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Biochemical Pharmacology Jun 1977
Review
Topics: Animals; Biogenic Amines; Brain; Folic Acid; Glycine; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Mental Disorders; Methylation; Neurotransmitter Agents; Pteridines; Pterins; Subcellular Fractions
PubMed: 18148
DOI: 10.1016/0006-2952(77)90236-2 -
Journal of Insect Physiology Oct 2019Social insects are emerging models for studying aging and the longevity/fecundity trade-off. Research on the demography of colonies and populations are hampered by the...
Social insects are emerging models for studying aging and the longevity/fecundity trade-off. Research on the demography of colonies and populations are hampered by the lack of reliable age markers. Here we investigate the suitability of cuticular pigmentation and pteridine fluorescence for age grading individuals of the clonal ant Platythyrea punctata. We found that both traits varied with age. Cuticular color darkened with individual's age until 25-30 days after hatching. For pteridine fluorescence, we found that P. punctata workers show a decrease in head pteridine levels over time until 70-80 days of age. Together with other markers, such as age-based behavior, cuticular coloration and pteridine fluorescence may help to estimate the age structure of colonies.
Topics: Aging; Animals; Ants; Color; Fluorescence; Pteridines
PubMed: 31518554
DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2019.103943 -
Nature Oct 1948
Topics: Pteridines
PubMed: 18933006
DOI: 10.1038/162524b0 -
Ecology Letters Oct 2021Carotenoids are important pigments producing integument colouration; however, their dietary availability may be limited in some environments. Many species produce yellow...
Carotenoids are important pigments producing integument colouration; however, their dietary availability may be limited in some environments. Many species produce yellow to red hues using a combination of carotenoids and self-synthesised pteridine pigments. A compelling hypothesis is that pteridines replace carotenoids in environments where carotenoid availability is limited. To test this hypothesis, we quantified concentrations of five carotenoid and six pteridine pigments in multiple skin colours and individuals from 27 species of agamid lizards. We show that environmental gradients predict the ratio of carotenoids to pteridines; carotenoid concentrations are lower and pteridine concentrations higher in arid environments with low vegetation productivity. Both carotenoid and pteridine pigments were present in all species, but only pteridine concentrations explained colour variation among species and there were no correlations between carotenoid and pteridine pigments with a similar hue. These results suggest that in arid environments, where carotenoids are likely limited, species may compensate by synthesising more pteridines but do not necessarily replace carotenoids with pteridines of similar hue.
Topics: Animals; Carotenoids; Humans; Lizards; Pigmentation; Pteridines; Skin Pigmentation
PubMed: 34350679
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13850 -
Marine Drugs Feb 2021Chemical investigation of secondary metabolites from the marine-derived fungus Y32-2 resulted in the isolation of two new prenylated indole alkaloid homodimers,...
Chemical investigation of secondary metabolites from the marine-derived fungus Y32-2 resulted in the isolation of two new prenylated indole alkaloid homodimers, di-6-hydroxydeoxybrevianamide E () and dinotoamide J (), one new pteridine alkaloid asperpteridinate A (), with eleven known compounds (-). Their structures were elucidated by various spectroscopic methods including HRESIMS and NMR, while their absolute configurations were determined by ECD calculations. Each compound was evaluated for pro-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory effects in zebrafish models and cytotoxicity for HepG2 human liver carcinoma cells. As a result, compounds , , , , exhibited pro-angiogenic activity in a PTK787-induced vascular injury zebrafish model in a dose-dependent manner, compounds , , , displayed anti-inflammatory activity in a CuSO-induced zebrafish inflammation model, and compound showed significant cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells with an IC value of 30 µg/mL.
Topics: Angiogenesis Inducing Agents; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Aspergillus; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Indole Alkaloids; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Pteridines; Water Microbiology; Zebrafish
PubMed: 33572212
DOI: 10.3390/md19020098 -
Journal of Pharmaceutical and... Jun 2024Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications are known to be associated with oxidative stress. Pteridine derivatives and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity can be...
AIM
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications are known to be associated with oxidative stress. Pteridine derivatives and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity can be used as biomarkers in the evaluation of oxidative stress. In this study, our aim is to compare the concentrations of serum and urinary pteridine derivatives, as well as serum IDO activity, in children and adolescents diagnosed with T1D and those in a healthy control group.
METHOD
A cross-sectional study was performed and included 93 patients with T1D and 71 healthy children. Serum and urine biopterin, neopterin, monapterin, pterin, isoxanthopterin, and pterin-6-carboxylic acid (6PTC) and serum tryptophan and kynurenine levels were analyzed and compared with healthy controls. High-performance liquid chromatography was used for the analysis of pteridine derivatives, tryptophan, and kynurenine. Xanthine oxidase (XO) activity, a marker of oxidative stress, was defined by measurement of serum and urine isoxanthopterin. As an indicator of indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity, the ratio of serum kynurenine/tryptophan was used.
RESULTS
Serum isoxanthopterin and tryptophan concentrations were increased, and serum 6PTC concentration was decreased in children with T1D (p=0.01, p=0.021, p<0.001, respectively). In children with T1D, IDO activity was not different from healthy controls (p>0.05). Serum neopterin level and duration of diabetes were weakly correlated (p=0.045, r=0.209); urine neopterin/creatinine and isoxanthopterin/creatinine levels were weakly correlated with HbA1c levels (p=0.005, r=0.305; p=0.021, r=0.249, respectively). Urine pterin/creatinine level negatively correlated with body mass index-SDS. (p=0.015, r=-0.208).
CONCLUSION
We found for the first time that isoxanthopterin levels increased and 6PTC levels decreased in children and adolescents with T1D. Elevated isoxanthopterin levels suggest that the XO activity is increased in TID. Increased XO activity may be an indicator of vascular complications reflecting T1D-related endothelial dysfunction.
Topics: Child; Adolescent; Humans; Tryptophan; Kynurenine; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Neopterin; Creatinine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Pteridines; Xanthopterin
PubMed: 38437786
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2024.116072 -
Medical and Veterinary Entomology Feb 1999The age structure of mosquito populations is of great relevance to understanding the dynamics of disease transmission and in monitoring the success of control...
The age structure of mosquito populations is of great relevance to understanding the dynamics of disease transmission and in monitoring the success of control operations. Unfortunately, the ovarian dissection methods currently available for determining the age of adult mosquitoes are technically difficult, slow and may be of limited value, because the proportion of diagnostic ovarioles in the ovary declines with age. By means of reversed-phase HPLC this study investigated the malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae and An. stephensi to see if changes in fluorescent pteridine pigments, which have been used in other insects to determine the age of field-caught individuals, may be useful for age determination in mosquitoes. Whole body fluorescence was inversely proportional to age (P < 0.001, r2 > 91%) up to 30 days postemergence, with the regression values: y = 40580-706x for An. gambiae, and y = 52896-681x for An. stephensi. In both species the main pteridines were 6-biopterin, pterin-6-carboxylic acid and an unidentified fluorescent compound. An. gambiae had only 50-70% as much fluorescence as An. stephensi, and fluorescent compounds were relatively more concentrated in the head than in the thorax (ratios 1:0.8 An. gambiae; 1:0.5 An. stephensi). The results of this laboratory study are encouraging. It seems feasible that this simpler and faster technique of fluorescence quantification could yield results of equivalent accuracy to the interpretation of ovarian dissection. A double-blind field trial comparing the accuracy of this technique to marked, released and recaptured mosquitoes is required to test the usefulness of the pteridine method in the field.
Topics: Age Factors; Animals; Anopheles; Female; Fluorescence; Pteridines
PubMed: 10194749
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2915.1999.00144.x -
Comparative Biochemistry and... 19821. The crab-eating monkey (Macaca fascicularis) has been studied for enzymes which react in the biosynthesis of pteridine cofactor of phenylalanine hydroxylase: 2....
1. The crab-eating monkey (Macaca fascicularis) has been studied for enzymes which react in the biosynthesis of pteridine cofactor of phenylalanine hydroxylase: 2. Rather high activity of sepiapterin reductase (EC 1.1.1.153)(0.130 mumol) and measurable activity of dihydrofolate reductase (EC 1.5.1.3)(0.039 mumol), (in amount of substrate reduced/hr/mg protein at 37 degrees C) were found in the crude extract from the liver. 3. Sepiapterin reductase was observed, in blood, only in the erythrocytes while dihydrofolate reductase was observed both in erythrocytes and leucocytes. 4. Activity of pteridine cofactor of phenylalanine hydroxylase was detected in the extract of the liver. 5. Sepiapterin reductase was partially purified from the liver, and was studied in the mol. wt, coenzyme-requirement, pH optimum, KmS and inhibitors.
Topics: Alcohol Oxidoreductases; Animals; In Vitro Techniques; Kinetics; Liver; Macaca; Macaca fascicularis; Male; Phenylalanine Hydroxylase; Proteins; Pteridines; Subcellular Fractions; Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase
PubMed: 7037283
DOI: 10.1016/0305-0491(82)90172-9 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Sep 2019Naturalists have been fascinated for centuries by animal colors and color patterns. While widely studied at the adult stage, we know little about color patterns in the...
Naturalists have been fascinated for centuries by animal colors and color patterns. While widely studied at the adult stage, we know little about color patterns in the embryo. Here, we study a trait consisting of coloration that is specific to the embryo and absent from postembryonic stages in water striders (Gerromorpha). By combining developmental genetics with chemical and phylogenetic analyses across a broad sample of species, we uncovered the mechanisms underlying the emergence and diversification of embryonic colors in this group of insects. We show that the pteridine biosynthesis pathway, which ancestrally produces red pigment in the eyes, has been recruited during embryogenesis in various extraocular tissues including antennae and legs. In addition, we discovered that this cooption is common to all water striders and initially resulted in the production of yellow extraocular color. Subsequently, 6 lineages evolved bright red color and 2 lineages lost the color independently. Despite the high diversity in colors and color patterns, we show that the underlying biosynthesis pathway remained stable throughout the 200 million years of Gerromorpha evolutionary time. Finally, we identified erythropterin and xanthopterin as the pigments responsible for these colors in the embryo of various species. These findings demonstrate how traits can emerge through the activation of a biosynthesis pathway in new developmental contexts.
Topics: Animals; Biological Evolution; Color; Embryo, Nonmammalian; Eye; Heteroptera; Phenotype; Phylogeny; Pigmentation; Pigments, Biological; Pteridines; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 31484764
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1908316116 -
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 1985After iodine oxidation, biopterin, 6-hydroxymethylpterin, and 6-formylpterin were identified in mouse spleen lymphocytes by means of reverse-phase HPLC, Crithidia assay,...
After iodine oxidation, biopterin, 6-hydroxymethylpterin, and 6-formylpterin were identified in mouse spleen lymphocytes by means of reverse-phase HPLC, Crithidia assay, and oxidative degradation. Concanavalin A activation induces a 30-fold increase in the pteridine amounts; biopterin as well as the sum of the carbinol and the aldehyde attain levels of 6-8 X 10(-12) mol/10(6) cells. The most rapid increase occurs during the first 24 hr. Thus, pteridine accumulation precedes the period of lymphocyte proliferation; maximum DNA synthesis was found after 72 hr. Biopterin remains largely inside the cells, whereas 6-hydroxymethylpterin and 6-formylpterin were found in the supernatant if the stimulated cells were subsequently incubated in a phosphate buffered salt solution (PBS). Isoxanthopterin was found in the PBS supernatant of control cells that previously were kept in medium alone rather than subjected to lectin stimulation. Only minimal amounts were found inside these cells, and this pterin was absent from the stimulated lymphocytes. The early increase in cellular pteridines and their differential release may well provide the basis for their modulating effect on interleukin-2 activity (Ziegler I, et al: Lymphokine Research 3:284, 1984).
Topics: Animals; Biopterins; Concanavalin A; In Vitro Techniques; Kinetics; Lymphocyte Activation; Lymphocytes; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; Pteridines; Pterins; Spleen; Xanthopterin
PubMed: 4066775
DOI: 10.1002/jcb.240280303