Balloon injury alters alpha-adrenoceptor expression across rat carotid artery wall.

alpha(1)-Adrenoceptors (AR) mediate growth factor-like activity of catecholamines on vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) and adventitial fibroblasts. This trophic activity is strongly augmented by balloon injury, contributes significantly to subsequent proliferation, wall hypertrophy and lumen loss and is mediated by alpha(1A)- and alpha(1B)-AR. However, it is not known how injury augments adrenergic trophic activity.

C75 [4-methylene-2-octyl-5-oxo-tetrahydro-furan-3-carboxylic acid] activates carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 in isolated mitochondria and intact cells without displacement of bound malonyl CoA.

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1beta (CPT-1beta) is a key regulator of the beta oxidation of long-chain fatty acids in skeletal muscle and therefore a potential therapeutic target for diseases associated with defects in lipid metabolism such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. C75 [4-methylene-2-octyl-5-oxo-tetrahydro-furan-3-carboxylic acid] is an alpha-methylene-butyrolactone that has been characterized as both an inhibitor of fatty acid synthase and more recently, an activator of CPT-1 (Thupari et al., 2002).

Cyclohexanedione herbicides are inhibitors of rat heart acetyl-CoA carboxylase.

Acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) catalyzes the carboxylation of acetyl CoA to form malonyl CoA. In skeletal muscle and heart, malonyl CoA functions to regulate lipid oxidation by inhibition of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, an enzyme which controls the entry of long chain fatty acids into mitochondria. We have found that several members of the cyclohexanedione class of herbicides are competitive inhibitors of rat heart ACC.