Determination of Regional Rates of Cerebral Protein Synthesis Adjusted for Regional Differences in Recycling of Leucine Derived from Protein Degradation into the Precursor Pool in Conscious Adult Rats

The quantitative autoradiographic L-[1-14C]leucine method for the determination of regional rates of cerebral protein synthesis in vivo takes into account recycling of unlabeled leucine derived from protein degradation into the precursor pool for protein synthesis. We have evaluated the degree of recycling by measuring the ratio of the apparent steady-state leucine specific activity in the precursor amino acid pool (tRNA-bound leucine) to that in the arterial plasma. In the whole brain of the conscious rat this ratio (lambda WB) equals 0.58. The equivalent ratio for leucine in the acid-soluble pool in whole brain (psi WB) is 0.49. A first-degree polynomial equation for lambda WB as a function of psi WB was fitted from paired determinations. To determine the degree of recycling in local regions of the brain, we have measured in individual brain regions (i) psi i and calculated lambda i assuming that the fitted equation also applies to these localized regions. Our results indicate that the degree of recycling into the precursor pool does vary regionally; lambda i in the individual regions varies from 0.62 in the hypoglossal nucleus to 0.50 in the globus pallidus. Local rates of protein synthesis were then determined by the autoradiographic technique with regional corrections for recycling of unlabeled leucine. Rates of leucine incorporation into protein averaged 6.1 nmol/g of tissue/min in the brain as a whole, with the rates in gray matter about twice those in white matter.     

Protein Synthesis in a Cell-free System from Rat Brain Sensitive to ACTH-like Peptides

Abstract: Protein synthesis was measured using a cell-free system obtained from subcortical rat brain tissue. The concentrations of Mg²⁺ and K⁺ and the amount of tissue, during both the preparation and the final assay, were critical to the incorporation of amino acids as expressed per milligram protein. Even under optimal conditions mainly elongation of growing peptide chains was measured. Behaviorally active fragments of ACTH modulated the activity of the system in a biphasic manner; i.e., at a low concentration (10⁻⁸ M) of ACTH a stimulation of between 10 and 70% was found; a high concentration (10⁻⁴ M) was inhibitory (50 to 70%). Structure-activity studies revealed that the stimulatory effect was confined to the N-terminus of the peptide (1–24), whereas the C-terminal sequence was responsible for the inhibition. The stimulation by ACTH_1–24 was dependent on Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺. Cyclic AMP (10⁻⁵ M) stimulated the amino acid incorporation too. When a similar cell-free extract was prepared from brain tissue of hypophysectomized rats, the lower in vivo protein synthesis in these animals was preserved in the present cell-free system. The data are discussed in terms of a possible direct intracellular effect of ACTH on brain protein synthesis.     

A Quantitative Regional Analysis of Amino Acids Involved in Rat Brain Protein Synthesis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

A biochemical method is described for the simultaneous quantitative estimation of unidirectional blood-brain amino acid influx and protein biosynthesis in individual structures of the rat brain. The method involved a double labeling experiment started by the administration of [14C]carboxyl-labeled amino acids and terminated 2 min after infusion of 3H-labeled amino acids, each at tracer quantities, the total labeling period being 45 min. Specific radioactivities of 14C- or 3H-labeled phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine were determined in plasma and in small brain tissue samples for free amino acids, aminoacyl-tRNAs, and proteins. Amino acids were converted to their corresponding 5-dimethylamino-naphthalenesulfonyl (Dns, dansyl) derivatives and separated on HPLC C18 reversed-phase columns isocratically according to a newly developed optimizing procedure. The order of influx values between the neutral amino acids in relation to each other was Leu greater than Tyr greater than Ile greater than Phe greater than Val in every structure examined. Although aminoacylation of tRNAs was found to proceed to a comparable degree for neutral amino acids in all regions investigated, the specific radioactivity of amino acids attached to tRNAs differed substantially from that in the free amino acid pool, especially for leucine and valine. The results indicate the necessity of aminoacyl-tRNA determinations for tracer incorporation studies in protein synthesis analysis. Relative protein synthesis rates in the halothane-anesthetized rat were determined to be 30 and 67-91 pmol total amino acid incorporation/min/mg tissue for white and gray matter, respectively.     

Tryptophan Overload in the Pregnant Rat: Effect on Brain Amino Acid Levels and In Vitro Protein Synthesis

The concentration of most amino acids was higher in the brains of 19- and 21-day rat fetuses than in their respective mothers. After an intraperitoneal load of tryptophan to the mother, the intracerebral concentration of several amino acids (including leucine) decreased not only in the mothers, but also in their fetuses. The in vitro incorporation of pHJleucine into proteins in brain postmitochondrial supernatant fractions was enhanced in both the mothers and fetuses after tryptophan administration, but this effect disappeared when protein synthesis was calculated by using specific activities corrected for the amount of unlabeled leucine in the preparation. By this criterion, protein synthesis activity appeared similar in the brains of 19- and 21-day pregnant rats but was higher in their fetuses, especially in the 21-day subjects. Thus, protein synthesis in the brain was not altered by marked changes in the amino acid pool and more profound and prolonged metabolic disturbances must occur to cause permanent damage in the developing brain.     

Effect of Cerebral Puncture on Brain Protein Synthesis in Adult and Young Rodents

Abstract: In adult mice cerebral puncture results in an inhibition of brain protein synthesis, as suggested previously by Dunn (1975). The inhibition is apparent within a few minutes but subsides by 15 min after puncture. The percent inhibition therefore depends on the length of time between the puncture and the measurement. Mice receiving a puncture were less active than controls, and a decrease in brain temperature was observed in these animals. The decrement is, however, too small to account for the inhibition of synthesis. Diphenylhydantoin had no effect on the inhibition. Cerebral puncture of young mouse (7-day-oId) or rat (8-day-old) brain induced no inhibition of brain protein synthesis.     

Subcellular Distribution of Free Amino Acids in Relation to Protein Synthesis in Cells of Chara corallina

The influence of protein-synthesis inhibitors on the subcellular distribution of free amino acids was studied in internodal cells of Chara corallina. Use of an intracellular perfusion technique allowed separate measurements of amino acids in the vacuole, in the flowing sol endoplasm and in the gel layer. The sol endoplasm predominantly represents the cytosol, while the gel layer is occupied, for the most part, by chloroplasts. When cells were treated with 0.5 mM chloramphenicol (CRP) in the dark, both the total concentration of amino acids and the subcellular distribution were almost the same as in cells without treatment. In the light, however, the subcellular distribution changed dramatically, although the total concentration of amino acids was unchanged. The vacuolar concentration of amino acids was 3 times greater in CRP-treated cells than in the control. The concentrations of amino acids in the sol endoplasm and in the gel layer were only half of those in the control. Amino acid permeability of the chloroplast envelope, measured using the perfused internodal cells, slightly increased after the CRP treatment in the light. Time-dependent changes in concentrations of amino acids in the CRP-treated cells were also measured in the light. The total concentration of amino acids in the cytoplasm gradually decreased, while that in the vacuole increased commensurately. The concentration and/or subcellular distribution of alanine, glutamine, glutamate and glycine changed dramatically. The concentration of alanine increased considerably both in the vacuole and in the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic concentration of glutamine increased transiently within 1 ?2 h after treatment with CRP. The cytoplasmic concentrations of glutamate and glycine decreased. Although the concentrations of some amino acids changed so markedly both in the vacuole and cytoplasm, only small differences in the activities of glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase and glutamine synthetase were detected between the control and the CRP-treated cells.     

n-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency Increases Brain Protein Synthesis in the Free-Moving Adult Rat

Abstract: The autoradiographic method with l -[³⁵S]methionine was used to determine the effects of an n-3 fatty acid deficiency on brain protein synthesis. Brain protein synthesis was significantly increased (from 50 to 150%) in 45 of the 52 brain structures studied in n-3 fatty acid-deficient rats as compared with control animals. Biochemical analysis confirmed the increase in overall rate of protein synthesis in brain as a whole.     

Effect of Intravenous Administration of d-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide on Subsequent Protein Synthesis in a Cell-Free System Derived from Brain

Abstract: An initiating cell-free protein synthesis system derived from brain was utilized to demonstrate that the intravenous injection of d -lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to rabbits induced a transient inhibition of translation following a brief stimulatory period. Subfractionation of the brain cell-free system into postribosomal supernatant (PRS) and microsome fractions demonstrated that LSD in vivo induced alterations in both of these fractions. In addition to the overall inhibition of translation in the cell-free system, differential effects were noted, i.e., greater than average relative decreases in in vitro labeling of certain brain proteins and relative increases in others. The brain proteins of molecular weights 7SK and 95K, which were increased in relative labeling under conditions of LSD-induced hyperthermia, are similar in molecular weight to two of the major "heat shock" proteins reported in tissue culture systems. Injection of LSD to rabbits at 4°C prevented LSD-induced hyperthermia but behavioral effects of the drug were still apparent. The overall decrease in cell-free translation was still observed but the differential labeling effects were not. LSD appeared to influence cell-free translation in the brain at two dissociable levels: (a) an overall decrease in translation that was observed even in the absence of LSD-induced hyperthermia and (b) differential labeling effects on particular proteins that were dependent on LSD-induced hyperthermia.     

Role of Protein Synthesis in the Ischemic Tolerance Acquisition Induced by Transient Forebrain Ischemia in the Rat

Although ischemic preconditioning of the heart and brain is a well-documented neuroprotective phenomenon, the mechanism underlying the increased resistance to severe ischemia induced by a preceding mild ischemic exposure remains unclear. In this study we have determined the effect of ischemic preconditioning on ischemia/reperfusion-associated translation inhibition in the neocortex and hippocampus of the rat. We studied the effect of the duration on the sublethal ischemic episode (3, 4, 5 or 8 min), as well as the amount of time elapsed between sublethal and lethal ischemia on the cell death 7 days after the last ischemic episode. In addition, the rate of protein synthesis in vitro and expression of the 72-kD heat shock protein (hsp) were determined under the different experimental conditions. Our results suggest that two different mechanisms are essential for the acquisition of ischemic tolerance, at least in the CA1 sector of hippocampus. The first mechanism implies a highly significant reduction in translation inhibition after lethal ischemia, especially at an early time of reperfusion, in both vulnerable and nonvulnerable neurons. For the acquisition of full tolerance, a second mechanism, highly dependent on the time interval between preconditioning (sublethal ischemia) and lethal ischemia, is absolutely necessary; this second mechanism involves synthesis of protective proteins, which prevent the delayed death of vulnerable neurons.     

The Rate of Valine Incorporation into Proteins with Correction for Valine Recycling, Measured in Two Brain Tumor Models and the Cortex

Abstract: The tissue dilution factor (λ) for the incorporation of valine into proteins in the rat cortex and in two different tumors, AA ascites and C6 glioma, was determined from measurements of specific activities in the tissue acid-soluble and aminoacyl-tRNA pools and in the plasma. A constant plasma specific activity was achieved by a constant infusion rate of [³H]valine. The data showed that the λ for valine was the same in the cortex as in the tumors, and the recycling was ∼36%. There was no difference in the λ calculated on the basis of the specific activities in the tissue acid-soluble or aminoacyl-tRNA pools. The average dilution factor was found to be 0.64 ± 0.05. The rate of valine incorporation into proteins was on average 3.2 ± 0.4 and 4.9 ± 0.4 nmol/g/min in the cortex for the groups of rats used in the AA ascites and C6 glioma experiments, respectively. In the AA ascites tumor the rate was ∼41 and 29 nmol/g/min 4 and 7 days after tumor implantation, respectively, whereas in the C6 glioma the rate was ∼41 and 72 nmol/g/min 6 and 13 days after inoculation, respectively. The tumors had, in comparison with the cortex, a significantly greater volume of distribution of valine. The amounts of valyl-tRNA were significantly greater in the tumors as compared with the normal cortex, with the exception of the glioma 6 days after implantation where the concentration was the same as in the cortex.     

Effect of Intravenous Administration of D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide on Initiation of Protein Synthesis in a Cell-Free System Derived from Brain

An initiating cell-free protein synthesis system derived from brain was utilized to demonstrate that the intravenous injection of D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to rabbits resulted in a lesion at the initiation stage of brain protein synthesis. Three inhibitors of initiation, edeine, poly(I), and aurintricarboxylic acid were used to demonstrate a reduction in initiation-dependent amino acid incorporation in the brain cell-free system. One hour after LSD injection, there was also a measurable decrease in the formation of 40S and 80S initiation complexes in vitro, using either [35S]methionine or [35S]Met-tRNAf. Analysis of the methionine pool size after LSD administration indicated there was no change in methionine levels. Analysis of the formation of initiation complexes in the brain cell-free protein synthesis system prepared 6 h after LSD administration indicated that there was a return to control levels at this time. The effects of LSD on steps in the initiation process are thus reversible.     

Kainic Acid and Decorticating Lesions Stimulate the Synthesis of C1q Protein in Adult Rat Brain

Abstract: The first component of the classic complement cascade, C1q, was increased in whole rat brain after lesioning by intraperitoneally injected kainic acid (KA) (20-fold, 3 days after KA) and in the striatum ipsilateral to unilateral decortication (fivefold, 10 days after decortication). C1q was measured after purification by chromatography and electrophoresis. De novo biosynthesis of C1q 3 days after KA was increased >10-fold, as measured by the incorporation of [³⁵S]methionine into C1q after incubation of brain slices from KA-treated rats for 2 h. In parallel with these responses, KA induced fivefold increase of C1q bioactivity, as evaluated with C1q-dependent hemolysis. The contribution of C1q from entrapped cerebrovascular blood was evaluated by the effects of perfusion and was minor relative to the increases of C1q in response to KA lesioning. These findings support the hypothesis that the C1q protein detected by immunocytochemistry in senile plaques of Alzheimer brains and in the hippocampus after deafferenting lesions is synthesized by resident brain cells.     

Protein Turnover and Growth of the Rat Brain from the Foetus to Old Age

Growth of the rat brain was studied between 16 days of foetal life and old age (105 weeks). Developmental changes in cerebral RNA, DNA, and protein contents are described. The age-related decline in brain growth rates correlates with progressive decreases in the fractional rates of protein synthesis (from 58 to 6.8% per day) and breakdown (from 36.4 to 4.1% per day).     

Ceramide Synthesis from Free Fatty Acids in Rat Brain: Function of NADPH and Substrate Specificity

At the subcellular level, the synthesis of ceramide from free lignoceric acid and sphingosine in brain required reconstituted enzyme system (particulate fraction, heat-stable and heat-labile factors) and pyridine nucleotide (NADPH). The mitochondrial electron transfer inhibitors (KCN and antimycin A), energy uncouplers (oligomycin and 2,4-dinitrophenol), and carboxyatractyloside, which prevents the transport of ATP and ADP through the mitochondrial wall, inhibit the synthesis of ceramide in the presence of NADPH but have very little effect in the presence of ATP. Similar to the synthesis of ceramide, the synthesis of ATP from NADPH and NADH by the particulate fraction also required cytoplasmic factors (heat-stable and heat-labile factors). Moreover, ATP, but not its analog (AMP-CH2-P-O-P), can replace NADPH, thus suggesting that the function of the pyridine nucleotide is to provide ATP for the synthesis of ceramide. The cytoplasmic factors were not required for the synthesis of ceramide in the presence of ATP. The maximum velocity for synthesis of ceramide from free fatty acids of different chain lengths (C16-C26) was bimodal, with maxima around stearic acid (C18) and behenic acid (C22). The relative rate of synthesis of ceramide parallels the relative distribution of these fatty acids in brain cerebrosides and sulfatides.     

Effect of Altered Blood Plasma Osmolalities on Regional Brain Amino Acid Concentrations and Focal Seizure Susceptibility in the Rat

Blood plasma hypo- or hyperosmolality alters significantly the concentration of some amino acids in brain tissues of the medial septum and hippocampus of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. With some notable exceptions, brain amino acid concentrations decreased under hypoosmotic conditions and increased under hyperosmotic conditions. Osmotic changes and brain amino acid changes appear to be related to each other in an almost linear fashion. A comparison of rats and toads indicates that the patterns of changes in brain amino acid concentrations in response to a hypoosmotic plasma osmolality were almost identical for both species. Changes achievable under hyperosmotic conditions were considerably greater in toads. When rats with kindled epileptogenic foci were made hypoosmotic by water-loading, seizure thresholds decreased dramatically. Our data suggest a possible relationship between the hypoosmotically induced biochemical changes in brain tissues (especially some amino acid neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter precursors) and the hypoosmotically induced increase in seizure susceptibility.     

Dynamic Model of the Process of Protein Synthesis in Eukaryotic Cells

Protein synthesis is the final step of gene expression in all cells. In order to understand the regulation of this process, it is important to have an accurate model that incorporates the regulatory steps. The model presented in this paper is composed of set of differential equations which describe the dynamics of the initiation process and its control, as well as peptide elongation, starting with the amino acids available for peptide creation. A novel approach for modeling the elongation process permits useful prediction of protein production and consumption of energy and amino acids, as well as ribosome loading rate and ribosome spacing on the mRNA. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Hyperthermia Induces the Synthesis of a Heat Shock Protein by Polysomes Isolated from the Fetal and Neonatal Mammalian Brain

Abstract: Analysis of the cell-free translation products of polysomes isolated from fetal brain and other organs indicates that elevation of maternal body temperature induces the synthesis of a heat shock protein of molecular weight 74,000 (74K). The newborn mammal is particularly sensitive to induction of the 74K protein. As early postnatal development proceeds, higher body temperatures are required to induce synthesis of the 74K heat shock protein.     

脱落酸对发育中花生胚萌发和贮藏蛋白质合成的影响

发育中的花生胚在无激素固体培养基上高体培养时提前萌发,其发芽力随胚的成熟增加而提高。果针入土后40d胚的发芽率达100％。禹体培养过程中,外源ABA能够阻止花生胚提前萌发和促进胚的发育。胚成熟前期,较低浓度的ABA(10~(-5)mol/L)便抑制胚的萌发;而在成熟中期以后,则要求较高浓度的ABA(10~(-4)mol/L)才能抑制胚的萌发。ABA对成熟前期胚的贮藏蛋白质合成无影响,而对成熟中期至后期胚的贮藏蛋白质合成起促进作用。ABA维持花生胚贮藏蛋白质合成和积累的作用表现在转录水平上。