Clinical and genetic analysis of two pedigrees affected with aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency / 中华医学遗传学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To delineate the clinical and genetic features of two pedigrees affected with aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency.@*METHODS@#The clinical features, family history and results of genetic testing of 2 patients with AADC deficiency were retrospectively analyzed.@*RESULTS@#Both patients featured hypotension, developmental delay and oculogyric crisis during infancy. Genetic testing confirmed that they have respectively carried c.714+ 4 (IVS6) A to T/c.175(exon2)G TO A compound heterozygous variants and c.714+ 4(IVS6)A to T homozygous variant.@*CONCLUSION@#The clinical manifestation of children with AADC deficiency may include hypotonia, developmental delay and paroxysmal oculogyric crisis. The combination of 3-O-methyldopa testing and variant analysis is not only very useful for early diagnosis, but also important for the evaluation of treatment effect and prognosis of the disease. Discovery of the novel variants has enriched the variant spectrum of AADC deficiency.

Feeding difficulty and developmental delay for 8 months and nystagmus for 4 months in an infant / 中国当代儿科杂志

Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive hereditary disease and is a congenital metabolic disorder of neurotransmitter biosynthesis. It is mainly manifested as hypotonia, oculogyric crisis, autonomic dysfunction, and developmental delay. This article reports a boy manifested as delayed motor development, hypotonia, and oculogyric crisis. Gene screening for metabolic disorders revealed new compound heterozygous mutations, c.1063dupA (p.I355fs) and c.250A>C (p.S84R), in the exon of DDC gene. The boy had a significant increase in 3-O-methyldopa as measured by dried blood spot. Therefore, he was diagnosed with AADC deficiency. After treatment with the dopamine receptor agonist pramipexole dihydrochloride, the catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor entacapone, and vitamin B6, the boy showed mild improvements in hypotonia, blepharoptosis, and oculogyric crisis. Clinical physicians should enhance their ability for identifying AADC deficiency, so as to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of this disorder. Genetic counseling for birth health and prenatal diagnosis should be performed for parents in need.

Advances in the application of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease with adeno-associated virus / 药学学报

Vectors used to carry foreign genes play an important role in gene therapy, among which, the adeno-associated virus (AAV) has many advantages, such as nonpathogenicity, low immunogenicity, stable and long-term expression and multiple-tissue-type infection, etc. These advantages have made AAV one of the most potential vectors in gene therapy, and widely used in many clinical researches, for example, Parkinson's disease. This paper introduces the biological characteristics of AAV and the latest research progress of AAV carrying neurotrophic factor, dopamine synthesis related enzymes and glutamic acid decarboxylase gene in the gene therapy of Parkinson's disease.

Research of expression of L-DOPA decarboxylase in laryngeal cancer / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#This study aimed to investigate the expression levels of L-DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) mRNA and protein in laryngeal cancer, and to determine the clinical significance of DDC in diagnosis and prognosis of laryngeal cancer.@*METHOD@#Total RNA was isolated from 106 tissue samples surgically removed from 53 laryngeal cancer patients. A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methodology based on SYBR Green I fluorescent dye was developed for the quantification of mRNA levels. In addition, Western Blot analysis was performed to detect the expression level of DDC protein.@*RESULT@#DDC mRNA expression in both primary (P= 0. 000) and recurrent (P=0. 033) laryngeal cancer samples downregulated significantly compared with their nonmalignant counterparts. Moreover, expression of DDC mRNA was not associated with age and histologic grade, but the significantly decreased mRNA were correlated with early TMN stage (P=0. 021). Additionally, DDC protein was detected in both cancerous and noncancerous tissues.@*CONCLUSION@#Expression levels of DDC may play a vital role in the progression of laryngeal cancer, which can be served as a promising biomarker for the future clinical management of laryngeal cancer patients.

Patterns of renal dopamine release to regulate diuresis and natriuresis during volume expansion: Role of renal monoamine-oxidase / Perfiles de secreción de dopamina renal en la expansión de volumen para regular diuresis y natriuresis: Rol de la monoaminoxidasa renal

Diuretic and natriuretic effects of renal dopamine (DA) are well established. However, in volume expansion the pattern of renal DA release into urine (U DA V) and the role of enzymes involved in DA synthesis/degradation have not yet been defined. The objective was to determine the pattern of U DA V during volume expansion and to characterize the involvement of monoamine-oxidase (MAO) and aromatic amino-acid decarboxylase (AADC) in this response. In this study male Wistar rats were expanded with NaCl 0.9% at a rate of 5% BWt per hour. At the beginning of expansion three groups received a single drug injection as follows: C (vehicle, Control), IMAO (MAO inhibitor Pargyline, 20 mg/kg BWt, i.v.) and BNZ (AADC inhibitor Benserazide, 25 mg/kg BWt, i.v.). Results revealed that in C rats U DA V (ng/30 min/100g BWt) increased in the first 30 min expansion from 11.5 ± 1.20 to 21.8 ± 3.10 (p < 0.05) and decreased thereafter. IMAO showed a similar pattern but significantly higher than C at 30 min expansion (32.5 ± 2.20, p < 0.05). IMAO greatly reduced MAO activity from 8.29 ± 0.35 to 1.1 ± 0.03 nmol/mg tissue/hour and significantly increased diuresis and natriuresis over controls. BNZ abolished the early U DA V peak to 3.2±0.72 (p < 0.01) and though, U DA V increased over C after 60 min expansion, natriuresis and diuresis were diminished by BNZ treatment. Results indicate that an increment in renal DA release into urine occurs early in expansion and in a peak-shaped way. In this response MAO plays a predominant role.

La dopamina (DA) intrarrenal ejerce efectos diuréticos y natriuréticos. Sin embargo, en los estado de expansión de volumen aún no está bien definido el patrón de liberación de dopamina renal hacia la orina y si cumplen un rol las enzimas involucradas en la síntesis o degradación de la amina. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue determinar el patrón de excreción urinaria de DA (U DA V) durante la expansión de volumen, caracterizando la participación de las enzimas monoaminooxidasa (MAO) y decarboxilasa de aminoácidos aromáticos (AADC) en esta respuesta. Para ello ratas Wistar macho fueron expandidas de volumen con NaCl 0.9% al 5% del peso corporal por hora durante dos horas y divididas en tres grupos, los que al comienzo de la expansión recibieron: C (vehículo, Control), IMAO (Pargilina, inhibidor de MAO, 20 mg/kg PC, i.v.) y BNZ (Benserazida, inhibidor de AADC, 25 mg/kg PC, i.v.). Se observó que en C la U DA V (ng/30min/100gPC) aumentó durante los primeros 30 minutos de expansión de 11.5 ± 1.20 a 21.8 ± 3.10 (p < 0.05), disminuyendo posteriormente. IMAO mostró un patrón de liberación similar pero significativamente mayor que C a los 30 min de expansión (32.5 ± 2.20, p < 0.05). En este grupo la actividad de MAO disminuyó de 8.29 ± 0.35 a 1.1 ± 0.03 nmol/mg tejido/hora y aumentaron la diuresis y natriuresis por sobre los controles. En BNZ, el pico de U DA V observado a los 30 min de la expansión disminuyó a 3.2 ± 0.72 (p < 0.01), aunque luego de 60 minutos fue mayor que en C. BNZ disminuyó tanto la diuresis como la natriuresis. Podemos concluir que al comienzo de la expansión de volumen se produce un pico de excreción de dopamina renal hacia la orina. La enzima MAO juega un rol fundamental en esta respuesta.

Effects of nitrogen forms on camptothecin content and its metabolism-related enzymes activities in Camptotheca acuminata seedlings / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of nitrogen forms on the camptothecin (CPT) content, tryptophan synthase (TSB) and tryptophan decarboxylase (TDC) activities in Camptotheca acuminata seedlings.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The seedlings of C. acuminata with 6 pairs of leaves were subjected to 5 different NH4(+) -N/NO3(-) -N ratio (0 : 100, 75 : 25, 50 : 50, 25 : 75, 100 : 0) treatments by sand culture in a greenhouse. The CPT content, TSB activity in the young leaves and TDC in the stem barks of the seedlings were determined by HPLC on the 15th, 30th, 45th, 60th and 75th day, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The obvious relationship between CPT content and nitrogen forms was observed. When NH4(+) - N /NO3(-) -N ratio was 25 : 75, CPT accumulation in young leaves displayed the best advantages (the highest value is 5.69 per thousand) and increased in the early 30 days of treatment and then declined. There was no obvious relationship between TSB activity in the young leaves and nitrogen forms. TDC activity in the stem bark was the highest when NH4(+) -N /NO3(-) -N ratio was 25 : 75, and the change of TDC activity paralleled to CPT content in the young leaves.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A short-term treatment that NH4(+) -N /NO3(-) -N ratio was 25:75 may gain high CPT content in the young leaves through enhancing the TDC activity in the stem bark of C. acuminata seedlings.</p>

Expression and assessment of double genes of tyrosine hydroxylase gene and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase gene in vitro / 生理学报

The characteristic pathological changes of Parkinson s disease (PD) include a severe loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra and a severe decrease in dopamine in the striatum. Since the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) in the biosynthetic pathway for dopamine are low, a promising approach to the gene therapy of PD is to augment the gene expression of the enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway for dopamine. In the present study, human TH and AADC genes were reconstructed into retrovirous vectors pLHCX and pLNCX(2) respectively. Then pLHCX/TH and pLNCX(2)/AADC were transfected into packaging cell line PA317 with liposome. PA317/TH and PA317/AADC were selected by different antibiotics. Gene expression was examined by methods of immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. The catalytic activity of two cloned gene enzymes was assessed in vitro by HPLC-EC. Immunocytochemical staining showed that TH and AADC were expressed efficiently in vitro. Both TH and AADC mRNA were transcripted in PA317 cell lines by using in situ hybridazation. HPLC-EC experiments revealed that the transfected cells produced a significantly higher level of dopamine and L-dopa than the untransfected cells. The two genetically modified cells could improve the production of L-dopa and dopamine in response to suitable substrate. The present results suggest that not only recombinant TH and AADC genes are successfully expressed in vitro, but also the enzymes have respective functional activities. These results have set up a way for in vivo gene therapy of PD with TH and AADC genes.

Amino acids, a triggering factor for creating phosphokinase induction by selected members of enterobacteriaceae and other pathogenic bacteria

24 amino acids were tested for inducing CPK activity within 40 selected members of entero-bacteriaceae as well as other pathogenic bacteria. Klebsiella remarkably produced the enzyme when incubated with any of the acids [1.7-5.4 U/10[7]/ ml] followed by the shigellae [0.2-1.5 U/10[7] cells/ml] then the vibrios [0.4-1.3 U] then Yersinia [0.4-0.5]. The tested arizonas, escherishias, erwinias or pseudomonas produced appreciable amounts of the enzyme only on one or few amino whereas the proteii as well as Salmonella farmsen failed to do so on any of the tested amino acids. The remaining salmonellas could release the enzyme in several of their amino acids media but S. paratyphi, S. sofia, S. typhi, S. typhimurium or S. wassenaar were the best producers on all tested amino acids [0.2-0.8 U]. Valine, arginine, iso-leucine or glycine was the most active CPK inducers [19-17 organisms the least [12-11 organisms]. The remaining amino acids were intermediate [16-14 organisms]