H2S: Is this Foul Compound a Fountain of Youth? How can a substance that is neurotoxic, i.e. has a damaging effect on the nerves, possibly play a positive role in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease? Hydrogen sulfide is the name of the chemical compound we are talking about here. Chemical formula: H2S. This is the gas that makes rotten eggs stink and is released by digested sludge. The effects of sulfur-containing compounds on the human body are by no means harmful per se; some are even indispensable. Cysteine and methionine, two amino acids, serve as an example of this; the human body can only partially synthesise the former and cannot synthesise the latter at all. As amino acids, they are components of countless proteins. And with their sulfur atom, they are involved in other central metabolic processes whose importance for living cells has only recently become a subject of research.
Gasotransmitters – small molecules with a great impact Hydrogen sulfide, for example, belongs to a group of gaseous compounds that can transmit signals within and between cells. In addition to H2S, these »gasotransmitters« include carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) among others. The small inorganic molecules are endogenously produced through enzymatic processes in all organisms, and their production is regulated according to their physiological concentration and function. It is believed that this type of cellular communication originated very
Dr habil. Miloš Filipović’s research on metabolic biochemistry provides important insights in order to improve for example the diagnosis and treatment of age-related diseases. Worms of the genus Caenorhabditis elegans are helping him and his team analyse the persulfidation in nematodes.
early in the phylogeny of living organisms. Research results from previous years have highlighted the importance of gasotransmitters and their involvement in many regulatory processes; however, the specific functions they assume and to what extent they can generally take effect in cells and tissues is still unexplored in many cases.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2021
