇌ UTP + ADP; both UTP and ATP are energetically equal. The homologue in DNA is thymidine triphosphate (TTP or dTTP). UTP also has a deoxyribose form (dUTP). Role in metabolism UTP also has the role of a source of energy or an activator of substrates in metabolic reactions, like that of ATP, but more specific. When UTP activates a substrate (like Glucose-1-phosphate), UDP-glucose is formed and inorganic phosphate is released. UDP-glucose enters the synthesis of glycogen. UTP is used in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactokinase
Galactokinase is an enzyme (phosphotransferase) that facilitates the phosphorylation of α-D-galactose to galactose 1-phosphate at the expense of one molecule of ATP. Galactokinase catalyzes the second step of the Leloir pathway, a metabolic pathway found in most organisms for the catabolism of α-D-galactose to glucose 1-phosphate. First isolated from mammalian liver, galactokinase has been studied extensively in yeast, archaea, plants, and humans. Structure Galactokinase is composed of two domains separated by a large cleft. The two regions are known as the N- and C-terminal domains, and the adenine ring of ATP binds in a hydrophobic pocket located at their interface. The N-terminal domain is marked by five strands of mixed beta-sheet and five alpha-helices, and the C-terminal domain is characterized by two layers of anti-parallel beta-sheets and six alpha-helices. Galactokinase does not belong to the sugar kinase family, but rather to a class of ATP-dependent enzymes kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leloir Pathway
The Leloir pathway is a metabolic pathway for the catabolism of D-galactose. It is named after Luis Federico Leloir, who first described it. In the first step, galactose mutarotase facilitates the conversion of β-D-galactose to α-D-galactose since this is the active form in the pathway. Next, α-D-galactose is phosphorylated by galactokinase to galactose 1-phosphate. In the third step, D-galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase converts galactose 1-phosphate to UDP-galactose using UDP-glucose as the uridine diphosphate source. Finally, UDP-galactose 4-epimerase recycles the UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose for the transferase reaction. Additionally, phosphoglucomutase Phosphoglucomutase () is an enzyme that transfers a phosphate group on an α-D-glucose monomer from the 1 to the 6 position in the forward direction or the 6 to the 1 position in the reverse direction. More precisely, it facilitates the interconve ... converts the D-glucose 1-phosphate to D-glucose 6-phosph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hepatocyte
A hepatocyte is a cell of the main parenchymal tissue of the liver. Hepatocytes make up 80% of the liver's mass. These cells are involved in: * Protein synthesis * Protein storage * Transformation of carbohydrates * Synthesis of cholesterol, bile salts and phospholipids * Detoxification, modification, and excretion of exogenous and endogenous substances * Initiation of formation and secretion of bile Structure The typical hepatocyte is cubical with sides of 20-30 μm, (in comparison, a human hair has a diameter of 17 to 180 μm).The diameter of human hair ranges from 17 to 181 μm. The typical volume of a hepatocyte is 3.4 x 10−9 cm3. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum is abundant in hepatocytes, in contrast to most other cell types. Microanatomy Hepatocytes display an eosinophilic cytoplasm, reflecting numerous mitochondria, and basophilic stippling due to large amounts of smooth endoplasmic reticulum and free ribosomes. Brown lipofuscin granules are also observed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Necrosis
Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated digestion of cell components. In contrast, apoptosis is a naturally occurring programmed and targeted cause of cellular death. While apoptosis often provides beneficial effects to the organism, necrosis is almost always detrimental and can be fatal. Cellular death due to necrosis does not follow the apoptotic signal transduction pathway, but rather various receptors are activated and result in the loss of cell membrane integrity and an uncontrolled release of products of cell death into the extracellular space. This initiates in the surrounding tissue an inflammatory response, which attracts leukocytes and nearby phagocytes which eliminate the dead cells by phagocytosis. However, microbial damaging substances released by leukocytes would crea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hepatotoxic
Hepatotoxicity (from ''hepatic toxicity'') implies chemical-driven liver damage. Drug-induced liver injury is a cause of acute and chronic liver disease caused specifically by medications and the most common reason for a drug to be withdrawn from the market after approval. The liver plays a central role in transforming and clearing chemicals and is susceptible to the toxicity from these agents. Certain medicinal agents, when taken in overdoses (e.g. paracetamol) and sometimes even when introduced within therapeutic ranges (e.g. halothane), may injure the organ. Other chemical agents, such as those used in laboratories and industries, natural chemicals (e.g., microcystins), and herbal remedies (two prominent examples being kava, mechanism unknown, and comfrey, through its pyrrolizidine alkaloid content) can also induce hepatotoxicity. Chemicals that cause liver injury are called hepatotoxins. More than 900 drugs have been implicated in causing liver injury (see LiverTox, exter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Model
An animal model (short for animal disease model) is a living, non-human, often genetic-engineered animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease process without the risk of harming a human. Although biological activity in an animal model does not ensure an effect in humans, many drugs, treatments and cures for human diseases are developed in part with the guidance of animal models. Animal models representing specific taxonomic groups in the research and study of developmental processes are also referred to as model organisms. There are three main types of animal models: Homologous, Isomorphic and Predictive. Homologous animals have the same causes, symptoms and treatment options as would humans who have the same disease. Isomorphic animals share the same symptoms and treatments, only. Predictive models are similar to a particular human disease in only a couple of aspects. However, these are useful in isolating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
