Antihemostatic Molecules From Saliva of Blood-Feeding Arthropods
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This work was supported by a grant from The National Natural Science Foundation of China (30570360).

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    Abstract:

    The ability to feed on vertebrate blood has evolved many times in various arthropod clades. Consequently, saliva of blood-feeding arthropods has proven to be a rich source of antihemostatic molecules. A variety of platelet aggregation inhibitors antagonize platelet responses to wound-generated signals, including ADP, thrombin, and collagen. Anticoagulants disrupt elements of both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. Vasodilators include nitrophorins (nitric oxide storage and transport heme proteins), a variety of peptides that mimic endogenous vasodilatory neuropeptides, and proteins that catabolize or sequester endogenous vasoconstrictors. Multiple salivary proteins may be directed against each component of hemostasis, resulting in both redundancy and in some cases cooperative interactions between antihemostatic proteins. The complexity and redundancy of saliva ensures an efficient blood meal for the arthropod, but it also provides a diverse array of novel antihemostatic molecules for the pharmacologist.

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XU Xue-Qing, LAI Ren. Antihemostatic Molecules From Saliva of Blood-Feeding Arthropods[J]. Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics,2008,35(7):757-765

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History
  • Received:November 13,2007
  • Revised:March 17,2008
  • Accepted:
  • Online: April 16,2008
  • Published: July 20,2008