Collagenase-Released Non-Collagenous Proteins of Cortical Bone Matrix

Two distinct groups of non-collagenous components were isolated from rat cortical bone gelatin which had previously been digested with purified bacterial col-lagenase. One component was disulfide-bonded, strongly acidic, trypsin-labile glycoprotein aggregate with a molecular mass of more than 100, 000 daltons. When reduced with β-mercaptoethanol this protein disaggregated into subunits with a molecular mass of about 60, 000 daltons. The other components consisted of a group of polypeptides with a molecular mass of about 5, 000 daltons. The latter group was present in collagenase digests prepared from normal bone gelatin but was hardly detectable or absent in digests of gelatin prepared from either autolyzed, trypsinized or lathyritic bone, or from the residue of neutral salt extracted rat tail tendon.

A recently discovered group of non-collagenous proteins is tightly bound to the highly crosslinked insoluble structure of collagen fibrils of bone and dentin. Dische et al ¹ predicted the existence of these proteins in bone by analyzing the products of KOH hydrolysis of the EDTA-insoluble residues of cortical bone collagen. Comparable products were separated following digestion of bone matrix with collagenase by Herring², and oxidation of dentin matrix by alkaline sodium metaperiodate by Shuttleworth and Veis.³ Leaver et al ⁴ proposed the name collagenase-released proteins (CRP) for non-collagenous proteins obtained from the EDTA-insoluble residue of bone and dentin. There are at least two limitations in information about CRP in the above-cited reports. The first is that the collagenases were not certified to be protease-free. The second is that EDTA-insoluble residues of cortical bone were only partly digestable by bacterial collagenase. We report here isolation and partial characterization of CRP from a special preparation of bone matrix gelatin which is quantitatively digested by a protease-free bacterial collagenase-gelatinase purified by the method of Peterkofsky and Diegelmann.^{5, 6}     

Modulation of help and suppression in a hapten-carrier system.

Provision of beta-galactosidase (GZ) under defined conditions of dose and time can either help or suppress a subsequent response to trinitrophenyl (TNP)-GZ in CBA/J mice. The optimal helper effect occurs when 10(7) spleen cells from mice primed 9 or more days previously with 10 mug GZ are adoptively transferred to irradiated recipients which are than challenged with 10 mug TNP50GZ. Optimum suppression results from the transfer of spleen cells from mice primed 3 days previously with 100 mug GZ and challenge of recipients with TMP150GZ. Both help and suppression are carrier-specific and mediated by T cells. In experiments where helper or suppressor cells were mixed with normal cells, the anti-TNP response was proportional to the number of primed cells transferred. The results point to a wave of suppression as the initial event after immunization, which is succeeded by period in which the helper effect dominates.     

Collagenase-released non-collagenous proteins of cortical bone matrix.

Two distinct groups of non-collagenous components were isolated from rat cortical bone gelatin which had previously been digested with purified bacterial collagenase. One component was disulfide-bonded, strongly acidic, trypsin-labile glycoprotein aggregate with a molecular mass of more than 100,000 daltons. When reduced with beta-mercaptoethanol this protein disaggregated into subunits with a molecular mass of about 60,000 daltons. The other components consisted of a group of polypeptides with a molecular mass of about 5,000 daltons. The latter group was present in collagenase digests prepared from normal bone gelatin but was hardly detectable or absent in digests of gelatin prepared from either autolyzed, trypsinized or lathyritic bone, or from the residue of neutral salt extracted rat tail tendon.     

Isolation and partial characterization of poly (A)-containing 7.5S messenger RNA from rat liver mitochondria.

Poly(A)-containing low molecular weight (7.5S) messenger RNA was isolated in a highly purified form from both polyribosomes and post-polysomal supernatant of rat liver mitochondria. Both mRNA's contain rather short poly(A) tracts (40-70 mononucleotides) according to a profile of their elution from poly(U)-Sepharose column with a gradient of formamide concentration. Both mRNA's when added to a preincubated mitochondrial lysate programmed the synthesis of a hydrophobic polypeptide of a molecular weight about 9000 daltons which was soluble in the neutral chloroform-methanol mixture.     

Osteogenic properties of adhesive cells in Dexter culture of the mouse bone marrow

Disaggregated cell suspensions obtained by mouse bone marrow fermentative digestion as well as stromal tissue obtained by marrow mild mechanical destruction were explanted. Both methods yield the cultures in which the hematopoiesis duration is comparable with dexter cultures. Adhesive cells from all of these three culture types were resuspended and in the porous gelatin sponges heterotopically transplanted under the kidney capsule of syngenic recipients. In the transplantation site there develops the hemopoietic organ containing reticular stroma, hemopoietic cells, and in most cases the well developed bone tissue. Thus, the adherent layers of mouse bone marrow dexter and similar cultures contain for a long period (not less than 2-3.5 months) the stromal fibroblast population which maintains its osteogenic and hemopoietic microenvironment transfer capacities.     

The effect of ethylnitrosourea on chromosome aberrations in vitro and in vivo.

The effect of ENU on (A) human chromosomes from blood lymphocyte cultures in vitro, and on (B) rat and mouse bone marrow chromosomes in vivo, was investigated. Doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200 mug/ml were tested in vitro and cells with chromosome breakage were found to be dose dependent. Chromosome damage was also dependent on time; maximum damage was seen when cells were treated 2--6 hrs before harvest. Two doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg were studied in rat and mouse in vivo and a dose effect could be shown in both species. The highest number of abnormal cells was found 6 hrs after treatment; there was a sharp decrease at 18 hrs and thereafer. Types of aberrations were also analyzed, in both in vitro and in vivo studies.     

Comparative Studies on the Isolation of Membrane Lipoteichoic Acid from Lactobacillus fermenti

Preparations of membrane lipoteichoic acid containing different amounts of protein were isolated from intact organisms of Lactobacillus fermenti NCTC 6991 by various procedures chosen for their ability to disrupt the hydrophobic interaction of lipoteichoic acid with other membrane components. The highest yield of lipoteichoic acid was obtained with hot aqueous phenol, and this preparation contained very little protein. Partial removal of cell lipids with chloroform-methanol followed by extraction with water at 100 C gave a lipoteichoic acid-protein complex that was a very effective immunogen; immunogenicity was shown to relate to protein content, though the specificity of the antibodies was directed against the teichoic acid component.     

Uptake of Pb2+ by a cyanobacterium belonging to the genus Synechocystis, isolated from East Kolkata Wetlands

East Kolkata Wetlands is a conserved wetland utilizing sewage and garbage, generated by Kolkata Municipal Corporation area for cultivation purpose. Cyanobacteria are the photosynthetic prokaryotes having bioremedial capacity. We have isolated a cyanobacterium from the sewage recycling fish-pond of East Kolkata Wetlands. Partial sequence of 16S rDNA gene of the isolated strain showed 100% similarity with that of genus Synechocystis. Isolated strain and Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 survived up to 300 mug ml(-1) Pb(2+ )and growth was completely inhibited at 400 mug ml(-1) Pb(2+). All experiments were carried out with 100 mug ml(-1) Pb(2+) in which growth was the maximum. 91.67% of the total Pb(2+) got adsorbed to the outer surface of the cell and 1% of the total Pb(2+) entered the cell of the isolated strain as estimated by atomic absorption spectrometry, but in Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 72.72% adsorbed and 0.96% penetrated. Intracellular and periplasmic depositions of Pb(2+) were observed in both the strain. A filamentous structure developed outside the cell wall of the isolated cyanobacterium, but very little change was observed in Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. ZiaR-SmtB like regulator gene was expressed in both the strains after Pb(2+) induction. The cDNA sequence of ZiaR of the isolated cyanobacterium shows 100% homology with that of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Upon Pb(2+) induction, expression of SOD gene increased. cDNA sequence of the SOD gene from the isolated strain showed 98% homology with that of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Enzymatic activity of catalase and SOD was also increased. No DNA damage was monitored upon induction with Pb(2+).     

Regulation of polyribosome formation and protein synthesis in the uterus. Effect of administration of graded doses of oestradiol-17β and actinomycin D on the amino acid-incorporation activity in vitro and the cytoplasmic concentration in vivo of polyribosomes

1. The effects of graded doses of oestradiol-17beta and actinomycin D, administered separately or together, on the amino acid-incorporation activity in vitro and the cytoplasmic concentration in vivo of uterine polyribosomes are described. Preparations of polyribosomes isolated from uteri of ovariectomized adult rats were determined for cytoplasmic concentration in vivo and assayed for [(14)C]leucine-incorporation activity in the cell-free system, exactly as described by Teng & Hamilton (1967b). 2. A minimal dose of 10mug of oestradiol-17beta administered for 10h was found to increase, by about 100%, both the amino acid-incorporation activity in vitro and the cytoplasmic concentration in vivo of the polyribosomes. A minimal dose of 250mug of actinomycin D administered for 10h was found to inhibit, by about 50%, the incorporation activity in vitro of the polyribosomes. All doses of the inhibitor administered for 10h failed to alter the cytoplasmic concentration in vivo of the polyribosomes. 3. A dose of 10mug of oestradiol-17beta restored to the control value the inhibitory effect of a dose of either 50 or 125mug of actinomycin D on the activity in vitro of the polyribosomes, at 10h after treatment with the inhibitor and the hormone. In these experiments, there was an increase of 60-100% in the cytoplasmic concentration in vivo of the polyribosomes. 4. A dose of 125mug of actinomycin D, administered to animals along with 10mug of oestradiol-17beta for 6-36h, abolished the hormone-induced enhancement of the incorporation activity in vitro, but did not prevent an increase of about 200% in the cytoplasmic concentration in vivo of the polyribosomes. However, treatment with 750mug of the inhibitor abolished both stimulatory effects of the hormone. 5. The results reported indicate that the stimulatory effects of oestradiol-17beta in vivo on the number and activity of the cytoplasmic polyribosomes in the uterus of the ovariectomized rat have different sensitivities to actinomycin D, but the primary molecular mechanisms responsible for the results are unknown. The major conclusion drawn is that the formation and appearance in the cytoplasm of newly formed polyribosomes are important features of the early action of oestrogen in the uterus.     

Acute Toxicity of Ochratoxins A and B in Chicks

Ochratoxins A and B were given to 1-day-old Babcock B-300 cockerels to evaluate acute toxic effects. Two trials with ochratoxin A gave 7-day oral median lethal dose estimates of 116 mug (3.3 mg/kg) and 135 mug (3.9 mg/kg) per chick. Chicks given daily oral doses of 100 mug of ochratoxin A died on the second day. Single subcutaneous doses of 400 mug of ochratoxin A were also lethal. The 7-day oral median lethal dose of B was estimated at 1,890 mug (54 mg/kg) per chick. Chicks given oral doses of 100 mug of ochratoxin B daily for 10 days survived. Sublethal doses of both ochratoxins A and B resulted in growth suppression which was proportional to the amount of ochratoxin given. Visceral gout was the principal gross finding. Microscopic examinations revealed acute nephrosis, hepatic degeneration or focal necrosis, and enteritis. Suppression of hematopoiesis in the bone marrow and depletion of lymphoid elements from the spleen and bursa of Fabricius were frequently seen. Both ochratoxins appeared to have similar pathological effects. This is the first report on the toxicity of ochratoxin B.     

Regulation of oxidative phosphorylation, K+ ions transport and the volume of mitochondrial matrix by cytoplasmic glycopeptide and Ca2+ ions

A thermostable low molecular weight glycopeptide containing syalic acids, which uncouples mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, has been detected, isolated and purified from rat liver cytoplasm. In the presence of the glycopeptide, oxidative phosphorylation in rat liver mitochondria is uncoupled by low physiological concentrations of Ca2+, which otherwise do not have any appreciable effect on the mitochondria. Oxidative phosphorylation uncoupling by the glycopeptide is accompanied by an increase of the mitochondrial volume. This process has a limited amplitude and is regulated by changes in Ca2+ concentration in the extramitochondrial space. The glycopeptide has been shown to induce K+ transport across the inner mitochondrial membrane, this effect is enhanced by Ca2+.     

The glycopeptide domain of the rat vasopressin precursor

The vasopressin precursor is composed of 3 domains, namely vasopressin, MSEL-neurophysin and a glycopeptide. Processing occurs during axonal transport from hypothalamus to neurohypophysis from which the 3 fragments can be isolated. The glycopeptide fragment of the rat vasopressin precursor has been purified and sequenced. Despite the fact that rat MSEL-neurophysin is shortened (93 residues instead of 95 for other mammals), rat glycopeptide has 39 residues, as do the other mammalian glycopeptides, suggesting a similar processing. Fifteen substitutions are however observed when compared to ox glycopeptide. The C-terminal part of MSEL-neurophysin (residues 77-93) and the glycopeptide are encoded by the same exon and the homologies when compared with their bovine counterparts are 58% and 62% respectively. In contrast, the central part of rat MSEL-neurophysin (residues 10-76), which is encoded by a separate exon, displays 96% of homology; vasopressin and the N-terminal part of MSEL-neurophysin (residues 1-9), encoded by a third exon, are nearly invariant.     

Proteochondroitin sulfate synthesized in cartilages induced in vivo and in vitro by bone matrix gelatin

Implanted allogeneic demineralized bone matrix gelatin induced sequential development of cartilage and bone in the recipient rat muscle tissue. Proteoglycans of the implants labeled in vivo with [³⁵S]sulfate at different stages of development were analyzed by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The major proteoglycan synthesized in day-5 implant, just prior to onset of chondrogenesis, was a dermatan sulfate-containing proteoglycan with relatively slow sedimentation rate. Additionally, a small amount of a faster sedimenting component could be detected. The faster sedimenting proteoglycan, in which chondroitin 4-sulfate accounted for 85% of total radioactivity, became predominant in day-10 sample when cartilage formation was maximal. By day 30, when cartilage had been replaced by newly formed bone, the synthesis of this faster sedimenting component had ceased. A similar, if not identical, proteoglycan was found to be a major one synthesized by the in vitro-induced cartilage. This proteoglycan was smaller in overall size and shorter in length of its chondroitin sulfate chains than a major proteoglycan component obtained from neonatal rat epiphyseal cartilage. Concurrent with these changes in proteoglycan type, there appeared to be a change in collagen type, since type II collagen, in addition to type I collagen, was synthesized in day-10 implant. These results indicate that the proteoglycan can be used as a molecular marker for chondrogenesis by bone matrix gelatin.     

Proteochondroitin sulfate synthesized in cartilages induced in vivo and in vitro by bone matrix gelatin.

Implanted allogeneic demineralized bone matrix gelatin induced sequential development of cartilage and bone in the recipient rat muscle tissue. Proteoglycans of the implants labeled in vivo with [35S]sulfate at different stages of development were analyzed by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The major proteoglycan synthesized in day-5 implant, just prior to onset of chondrogenesis, was a dermatan sulfate-containing proteoglycan with relatively slow sedimentation rate. Additionally, a small amount of a faster sedimenting component could be detected. The faster sedimenting proteoglycan, in which chondroitin 4-sulfate accounted for 85% of total radioactivity, became predominant in day-10 sample when cartilage formation was maximal. By day 30, when cartilage had been replaced by newly formed bone, the synthesis of this faster sedimenting component had ceased. A similar, if not identical, proteoglycan was found to be a major one synthesized by the in vitro-induced cartilage. This proteoglycan was smaller in overall size and shorter in length of its chondroitin sulfate chains than a major proteoglycan component obtained from neonatal rat epiphyseal cartilage. Concurrent with these changes in proteoglycan type, there appeared to be a change in collagen type, since type II collagen, in addition to type I collagen, was synthesized in day-10 implant. These results indicate that the proteoglycan can be used as a molecular marker for chondrogenesis by bone matrix gelatin.     

Improved production of A40926 by Nonomuraea sp. through deletion of a pathway-specific acetyltransferase

Nonomuraea strain ATCC 39727 produces the glycopeptide A40926, used for manufacturing dalbavancin, currently in advanced clinical trials. From the gene cluster involved in A40926 biosynthesis, a strain deleted in dbv23 was constructed. This mutant can produce only the glycopeptides lacking the O-linked acetyl residue at position 6 of the mannose moiety, while, under identical fermentation conditions, the wild-type strain produces mostly glycopeptides carrying an acetylated mannose. Furthermore, the total amount of glycopeptides produced by the mutant strain was found to be approximately twice that of the wild type. The reduced level of glycopeptides observed in the wild-type strain may be due to an inhibitory effect exerted by the acetylated compound on the biosynthesis of A40926. Indeed, spiking production cultures with ≥1 μg/ml of the acetylated glycopeptide inhibited A40926 production in the mutant strain.     

On the cell-free system of protein synthesis from mammalian mitochondria

Summary Some properties of a submitochondrial cell-free system for protein synthesis are described. The system was prepared from rat liver mitochondria lysed with Triton X-100, and the lysate was characterized by a linear rate of [¹⁴C]amino acid incorporation for 15–20 min with subsequent decline in activity. The incorporation reaction was inhibited by chloramphenicol and was in-sensitive to cycloheximide. Poly(U) addition stimulated [¹⁴C]phenylalanine incorporation by the preincubated submitochondrial system. Upon the addition of 7.5S mRNA that was iso-lated from mitochondria the major translation product was identified as a hydrophobic poly-peptide which in some properties (solubility in chloroform-methanol mixture) was similar to one of polypeptides synthesized by the sub-mitochondrial system on endogeneous mRNAs.     

Solubility of the intramitochondrially synthesized protein and other membrane proteins of rat liver mitochondria in acidic or neutral chloroform-methanol

Almost all protein species of submitochondrial particles from rat liver identified by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were extracted into acidic /2 mM/HCl/ chloroform:methanol /2:1, $\text{v}\text{v}$/, whereas a single protein /or lipoprotein/ with molecular weight of 9.000 was extracted into neutral chloroform-methanol mixture. Evidence for intramitochondrial synthesis of this hydrophobic protein in rat liver $\text{in vivo}$ is presented.     

Bone formation in cartilage produced by transplanted epiphyseal chondrocytes

Summary Chondrocytes were isolated from rat epiphyseal cartilage, cultured in vitro, and exposed to exogenous tracers which accumulated in their lysosomes. The cells were then injected into the posterior tibial muscle of animals from the same outbred strain, where they reconstructed calcifying hyaline cartilage. The mineralization of the tissue was followed by ingrowth of blood capillaries from the host bed. Macrophage-like cells surrounding the vessels phagocytized degenerated chondrocytes and unmineralized matrix, whereas multinucleated chondroclasts removed some of the mineralized cartilage matrix. Mesenchyme-like cells accompanying the invading vessels attached to the remaining septa of calcified cartilage matrix and developed into osteoblasts depositing bone matrix on the surface of these septa. The apparent lack of inherent tracer labeling of the lysosomes in the different bone cells indicate that they were derived from the host. No signs of transformation of chondrocytes into bone cells were observed.When isolated rat epiphyseal chondrocytes were injected into the wall of the hamster cheek pouch, calcifying cartilage was reconstructed without signs of subsequent ossification. Transplantation of cartilage reconstructed in the hamster into the dorsal muscles of rats was, however, followed by formation of bone by a sequence analogous to that described above. Such an osteogenetic response was also obtained when the cartilage had been devitalized before transplantation.These experiments show that calcified cartilage, developing in or grafted into an intramuscular site, is able to induce and serve as a substrate for endochondral bone formation, similar to that occurring during normal development. They further indicate that bone induction by calcified cartilage does not require the presence of living chondrocytes.Financial support was obtained from the Swedish Medical Research Council (proj. no. 03355), the King Gustaf V 80th Birthday Fund, and from the funds of Karolinska Institutet. The authors thank Karin Blomgren for technical assistance and Inger Lohmander-Åhrén and Eva Pettersson for secretarial helpOn leave from the Department of Histology and Embryology, Medical Academy, Warsaw, Poland     

Eremomycin in the treatment of antibiotic-associated colitis in golden hamsters]

The efficacy of eremomycin, a new glycopeptide antibiotic, was studied on a model of antibiotic-associated colitis in golden hamsters. The colitis was induced by intraperitoneal or intragastric administration of lincomycin. In a dose of 100 mg/kg administered orally once a day for 5 days eremomycin protected the animals from the lincomycin-induced colitis: some animals survived, the others died in later periods. When the animals were infected with a pathogenetic strain of Clostridium difficile followed by exposure to lincomycin the use of eremomycin produced the similar effect.