Gastroprotective effects of N-acylarylhydrazone derivatives on ethanol-induced gastric lesions in mice are dependent on the NO/cGMP/K pathway.

The gastroprotective effects of N-acylarylhydrazone derivatives on ethanol-induced gastric lesions in mice were investigated with respect to the NO/cGMP/K pathway. To investigate our hypothesis, the mice were intraperitoneally pretreated with glibenclamide, L-NAME, or ODQ 30 min before treatment with DMSO, LASSBio-294 (1, 2, and 4 mg/kg, p.o.

Relaxant effects of the essential oil of Mentha pulegium L. in rat isolated trachea and urinary bladder.

Objectives: We evaluated the relaxant activity of the essential oil of Mentha pulegium L. (EOMP) and pulegone in rat isolated tracheal and bladder smooth muscles.

Methods: ISOMETRIC contractions of isolated tracheal and bladder strips from male Wistar rats were induced by KCl (K60; 60 mm) or acetylcholine (ACh; 10 µm).

Antispasmodic effect of Mentha piperita essential oil on tracheal smooth muscle of rats.

Aim Of The Study: Mentha piperita is a plant popularly known in Brazil as "hortelã-pimenta" whose essential oil is used in folk medicine for its anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, expectorant actions and anti-congestive. Here, it was investigated the effect of Mentha piperita essential oil (peppermint oil) in rat tracheal rings along with its mechanism of action.

Materials And Methods: Tracheal tissue from male Wistar rats (250-300 g) were used.

Structural analysis of Canavalia maritima and Canavalia gladiata lectins complexed with different dimannosides: new insights into the understanding of the structure-biological activity relationship in legume lectins.

Plant lectins, especially those purified from species of the Leguminosae family, represent the best studied group of carbohydrate-binding proteins. The legume lectins from Diocleinae subtribe are highly similar proteins that present significant differences in the potency/efficacy of their biological activities. The structural studies of the interactions between lectins and sugars may clarify the origin of the distinct biological activities observed in this high similar class of proteins.

New crystal forms of Diocleinae lectins in the presence of different dimannosides.

Studying the interactions between lectins and sugars is important in order to explain the differences observed in the biological activities presented by the highly similar proteins of the Diocleinae subtribe. Here, the crystallization and preliminary X-ray data of Canavalia gladiata lectin (CGL) and C. maritima lectin (CML) complexed with Man(alpha1-2)Man(alpha1)OMe, Man(alpha1-3)Man(alpha1)OMe and Man(alpha1-4)Man(alpha1)OMe in two crystal forms [the complexes with Man(alpha1-3)Man(alpha1)OMe and Man(alpha1-4)Man(alpha1)OMe crystallized in space group P3(2) and those with Man(alpha1-2)Man(alpha1)OMe crystallized in space group I222], which differed from those of the native proteins (P2(1)2(1)2 for CML and C222 for CGL), are reported.

cDNA cloning and 1.75 A crystal structure determination of PPL2, an endochitinase and N-acetylglucosamine-binding hemagglutinin from Parkia platycephala seeds.

Parkia platycephala lectin 2 was purified from Parkia platycephala (Leguminosae, Mimosoideae) seeds by affinity chromatography and RP-HPLC. Equilibrium sedimentation and MS showed that Parkia platycephala lectin 2 is a nonglycosylated monomeric protein of molecular mass 29 407+/-15 Da, which contains six cysteine residues engaged in the formation of three intramolecular disulfide bonds. Parkia platycephala lectin 2 agglutinated rabbit erythrocytes, and this activity was specifically inhibited by N-acetylglucosamine.