Zebrafish fetal alcohol syndrome model: effects of ethanol are rescued by retinoic acid supplement.

This study was designed to develop a zebrafish experimental model to examine defects in retinoic acid (RA) signaling caused by embryonic ethanol exposure. RA deficiency may be a causative factor leading to a spectrum of birth defects classified as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Experimental support for this hypothesis using Xenopus showed that effects of treatment with ethanol could be partially rescued by adding retinoids during ethanol treatment.

Human carboxylesterases: an update on CES1, CES2 and CES3.

Carboxylesterases belong to Phase I group of drug metabolizing enzymes. They hydrolyze a variety of drug esters, amides, carbamates and similar structures. There are five 'carboxylesterase' genes listed in the Human Genome Organization database.

Expression of carboxylesterase and lipase genes in rat liver cell-types.

Approximately 80% of the body vitamin A is stored in liver stellate cells with in the lipid droplets as retinyl esters. In low vitamin A status or after liver injury, stellate cells are depleted of the stored retinyl esters by their hydrolysis to retinol. However, the identity of retinyl ester hydrolase(s) expressed in stellate cells is unknown.

A multiple reaction monitoring method for absolute quantification of the human liver alcohol dehydrogenase ADH1C1 isoenzyme.

Although significant progress has been made in protein quantification using mass spectrometry during recent years, absolute protein quantification in complex biological systems remains a challenging task in proteomics. The use of stable isotope-labeled standard peptide is the most commonly used strategy for absolute quantification, but it might not be suitable in all instances. Here we report an alternative strategy that employs a stable isotope-labeled intact protein as an internal standard to absolutely quantify the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) expression level in a human liver sample.

Expression and characterization of a human carboxylesterase 2 splice variant.

CPT-11 [7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino] carbonyloxycamptothecin or Irinotecan] is a carbamate prodrug that is activated in vivo by carboxylesterase (CES)-2 to SN-38 (7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin), a potent topoisomerase I inhibitor. There is high interindividual variation when CPT-11 is used in the treatment of colorectal cancer. Several splice variants of CES2 are reported in the expressed sequence tag database.

Hydrolysis of irinotecan and its oxidative metabolites, 7-ethyl-10-[4-N-(5-aminopentanoic acid)-1-piperidino] carbonyloxycamptothecin and 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-amino]-carbonyloxycamptothecin, by human carboxylesterases CES1A1, CES2, and a newly expressed carboxylesterase isoenzyme, CES3.

Carboxylesterases metabolize ester, thioester, carbamate, and amide compounds to more soluble acid, alcohol, and amine products. They belong to a multigene family with about 50% sequence identity between classes. CES1A1 and CES2 are the most studied human isoenzymes from class 1 and 2, respectively.

Methylphenidate is stereoselectively hydrolyzed by human carboxylesterase CES1A1.

Methylphenidate is an important stimulant prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. It has two chiral centers, but most current commercial formulations consist of the racemic mixture of the threo pair of methylphenidate isomers (d-, l-threo-methylphenidate). The d-isomer is the pharmacologically active component.

Carboxylesterases expressed in human colon tumor tissue and their role in CPT-11 hydrolysis.

Purpose: The purpose is to develop new analytical methods to study the expression profile of CPT-11 carboxylesterases and topoisomerase I in colon tumor samples and understand the impact of their expression on CPT-11 metabolism in chemotherapy.

Experimental Design: We investigated 24 colon tumors for expression of carboxylesterases CES1A1, CES2, CES3, hBr-3, and topoisomerase I genes by real-time PCR and correlated the gene expression with activity assays. The relative abundance of the carboxylesterase isoenzymes and topoisomerase I genes was determined by real-time PCR.

Human glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase. Structural changes associated with ternary complex formation.

Human glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase plays an important role in the metabolism of glutathione adducts such as S-(hydroxymethyl)glutathione and S-nitrosoglutathione. The role of specific active site residues in binding these physiologically important substrates and the structural changes during the catalytic cycle of glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase was examined by determining the crystal structure of a ternary complex with S-(hydroxymethyl)glutathione and the reduced coenzyme to 2.6 A resolution.

Identification of microsomal rat liver carboxylesterases and their activity with retinyl palmitate.

Retinyl esters are a major endogenous storage source of vitamin A in vertebrates and their hydrolysis to retinol is a key step in the regulation of the supply of retinoids to all tissues. Some members of nonspecific carboxylesterase family (EC 3.1.

Human glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase. Structures of apo, binary, and inhibitory ternary complexes.

The human glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase is unique among the structurally studied members of the alcohol dehydrogenase family in that it follows a random bi bi kinetic mechanism. The structures of an apo form of the enzyme, a binary complex with substrate 12-hydroxydodecanoic acid, and a ternary complex with NAD+ and the inhibitor dodecanoic acid were determined at 2.0, 2.

Current progress on esterases: from molecular structure to function.

This article reports on a symposium sponsored by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and held at the April 2001 Experimental Biology meeting. Current developments in molecular-based studies into the structure and function of cholinesterases, carboxylesterases, and paraoxonases are described. This article covers mechanisms of regulation of gene expression of the various esterases by developmental factors and xenobiotics, as well as the interplay between physiological and chemical regulation of enzyme activity.