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Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a cyclic nucleotide derived from guanosine triphosphate (GTP). cGMP acts as a second messenger much like cyclic AMP.Its most likely mechanism of action is activation of intracellular protein kinases in response to the binding of membrane-impermeable peptide hormones to the external cell surface. [1]
cGMP-dependent protein kinase or protein kinase G (PKG) is a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase that is activated by cGMP. It phosphorylates a number of biologically important targets and is implicated in the regulation of smooth muscle relaxation, platelet function, sperm metabolism, cell division , and nucleic acid synthesis.
In smooth muscle, cGMP is the signal for relaxation, and is coupled to many homeostatic mechanisms including regulation of vasodilation, vocal tone, insulin secretion, and peristalsis. Once formed, cGMP can be degraded by phosphodiesterases , which themselves are under different forms of regulation, depending on the tissue.
Smooth muscle tissue is mostly made of actin and myosin, [3] two proteins that interact together to produce muscle contraction and relaxation. Myosin II, also known as conventional myosin, has two heavy chains that consist of the head and tail domains and four light chains (two per head) that bind to the heavy chains in the “neck” region.
Myosin light chains are involved in smooth muscle contraction. The result is vascular smooth muscle relaxation, which allow vessels to dilate. [ 34 ] This mechanism is similar to that of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors such as sildenafil (Viagra) and tadalafil (Cialis), which elevate cGMP concentration by inhibiting its degradation by PDE5.
OTC devices are marketable only for muscle toning; prescription devices can be purchased only with a medical prescription for therapy. Prescription devices should be used under the supervision of an authorized practitioner, for the following uses: Relaxation of muscle spasms; Prevention or retardation of disuse atrophy;
MUltiple Sequence Comparison by Log-Expectation (MUSCLE) is a computer software for multiple sequence alignment of protein and nucleotide sequences. It is licensed as public domain. The method was published by Robert C. Edgar in two papers in 2004. The first paper, published in Nucleic Acids Research, introduced the sequence alignment algorithm ...
One type of antispasmodics is used for smooth muscle relaxation, especially in tubular organs of the gastrointestinal tract. The effect is to prevent spasms of the stomach, intestine or urinary bladder. Both dicyclomine and hyoscyamine are antispasmodic due to their anticholinergic action.