Interaction of T-activin with peritoneal macrophages

The action of T-activin on peritoneal macrophages of CBA mice after its introduction into the animals has been studied. In intact mice the phagocytic activity of macrophages and their resistance to the cytopathogenic action of Salmonella typhimurium live cells remains unchanged. The injection of corpuscular pertussis vaccine into mice leads to a decrease in the resistance of macrophages to the action of salmonellae. The simultaneous injection of T-activin into mice in doses of 0.1 and 1.0 microgram per animal abolishes the damaging action of the vaccine. The analysis of the in vitro action of T-activin on macrophages of intact mice revealed that the preliminary incubation of cells with the preparation sharply increases their resistance to the action of salmonellae, while its introduction simultaneously with bacteria or after them rapidly leads to the death of macrophages. The action of T-activin is supposed to be linked with triggering the biosynthetic processes mediating the resistance of macrophages to the cytopathogenic action of salmonellae.     

Effect of T-activin on the production of immune interferon

A study was made of the effect of T-activin on the biosynthesis of immune gamma-interferon. It was shown that in 27% of patients with chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases, production of gamma-interferon by lymphocytes was substantially reduced during exacerbation of inflammatory process in the lungs. It was discovered that T-activin was not an interferon inductor but enhanced its synthesis in patients with a low capacity of producing immune interferon even at small doses of interferon inductor. The preparation does not produce any effect on this process in normal subjects and in patients showing the normal level of gamma-interferon. Thus T-activin can be used for stimulation of interferonogenesis.     

A critical evaluation of the use of filipin-permeabilized rat hepatocytes to study functions of the endoplasmic reticulum in situ

We have used transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; EC 1.1.1.27) to evaluate two published procedures which use filipin to render isolated rat hepatocytes permeable to ionic substrates. Cells treated by the procedure of Jorgenson and Nordlie retained less than 10 per cent of their LDH. TEM revealed severe damage to the internal structure of these cells, which included swelling, disintegration and extensive vesicularization of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Hepatocytes treated with filipin by the procedure of Gankema et al. retained 65-75 per cent of their LDH and displayed incomplete but highly variable permeability to Trypan blue. SEM revealed the loss of microvilli, other signs of swelling, and the presence of large lesions in the plasma membrane. TEM revealed signs of cell swelling, but the nuclei and the mitochondria were only moderately altered. The rough ER was not swollen, but significant fragmentation was evident and characteristic stacks of lamellar ER were never seen. We conclude that useful information about the functions of the ER in situ cannot be obtained from studies of filipin-treated cells. Our results indicate that retention of LDH is not a sufficient criterion of preservation of cell morphology and that staining with Trypan blue may significantly underestimate the permeability of cells to small ionic metabolites.     

The glucose-6-phosphatase system in rat hepatic microsomes displays hyperbolic kinetics at physiological glucose 6-phosphate concentrations

The kinetics of rat liver glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) were studied in intact and detergent-disrupted microsomes from normal and diabetic rats at pH 7.0 using two buffer systems (50 mM Tris-cacodylate and 50 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid) and glucose-6-P varied from 20 microM to 10 mM. Identical data were obtained when the phosphohydrolase activity was quantified by a colorimetric determination of Pi or by measuring 32Pi formed during incubations with [32P]glucose-6-P. In every instance the initial rate data displayed excellent concordance with that expected for a reaction obeying Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The present findings agree with recently reported results of Traxinger and Nordlie (Traxinger, R. R., and Nordlie, R. C. 1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 10015-10019) that glucose-6-phosphatase activity in intact microsomes exhibits hyperbolic kinetics at concentrations of glucose-6-P above 133 microM, but fail to confirm their finding of sigmoid kinetics at substrate concentrations below 133 microM. We conclude that glucose-6-P hydrolysis conforms to a hyperbolic function at concentrations of glucose-6-P existing in livers of normal and diabetic rats in vivo.     

Stabilization of glucose-6-phosphatase activity by a 21 000-dalton hepatic microsomal protein.

Hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase activity was rendered extremely unstable by a variety of techniques: (a) incubation at pH 5.0; (b) extraction of the microsomal fraction in the presence of 1% Lubrol; (c) various purification procedures. These techniques all result in the removal of a 21 kDa polypeptide from the fraction containing glucose-6-phosphatase activity. The 21 kDa protein was purified to apparent homogeneity by solubilization in the detergent Lubrol 12A-9 and chromatography on Fractogel TSK DEAE-650(S) and centrifugation at 105 000 g. The 21 kDa protein stabilizes glucose-6-phosphatase activity, whereas other purified hepatic microsomal proteins do not. The 21 kDa protein appears to be a potential regulator of glucose-6-phosphatase activity.     

Comparative glucose and pentose utilization by a thermophilic Lactobacillus

Abstract A thermophilic Lactobacillus , isolate VB183, was tested for comparative glucose and pentose utilization. The possible adverse effect of high concentrations of metabolic end products on cell yield was lessened or eliminated by using low substrate concentrations. Possible growth due to intracellular reserve material, was counteracted by starving the cells for 90 min before being used as inoculant. Isolate VB183 exhibited a higher growth rate on glucose (μ= 1.08 h⁻¹) than on ribose (μ= 0.76 h⁻¹). L. salivarius was included as a pentose non-fermenting control and showed no significant difference between growth on basal medium with and without ribose. VB183 was also found to utilize l (+)-arabinose but not d (−)-arabinose, stressing the importance of the isomer of the sugars tested.     

Characterization of inositolpolyphosphate binding to myocardial membranes

Although it is well-accepted that the phosphatidylinositol signalling transduction pathway, producing inositol-1,4,5-P3 (InsP₃) and inositol-1,3,4,5-P₄ (InsP4) as second messengers, functions in heart muscle, virtually nothing is known about the roles of the higher inositol polyphosphates such as inositolhexakisphosphate (InsP₆). This study demonstrates that InSP₆ has the ability to bind intracellularly, with different binding characteristics, to different myocardial membranes. Binding to purified sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membranes, purified sarcolemmal (SL) membranes as well as to viable mitochondria were characterized. Binding to all these membranes display high as well as low affinity binding sites, with differing affinities. Kd values of binding to SR were 32 and 383 nM, to SL 61 and 1312 nM, while those of mitochondrial binding were 230 and 2200 nM respectively.InsP₄ binding was also investigated and displayed the following characteristics: to SR, one low affinity binding site (Kd = 203 nM) and to SL, a high as well as a low affinity binding site with Kd values of 41 and 2075 nM respectively. Presence of InsP₃, the second messenger for SR calcium release, at concentrations of 1 nM, elevated the binding of InsP₄ to SR and SL by a mean of 30% and 20% respectively.Fractionation of SR and SL membranes on sucrose density gradients, after solubilization with CHAPS, indicated that InsP₆ bound to two separate protein peaks in both these membranes, while InsP₄ bound to only one. In SR membranes, InsP₄ bound preferentially to a protein separating at high sucrose density while it bound to a protein separating at low sucrose density in SL membranes.     

Early electrochemical events in lectin-lymphocyte interaction

Concanavalin A, at extremely low concentrations, will produce significant increases in the electrophoretic mobility of murine splenic T lymphocytes. It has been established that the alteration in cellular surface charge is mediated by a factor produced by those lymphocytes that have reacted directly with con A. We originally conjectured that the mobility change might be the consequence of an alteration in the distribution of the charged moieties of membrane glycoproteins. The results of experiments conducted at low temperature raise some questions about this mechanism. Further experiments have been performed to establish the nature of the physicochemical alterations in the peripheral zone of the factor-stimulated lymphocytes that are manifest as changes in cellular surface charge. The results of these studies indicate that, subsequent to the interaction of T lymphocytes with con A, there is a reduction in the number of positively charged amino groups effective at the electrophoretic surface of the cells.     

The importance of membrane integrity in kinetic characterizations of the microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase system

The transport model of glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) was recently challenged by a report that detergent treatment had no effect on the presteady state kinetics of glucose-6-P hydrolysis catalyzed at 0 degree C by the enzyme in liver microsomes previously frozen in 0.25 M mannitol (Zakim, D., and Edmondson, D. E. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 1145-1148). The lack of response to detergent is shown to be the expected consequence of the conditions used in the presteady state measurements. First, when the assay temperature was reduced from 30 to 0 degree C the depression in the glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase activity of intact microsomes (i.e. the system) was much greater than that of fully disrupted microsomes (i.e. enzyme). This indicates that temperature influences transport much more than hydrolysis of glucose-6-P. As a result, the contribution of a small fraction of enzyme associated with disrupted structures is markedly exaggerated, so it becomes the predominant hydrolytic activity before detergent treatment. Second, freezing microsomes in 0.25 M mannitol caused such extensive disruption that all of the activity manifest at 0 degree C could be attributed to enzyme in disrupted structures. The present findings underscore the importance of assessing the state of intactness of "untreated" microsomes and quantifying the contribution of the disrupted component in kinetic analyses of the glucose-6-phosphatase system. The proposition that the detergent-induced changes in the kinetic properties of glucose 6-phosphatase represent removal of constraints imposed on the enzyme by the membrane environment rather than increased access of enzyme to substrate is critically analyzed.