Mosquitoes secrete saliva that contains biological substances, including anticoagulants that counteract a host's hemostatic response and prevent blood clotting during blood feeding. This study aimed to detect heparin, an anticoagulant in Aedes togoi using an immunohistochemical detection method, in the salivary canal, salivary gland, and midgut of male and female mosquitoes. Comparisons showed that female mosquitoes contained higher concentrations of heparin than male mosquitoes. On average, the level of heparin was higher in blood-fed female mosquitoes than in non-blood-fed female mosquitoes. Heparin concentrations were higher in the midgut than in the salivary gland. This indicates presence of heparin in tissues of A. togoi.
Aedes/*metabolism ; Animals ; Anticoagulants/*isolation & purification ; Blood Coagulation/physiology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract/*metabolism ; Heparin/*isolation & purification ; Male ; Salivary Ducts/metabolism ; Salivary Glands/*metabolism

Phospholipase C(PLC) plays a central role in signal transduction and it is important in cellular growth, differentiation and transformation. There are currently ten known mammalian isozymes of PLC identified and cloned. However, there are no report of PLC distribution in human lung tissue or their significances in pulmonary diseases. Presence of various PLC isozymes in normal human lung tissue was studied from surgical specimens. PLC isozymes in tissue extracts of the lung were partially purified by successive chromatographic steps on heparin-sepharose CL-6B conventional and TSKgel heparin-5PW HPLC columns and their activities were assayed. PLC activity peaks identified in the chromatography were immunoblotted with specific antibodies against ten known mammalian PLC isozymes(PLC-beta 1-4, -gamma 1-2, and -delta 1-4). In addition, immunohistochemical staining of the lung tissue was performed to determine subcellular and histological localization of PLC isozymes. The results indicate that normal human lungs contain beta 1, beta 3, gamma 1, and delta 1, isozymes of PLC. The order of amount present in the lung tissue was PLC-delta 1 > gamma 1 >beta 1 >> beta 3, in descending order. On immunohistochemistry, PLC-gamma 1 was most widely distributed and was present in bronchiolar epithelium, in type I and type II pneumocytes as well as in fibroblasts of the interstitial tissue. PLC-delta 1 was present in the cytoplasm of the bronchiolar epithelium whereas PLC-beta 1 was localized to the apical membranous portion of the same epithelium. PLC-beta 3 was seen in the nucleus of the respiratory and alveolar lining epithelium as well as in the nucleus of lung fibroblasts.
Adult ; Chromatography, Agarose ; Female ; Heparin/chemistry ; Human ; Immunohistochemistry ; Isoenzymes/isolation & purification/*metabolism ; Lung/*enzymology/pathology ; Male ; Phospholipase C/isolation & purification/*metabolism

Heparinase III is an enzyme that specifically cleaves certain sequences of heparan sulfate. Previous reports showed that this enzyme expressed in Escherichia coli was highly prone to aggregation in inclusion bodies and lacks detectable biological activity. In this paper, we fused a glutathione-S-transferase (GST) tag to the N-terminus of heparinase III gene and expressed the fusion protein in Escherichia coli to develop an expression system of soluble heparinase III. As a result, approximately 80% of the fusion protein was soluble. The protein was then purified to near homogeneity via one-step affinity chromatography. A 199.4-fold purification was achieved and the purified enzyme had a specific activity of 101.7 IU/mg protein. This represented 32.3% recovery of the total activity of recombinant GST-heparinase III. The maximum enzyme production was achieved when bacteria were induced with 0.5 mmol/L isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside at 15 degrees C for 12 h. The enzyme showed maximum activity at 30 degrees C and pH 7.5. And the enzyme activity was stimulated by 1 mmol/L Ca2+ and 150 mmol/L NaCl.
Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flavobacterium ; enzymology ; genetics ; growth & development ; Glutathione Transferase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Heparin Lyase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

In order to remove the endotoxin from the blood of endotoxemia patients, we prepared a new adsorbent with heparin space arm and polymyxin B (PMB) ligand. The carrier of chloromethyl polystyrene resin was activated and heparin space arm was grafted, and then PMB ligand was immobilized onto adsorbent with glutaraldehyde. We employed in vitro FITC-lipopolysaccharide (FITC-LPS) static adsorption to characterize the adsorption properties on the adsorbent, and conducted in vitro lipopolysaccharide (LPS) static adsorption to measure quantitavely the adsorption capacity and rate, and then evaluated the blood compatibility. The in vitro static adsorption indicated that the adsorbent had the removal rate of LPS above 70% with the adsorption equilibrium time for 2 hours. Blood compatibility experiment showed that the adsorbent had little negative effects on blood cells and plasma protein, and their adsorption rates were less than 10% for hemocytes and 20% for plasma protein respectively. This adsorbent exhibited high selectivity, high adsorption capacity and good biocompatibility, and presented a promising clinical application in the treatment of endotoxemia.
Adsorption ; Endotoxemia ; therapy ; Endotoxins ; isolation & purification ; Hemofiltration ; instrumentation ; methods ; Heparin ; chemistry ; Humans ; Ion Exchange Resins ; chemistry ; Ligands ; Polymyxin B ; chemistry ; Sorption Detoxification ; methods

Adult ; Aged ; Arteriosclerosis Obliterans ; drug therapy ; Asteraceae ; chemistry ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Heparin ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Leg ; blood supply ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy