SHUNJI SAWAKI's research while affiliated with Nagoya University and other places

... The oxidation of Glycolate to glyoxylate is catalyzed by Glycolate oxidase [11] and the reduction of glyoxylate to Glycolate by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (EC 1.1.1.27) [12][13][14]. In normal pathway, alanine glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGT) converts glyoxylate to glycine and so prevents the conversion of glyoxylate to oxalate which further form complex with calcium to lead into the formation of calcium oxalate stones ( fig. ...

... In this study, glycolysis was significantly upregulated in response to the HSF diet, as the gene expression level of phosphofructokinase was significantly upregulated (Figure 2.4) whereas protein levels of fructose 1,6-biphosphatase, a key regulatory step in gluconeogenesis, were significantly reduced with HSF intake compared to C (Table 2 As is shown in the joint pathway analysis, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism are the second most affected pathways in this study after the TCA cycle (Figure 2.6). In mammals, glyoxylate is derived from and interconvertible to glycine (132,133) and glycolate (134,135) in hepatocyte mitochondria and peroxisome; ...

... This enzyme is distinct from LDH which can also reduce hydroxypyruvate and glyoxylate [146] and, as shown in Chapter 3, can be physically separated from GR (Chapter 3 and [215]). In common with other species [146,179] [78] and the Km for glyoxylate and lactate being similar [220]. ...

... In C. elegans, there are three enzymes that can be potentially responsible for this reaction (Fig. 4). The corresponding genes are: F41E6.5 (gox-1), encoding the ortholog of the human glycolate oxidase (HAO-1); ldh-1 (encoding the lactate dehydrogenase), which has been found to have glyoxylate reductase activity 38,39 ; and C31C9.2. The latter is predicted to encode the phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase involved in the biosynthesis of serine, but its sequence displays the highest homology to the human glyoxylate reductase/hydroxypyruvate reductase ( Supplementary Fig. 3), reported to catalyze the interconversion of glyoxylate and glycolate [40][41][42][43] (Fig. 4). ...

... The importance of these reactions becomes evident when one recalls that many putative neurotransmitters are synthesized and/or metabolized by the aid of pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzymatic reactions. These include dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin (Lovenberg et al., 1962), tyramine, tryptamine (Meister, 1965), taurine (Jacobsen and Smith, 1968), histamine (Buffoni, 1966;Kahlson and Rosengren, 1965), gamma-aminobutyric acid (Roberts and Frankel, 1950;Baxter and Roberts, 1958), and even acetylcholine indirectly (Yamada et al. 1956; Williams and Hata, 1959). In recent years these biogenic amines have become the center of considerable interest and the focus of intensive investigations among neuroscientists interested in understanding the etiology of, and in searching for treatment of,neurological, neuroendocrine and psychiatric disorders. ...

... In addition, vitamin B6 deficiency has been correlated to malabsorption syndromes, such as celiac disease and inflammatory bowel diseases [12][13][14]. Even the intake of certain medications, including isoniazid [15], penicillamine [16], and cycloserine [17], as well as oral contraceptives, can reduce PLP availability [18]. PLP levels can also be decreased by the inflammation conditions and stress hormones [19,20]. ...

... It is thus possible that the inability of vitamin B6 to raise cord levels of 5HT is due to a marked though physiological deficiency of 5HTPD. A possible alternative explanation stems from the finding that a variety of hormones can interfere with pyridoxine-dependent enzymes (Yamada, Yazaki, Sawaki, and Utumi, 1958; Jolles-Bergeret, LaBouesse, and Chatagner, 1960; Scardi, Iaccarino, and Scarano, 1962). In particular, Mason ...