title: Gestational and smoking effects on peptidase activity in the placenta.
abstract: Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) regulate fetally and maternally generated peptides in the placenta. In this study, ACE-like activity was found to be decreased and LAP-like activity increased with increasing days of gestation in rat placental tissues forming the fetal:maternal interface. Membrane-associated ACE-like and LAP-like activities in the placenta of smokers were also found to be significantly higher than their respective activities in placenta of nonsmokers. Our collective findings suggest that gestational and environmentally-induced changes in placental peptidase activities may account for variable peptide hormone and/or therapeutic peptide metabolism in the placenta.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, The University of Kansas, Lawrence 66047, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kenagy
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Audus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007931:Leucyl Aminopeptidase / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000502:physiology*; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D010920:Placenta / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014327:Trophoblasts; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; D007931:Leucyl Aminopeptidase; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A