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Metabolism of uric acid during mammalian evolution
Mančíková, Andrea ; Krylov, Vladimír (advisor) ; Stibůrková, Blanka (referee)
Uric acid is the end product of purine metabolism of humans and some higher primates. In other mammals enzyme urate oxidase is capable to further convert uric acid to allantoin. During evolution of primates several mutations in urate oxidase gene had occured, led the enzyme to decrease its activity or to complete loss of function. What was the initial impetus for the utilization of uric acid and what biochemical traits of uric acid led to a tendency to retain a major of this metabolite production in the bloodstream? Uric acid has antioxidant capabilities and it is scavanger of free radicals. Increased levels of uric acid in blood has an effect on acute and chronic elevations of blood pressure. It is possible that hyperuricemia helped to maintain blood pressure under low-salt dietary conditions of primates during the Miocene. This mechanism probably have allowed to stabilize bipedalism our ancestors. Uric acid has an important role as a neuroprotector. As inhibitor the permeability blood-brain barrier, uric acid limits the infiltration of undesirable substances to the neurons and prevents central nervous system against the formation of inflammatory diseases. Such as neurodegenerative diseases may be caused by reduced serum uric acid levels. Uric acid protects against peroxinitrite damage tissues in the...
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Lipid composition of biological membranes and life-histories in songbirds
Šimonová, Kateřina ; Tomášek, Oldřich (advisor) ; Sam, Kateřina (referee)
Differences in the composition of cell membranes are considered to be the physiological mechanism responsible for different metabolic rates, life span and consequently, different life-histories. The membrane pacemaker theory suggests that higher membrane unsaturation may be an important factor responsible for higher metabolic rate and shorter life span of organisms. The alternative hypothesis, on the other hand, assumes that membranes can function as structural antioxidants, and thus that higher membrane unsaturation may be associated with longer life span. The aim of this work was to test how changes in the fatty acid composition of membranes depends on body size, latitude and altitude, within which different life-histories and metabolic rate were observed. Temperate and tropical lowland songbird species were chosen for the models testing the effect of latitude, and only tropical species of songbirds were chosen for the models testing the effect of altitude. Part of the work was molecular sex determination. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, the amount of individual fatty acids contained in red blood cell phospholipids was obtained from blood samples. The results showed that the composition of the membranes in most cases correlates with body size, which also correlates with almost all...
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Effect of cholinesterase inhibitors on monoaminergic system and energic metabolism
Kalinová, Tereza ; Mladěnka, Přemysl (advisor) ; Štěpánková, Šárka (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology Student: Tereza Kalinová Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Přemysl Mladěnka, Pharm.D., Ph.D. Mentor: Assoc. Prof. Jana Hroudová, Pharm.D., Ph.D. Title of diploma thesis: Effect of cholinesterase inhibitors on monoaminergic system and energy metabolism Cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitors play an essential role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). They effect positively cognitive, functional and behavior symptoms of AD. Up to date, donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine represent the only ChE inhibitors approved for AD treatment. The first ChE inhibitor was tacrine, which was withdrawn from market due to its toxicity and adverse effects. Recently, novel tacrine and 7-methoxytacrine (7-MEOTA) derivatives were synthetized and extensively investigated to find less toxic compounds affecting pathological mechanisms associated with development of AD. There is less known about effects of these drugs on mitochondrial functions and cellular energy metabolism. The aim of this project is to examine in vitro effects of ChE inhibitors on energy metabolism and cellular respiration, specifically on mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes and an enzyme of the citric acid cycle - citrate synthase. Inhibitory effects...
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Interaction of food additives with xenobiotic metabolising enzymes
Jandová, Eliška ; Hodek, Petr (advisor) ; Koblihová, Jitka (referee)
Recently the use of various food supplements as a part of a healthy lifestyle has been very popular. Although most of them are natural products, their excessive consumption may not always be beneficial for health. Dietary supplements are usually of a flavonoid character. Flavonoid compounds are found in plants and they have beneficial effects on human health. For their antioxidant, anti-allergy and chemopreventive effects they are extensively studied. However, in recent years the negative impacts of flavonoids have been described, often caused by their excessive consumption. It has been shown that they interact with cytochrome P450, which play an important role in the biotransformation of xenobiotics. The change in the metabolism of xenobiotics (whether drugs or carcinogens) can cause serious health problems, including a tumor growth. Beside cytochrome P450, there is another possible points of intervention, cytochrome b5 (or NADH:cytochrome b5 reductase), which effects the catalytic cycle of cytochrome P450. Another point of potential danger is the elimination of xenobiotics out of the organism. There is a complex system of transporters, in which P-glycoprotein plays a very significant role. P-glycoprotein is involved in transmembrane efflux of xenobiotics, preventing the aggregation of these...
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MR spectroscopy in patients with diabetes mellitus
Šedivý, Petr ; Štěpánková, Helena (advisor) ; Roztočil, Karel (referee)
This thesis deals with in vivo MR spectroscopy. Measurements in this thesis were performed on whole-body MR tomograph at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague. The objective of the thesis was to study differences in the biochemical processes and energy metabolism in the muscle tissue under physical workload between the groups of healthy subjects and patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1). We used phosphorous spectroscopy in combination with ergometer. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter describes theoretical introduction to in vivo 1 H and 31 P MR spectroscopy and muscle metabolism, the second chapter deals with the description of the experimental equipment and measurement, results of the thesis are reported in the third chapter and the fourth chapter is a discussion of results. Main result of this work is summarized in conclusion; we found differences between the metabolism of patients with DM1 and healthy volunteers.
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New findings of physiological and ecological aspects of hibernating bats
Ungrová, Zdislava ; Jahelková, Helena (advisor) ; Lučan, Radek (referee)
Bats can be found in almost all climatic zones. They have to deal with unfavorable conditions of environment to survive and reproduce sucessfully. Especially in temperate zones they have to deal with cold temperatures and lack of food during a winter season. To save energy bats enter a short, diurnal torpor or a hibernation. Usually, hibernation lasts all winter and is disturbed by short bouts of arousals. During both hibernation and torpor a physiological changes occur in bodies of bats. Body temperature decreases from endothermic levels, metabolic rates are reduced as well as respiratory rate and pulse. These changes are mainly influenced by weight and body size, diet, ambient temperature, sex and reproductive status. With the developement of new technologies, these changes can be measured more accurately than they have been in past, whether in a field or in a laboratory. But not all physiological processes are well explained. We have little knowledge especially about mechanism of arousal from hibernation. During awakening bats are infected by fungus Geomyces destructans that affects their immune system. In Norh America fungus causes a disease called White- Nose syndrome (WNS), that is responsible for death of millions of bats, especially endangered is Myotis lucifugus. In Europe, this disease is reffered...
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Serum markers of cholesterol 7α hydroxylase activity
Bohdanecká, Alena ; Leníček, Martin (advisor) ; Kovář, Jan (referee)
Cholesterol 7-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) is the rate limiting enzyme of the classical pathway of bile acid (BA) synthesis, which catabolizes approximately half of cholesterol in man. Determination of CYP7A enzymatic activity is a key subject of lipid metabolism research. Direct determination of CYP7A1 activity in hepatic biopsy is mostly not allowed for ethical reasons, so indirect methods are used with serum markers such as 7α-hydroxy-4-cholestene-3- one (C4). The first, methodical aim of the work was to convert the introduced HPLC method for the determination of C4 to LC-MS in order to increase the sensitivity. We focused on the solid phase extraction step, adjusting the composition and volumes of the washing and elution solution. By converting the method from HPLC to LC-MS, the sensitivity was increased approximately 7 times (LD = 1.39 ng/ml). In the second, clinical part of our work, we attempted to confirm the preliminary results of our laboratory on the distribution of C4 in lipoprotein fractions (LPP) in order to find parameter that would correlate with CYP7A1 activity better than C4 level itself. Preliminary results (performed in healthy individuals) showed that most of C4 is carried on HDL, and that the C4 distribution within LPP fractions is similar among examined subjects. We repeated the...
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Sulfates as phase II metabolites of natural phenolic compounds
Hetman, Anastasiia ; Mladěnka, Přemysl (advisor) ; Siatka, Tomáš (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology Student: Anastasiia Hetman Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Přemysl Mladěnka, PharmD., Ph.D. Co-supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Kateřina Valentová, Ph.D. Title of diploma thesis: Sulfates as phase II metabolites of natural phenolic compounds Natural monophenolic compounds, which both occur in plants and are formed during gut microbiota metabolism of polyphenols, are absorbed and pass through phase II metabolism. This results in the formation of various conjugated metabolites, such as sulfates, whose biological activity was not studied as yet. This work focused on the preparation and isolation of pure sulfated metabolites of phenolic compounds, namely 4- methylcatechol, protocatechuic, homoprotocatechuic, and 2,3,4-trihydroxybenzoic acid, and phloroglucinol, using the aryl sulphotransferase from Desulfitobacterium hafniense. As a result, two sulfated products of sufficient purity were prepared, namely 4- methylcatechol-O-sulfate (an inseparable mixture of 4-methylcatechol-2-O-sulfate and 4- methylcatechol-1-O-sulfate) and phloroglucinol-O-sulfate. Their antioxidantactivity was evaluated and compared with the activity of the parent compounds using the following six in vitro tests: DPPH (1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and...
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Auxin transport in algae
Skokan, Roman ; Petrášek, Jan (advisor) ; Bíšová, Kateřina (referee)
Phytohormone auxin plays an important role in regulating plant development. Directional (polar) cell-to-cell auxin transport creates auxin gradients within plant tissues, which trigger a specific developmental response. The vast majority of available data concerns angiosperms. Lower land plants have been much less explored in this regard, but the important auxin-related mechanisms (including polar auxin transport) are already present in mosses. To uncover the origins of auxin action, one must focus on green algae, especially of clade Streptophyta, which are the direct ancestors of all land plants. In this study, the possible effects of auxins, both native and synthetic, were investigated on two algae: basal, unicellular Chlorella lobophora and advanced, filamentous Spirogyra sp. The latter received comparably more attention, since it belongs to a clade now acknowledged as a sister group to land plants. Chlorella lobophora culture growth was irresponsive to synthetic auxin NAA. The average Spirogyra sp. cell length was, however, changed by auxins at high concentrations. By conducting accumulation assays of radioactively labelled auxins and HPLC analysis, auxin metabolism and transport was investigated in Spirogyra sp. This alga was able to metabolize the plant-native IAA, but not synthetic auxins...
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Effect of physical exercise on adipose tissue characteristics: influence of obesity and aging
Čížková, Terezie ; Šiklová, Michaela (advisor) ; Horníková, Daniela (referee)
Obesity and ageing are associated with the changes in adipose tissue characteristics, which are con- sidered as one of important contributors to development of complications, such as cardiovascular diseases or type 2 diabetes. Physical exercise is known to be effective in prevention of diseases rela- ted to obesity and ageing. However, the effect of exercise on adipose tissue characteristics is only few elucidated in humans. The goal of this bachelor thesis is to summarize the main effects of exer- cise on adipose tissue characteristics. This thesis subsequently discuss detrimental changes (dysfunction) of the adipose tissue in obesity. Recent findings about the effects of some types of physical training on health of the elderly people are also mentioned. The initial chapter deals with adipose tissue in general, concretely the morphology, metabolism and endocrine function of the adipose tissue are described. Next part is focused on obesity, the concept of a chronic low-grade inflammatory state is introduced. The key section is the fourth chapter, in which the effects of exer- cise on adipose tissue, i.e. effects on metabolism of adipocytes and activation of immune cells, are reviewed. At the end of this thesis, the pathophysiological changes in inflammatory state and adi- pose tissue distribution associated...
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