Xanthine

About: Xanthine is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4046 publications have been published within this topic receiving 129820 citations. The topic is also known as: Xanthine.

Metabolism of N-methylpurines by a Pseudomonas putida strain isolated by enrichment on caffeine as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen.

Abstract: Pseudomonas putida, strain 40, originally isolated by enrichment on caffeine as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen, has been developed to grow on 0.5% caffeine. The organism will grow on any N-methyl derivative of xanthine containing one or more methyl groups at the 1, 3, or 7 positions. An investigation of the activities of resting cell suspensions and cell-free preparations together with the detection of metabolic intermediates suggest that caffeine is first metabolized by the action of an enzyme which is capable of hydrolytically removing all three methyl groups with the production of methanol and free xanthine. The methanol presumably is oxidized to the final product, CO2, through the sequential action of methanol, formaldehyde, and formate dehydrogenases, which are induced by growth on caffeine. Furthermore, the xanthine would seem to be channeled through conventional pathways of purine degradation through the action of xanthine dehydrogenase and uricase, both induced by growth on caffeine. However, a variety of data suggests that the metabolism of caffeine may be compartmentalized in the cell and metabolized separately from externally added xanthine. Additional studies indicated that the cell is permeable to the methylxanthines. The significance of these findings is discussed.

Effects of 8-phenyl and 8-cycloalkyl substituents on the activity of mono-, di-, and trisubstituted alkylxanthines with substitution at the 1-, 3-, and 7-positions.

Abstract: The effects of 8-phenyl and 8-cycloalkyl substituents on the activity of theophylline, caffeine, 1,3-dipropylxanthine, 1,3-dipropyl-7-methylxanthine, 3-propylxanthine, and 1-propylxanthine at A1 adenosine receptors of rat brain and fat cells and at A2 adenosine receptors of rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells and human platelets are compared. An 8-phenyl substituent has little effect on the activity of caffeine or 1,3-dipropyl-7-methylxanthine at adenosine receptors, while markedly increasing activity of theophylline, 1,3-dipropylxanthine, 1-isoamyl-3-isobutylxanthine, 1-methylxanthine, and 3-propylxanthine. 8-Phenyl-1-propylxanthine is potent (Ki = 20-70 nM) at all receptors. A p-carboxy or p-sulfo substituent, which is introduced on the 8-phenyl ring to increase water solubility, in most cases decreases the activity and selectivity for the A1 receptor. Among the 8-p-sulfo analogues, only 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophylline and 1,3-dipropyl-8-(p-sulfophenyl)xanthine are selective for the A1 receptors. 8-p-Sulfophenyl derivatives of caffeine, 1,3-dipropyl-7-methylxanthine, and 3-propylxanthine are somewhat selective for the A2 receptors. 8-Cycloalkyl substituents (cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl) markedly increase activity of caffeine and 1,3-dipropyl-7-methylxanthine at the A2 receptor. 8-Cyclohexylcaffeine is potent (Ki = 190 nM) and very selective for the human platelet A2 receptors, but is not as selective for the rat PC12 cell A2 receptor. Such A2 selectivity is in contrast to the marked A1 selectivity of 8-cycloalkyltheophyllines and 8-cycloalkyl-1,3-dipropulxanthines. The apparent selectivity of certain xanthines is dependent on the assay systems that are compared.