Life Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Redox-Cycling Agents On Nitric Oxide Synthase Activity In Vitro And Modulation Of Protein Expression In Vivo: No Nitric Oxide Synthase In Mitochondria, Priya Venkatakrishnan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes studies conducted in three areas dealing with the interaction of redox-active compounds with the flavin- and heme- containing enzyme, neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS). They are as follows:

I. Studies were initiated using extracts from several varieties of tobacco to identify constituent(s) that could interact with nNOS. Results from [¹⁴C]-L-arginine to [¹⁴C]-L-citrulline conversion assays to which tobacco extracts were individually added, indicate that there are nNOS inhibitors present in tobacco and they are non-polar, lipophilic and non-volatile in nature. In addition, results from assays in which the tobacco-derived redox-active compound, 2,3,6- …

The Role Of Protein Disulfide Isomerase (Pdi) In Oxidative Folding, Veronica Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Protein Disulfide Isomerase is a highly evolved oxidoreductase enzyme that has the capability of oxidizing, reducing, and isomerizing disulfides in substrate. PDI is organized into several domains denoted a, b, b', a' and c. These domains are believed to have different functions but all must be present for full PDI activity. In this manuscript we recorded the ability of PDI b' to catalyze oxidative folding in fully reduced RNase A. We also examined competition between thiol-disulfide shuffling and conformational folding by PDI. This competition creates a rough effect of a highly efficient enzyme in two different substrates: RNase A and …

Molecular Characterization Of Trypanosoma Cruzi And Shed Vesicle Components Involved In Host Immunomodulation And Cell Invasion, Ernesto Satoshi Nakayasu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a devastating infectious disease with millions of cases in Latin America, and recently became a public health concern in United States and Europe. Although many efforts have been made for the development of an effective immunotherapy, currently there is no human vaccine for Chagas disease. Thus, the treatment is based only on two drugs that have limited efficacy and in some cases present severe side effects. One restriction for the rational approach to develop new therapies against this disease is the limited information about the proteins, glycolipids and protein posttranslational modifications expressed by …

Giardia Lamblia: Genomic And Molecular Analyses Of Flippase, Diana Leticia Villazana-Kretzer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Giardia lamblia, is an intestinal protozoan parasite responsible as a major cause of water-borne intestinal infection in humans (giardiasis). It has been proposed earlier that Giardia has limited lipid synThesis ability and therefore relies on preformed lipid molecules from outside sources. It has also been proposed that lipids are taken up through passive and active transport, and giardial flippasse play a significant role in this process. This study describes the identification and characterization of a putative homologue of flippase gene from Giardia. Flippase is an enzyme that functions as a trans-bilayer transport system facilitating the flip flop diffusion of phospholipids …

In-Vivo Delivery Of Dna Vaccines Using Metallo-Lipid Nanoparticles, Clarissa Sara Gomez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There has been a rapidly growing area of research in the design and synthesis of molecules that self-organize in water to form functional nanosystems and due to the high interest in the area metal ligand complexes were tested as drug delivery systems with a Leishmania vaccine. Herein, we present the design, synthesis and functional activity of Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes that self-assemble in water to form spherical nanoscale structures that exhibit an affinity to bind DNA and deliver it into eukaryotic cells with a high percent efficiency in-vitro. In order to assess the effectiveness of these nanoparticles to deliver DNA …

Evaluation Of A Nutrition Program Targeting Child Care Centers, Kendra Witt

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Color Me Healthy (CMH) is an interactive nutrition program designed for preschool aged children in child care settings. The current study examined if CMH increases the consumption of fruit and vegetables. Child care centers were randomly assigned to one of two conditions; children (n=165) in ten centers received CMH and children (n=98) in seven centers acted as controls. Consumption of fruit and vegetable snacks was assessed at baseline, one week post-intervention and 3 months post-intervention. Hierarchical linear modeling determined that group assignment was the only significant predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption. Children who were exposed to the CMH program …