Afferent Baroreflex Dysfunction: Decreased or Excessive Signaling Results in Distinct Phenotypes.

Head and neck tumors can affect afferent baroreceptor neurons and either interrupt or intermittently increase their signaling, causing blood pressure to become erratic. When the afferent fibers of the baroreflex are injured by surgery or radiotherapy or fail to develop as in familial dysautonomia, their sensory information is no longer present to regulate arterial blood pressure, resulting in afferent baroreflex failure. When the baroreflex afferents are abnormally activated, such as by paragangliomas in the neck, presumably by direct compression, they trigger acute hypotension and bradycardia and frequently syncope, by a mechanism similar to the carotid sinus syndrome.

Site-directed mutagenesis study of yeast peptide:N-glycanase. Insight into the reaction mechanism of deglycosylation.

Yeast peptide:N-glycanase (Png1p; PNGase), a deglycosylation enzyme involved in the proteasome dependent degradation of proteins, has been reported to be a member of the transglutaminase superfamily based on sequence alignment. In this study we have investigated the structure-function relationship of Png1p by site-directed mutagenesis. Cys-191, His-218, and Asp-235 of Png1p are conserved in the sequence of factor XIIIa, where these amino acids constitute a catalytic triad.