Pyruvate kinase activity in the placentas of women living in polluted and unpolluted environments.

Background: It was shown earlier that in women living in a polluted environment, the proportion of hypotrophic newborns was greater than in the general population. The placentas of these women show significant histological changes. The authors decided to check whether the activity of pyruvate kinase (PK), a key enzyme in the third stage of glycolysis, changes similarly.

[Erythrocyte concentrations of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and magnesium, before and after conservative therapy of lower extremities atherosclerosis].

37 patients with atherosclerosis of lower extremities and the mean claudication distance of 300-500 m (Fontaine 11 degrees) were subjected to pharmacotherapy with pentoxyfilline 600 mg twice daily, and walking exercise tests on a treadmill. The concentrations of ATP and magnesium ions in erythrocytes were assessed in the patients in resting condition, and after standardized walking exercise tests, 6 and 12 weeks since the beginning of therapy. Applied treatment proved beneficial in protecting the patients against depletion of ATP in their erythrocytes.

Tumor-specific pyruvate kinase isoenzyme M2 involved in biochemical strategy of energy generation in neoplastic cells.

The differences in properties of pyruvate kinase (EC 2.1.7.

Changes in ATP level and iron-induced ultra-weak photon emission in bull spermatozoa, caused by membrane peroxidation during thermal stress.

ATP level, cell motility and viability, oxygen uptake, pyruvate kinase activity, and ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) induced by red-ox Fe(2+)-ascorbate cycling system were studied in fresh, in previously equilibrated in a glycerol diluent, and in cryopreserved bull spermatozoa, exposed to thermal stress by incubation of the cells at 44 degrees C. A sharp drop in motility and viability of fresh spermatozoa and even more so, of equilibrated and cryopreserved cells was accompanied by accumulation of ATP. When cell movement was totally inhibited, ATP utilization was decreased, while chemical energy continued to be produced by cell pyruvate kinase, one of the key glycolytic enzymes, which in spermatozoa is very active (6500 IU/g protein) and insensitive to feed-back inhibition by excess of ATP and L-cysteine.

Effect of environmental fluorides on key biochemical processes in humans.

Several biochemical parameters connected with energy metabolism were studied in the inhabitants living in the neighbourhood of the Aluminium Smelter and in inhabitants of Chorzów, one of the most polluted towns in the Upper Silesian Industrial Region, chronically exposed to environmental fluorides and other toxic compounds. In people exposed to environmental fluorides excessive excretion of fluorides in urine was noted. This effect was connected with a decrease in urine and erythrocyte magnesium concentrations.