Enhanced liposomal vaccine formulation and performance: simple physicochemical and immunological approaches

The Dtxd (Diphtheria toxoid) was the first antigen encapsulated within liposomes, their adjuvant properties were discovered (their capacity to enhance the vaccine immunogenicity). The point here is not to propose a new method to prepare this lipossomal vaccine. The central idea is to give new dresses for old vaccines by using classical and well-established liposome preparation method changing only the encapsulation pH and the immunization protocol.The most appropriate method of Dtxd encapsulation within liposome was based on lipid film hydration in 100 mM citrate buffer, pH 4.0. This was accompanied by changes on protein hydrophobicity, observed by CD and fluorescence spectroscopies. Whenever the Dtxd exposed its hydrophobic residues at pH 4.0, it interacted better with the lipossomal (observed by electrophoretic mobility) film than when its hydrophobic residues were buried (pH 9.0). The Dtxd partition coefficient in Triton-X114 and the acrylamide fluorescence quenching were also pH dependent. Both were bigger at pH 4.0 than at pH 9.0. The relationship protein structure and lipid interaction was pH dependent and now it can be easily maximized to enhance encapsulation of antigens in vaccine development.Mice were primed with formulations containing 5 mug of Dtxd within liposomes prepared in pH 4.0 or 7.0 or 9.0. The boosters were done 38 or 138 days after the first immunization. The IgM produced by immediate response of all lipossomal formulations were higher than the control (free protein). The response patterns and the immune maturity were measured by IgG1 and IgG2a titrations. The IgG1 titers produced by both formulations at pH 4.0 and 7.0 were at least 22 higher than those produced by mice injected lipossomal formulation at pH 9.0. When the boosters were done, 138 days after priming the mice produced a IgG2a titer of 29 and the group that received the booster 30 days after priming produced a titer of 25. The strongest antibody production was the neutralizing antibody (245 higher than the control) produced by those mice injected with lipossomal formulation at pH 4.0 with the booster done 138 days after priming. The simple change on lipossomal pH formulation and timing of the booster enhanced both antibody production and selectivity.     

Enhanced Liposomal Vaccine Formulation and Performance: Simple Physicochemical and Immunological Approaches

The Dtxd (Diphtheria toxoid) was the first antigen encapsulated within liposomes, their adjuvant properties were discovered (their capacity to enhance the vaccine immunogenicity). The point here is not to propose a new method to prepare this lipossomal vaccine. The central idea is to give new dresses for old vaccines by using classical and well-established liposome preparation method changing only the encapsulation pH and the immunization protocol.

The most appropriate method of Dtxd encapsulation within liposome was based on lipid film hydration in 100 mM citrate buffer, pH 4.0. This was accompanied by changes on protein hydrophobicity, observed by CD and fluorescence spectroscopies. Whenever the Dtxd exposed its hydrophobic residues at pH 4.0, it interacted better with the lipossomal (observed by electrophoretic mobility) film than when its hydrophobic residues were buried (pH 9.0). The Dtxd partition coefficient in Triton-X114 and the acrylamide fluorescence quenching were also pH dependent. Both were bigger at pH 4.0 than at pH 9.0. The relationship protein structure and lipid interaction was pH dependent and now it can be easily maximized to enhance encapsulation of antigens in vaccine development.

Mice were primed with formulations containing 5 μg of Dtxd within liposomes prepared in pH 4.0 or 7.0 or 9.0. The boosters were done 38 or 138 days after the first immunization. The IgM produced by immediate response of all lipossomal formulations were higher than the control (free protein). The response patterns and the immune maturity were measured by IgG₁ and IgG_2a titrations. The IgG₁ titers produced by both formulations at pH 4.0 and 7.0 were at least 2² higher than those produced by mice injected lipossomal formulation at pH 9.0. When the boosters were done, 138 days after priming the mice produced a IgG_2a titer of 2⁹ and the group that received the booster 30 days after priming produced a titer of 2⁵. The strongest antibody production was the neutralizing antibody (2⁴⁵ higher than the control) produced by those mice injected with lipossomal formulation at pH 4.0 with the booster done 138 days after priming. The simple change on lipossomal pH formulation and timing of the booster enhanced both antibody production and selectivity.     

LUVs recovered with Chitosan: a new preparation for vaccine delivery

Chitosan, alpha-(1-4)-amino-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucan, is a deacetylated form of chitin, an abundant natural polysaccharide present in crustacean shells. Its unique characteristics such as positive charge, biodegradability, biocompatibility, nontoxicity, and rigid linear molecular structure make this macromolecule ideal as drug carrier. The association between chitosan and liposomes was carefully described, where REVs (reverse phase evaporation vesicles) were sandwiched by chitosan. The usage of these particles in vaccine formulation is here proposed for the first time in the literature. The Chitosan-REVs now stabilized by polyvinilic alcohol were the vehicle for Diphtheria toxoid (Dtxd). Round chitosan-sandwiched REVs (REVs-Chi) particles of 373 +/- 17 nm containing 65% Dtxd were obtained. After 200 min of incubation in a simulated gastric fluid, 70% of the Dtxd was liberated from REVs-Chi in comparison to 100% of Dtxd liberated from pure REVs. In PBS, the Dtxd liberation from REVS-Chi was about 60%. Mice were immunized with Dtxd encapsulated within REVs-Chi and with other REVs/Dtxd formulations adsorbed onto Freund adjuvant or alumen [AIF and Al(OH)(3)]. The response patterns and the immune maturity were measured by IgG(1) and IgG(2a) titrations. REVs-Chi containing Dtxd elicited both antibodies production giving the animals higher immune response and selectivity. It was interesting that the memory of those mice immunized with REVs-Chi containing Dtxd enhanced, after booster, antibody production by 47% in contrast with 17 and 7% in mice immunized with the antigen vehiculated in REVs-AIF or REVs-Al(OH)(3), respectively.     

LUVs Recovered with Chitosan: A New Preparation for Vaccine Delivery

Chitosan, α-(1–4)-amino-2-deoxy-β-D-glucan, is a deacetylated form of chitin, an abundant natural polysaccharide present in crustacean shells. Its unique characteristics such as positive charge, biodegradability, biocompatibility, nontoxicity, and rigid linear molecular structure make this macromolecule ideal as drug carrier. The association between chitosan and liposomes was carefully described, where REVs (reverse phase evaporation vesicles) were sandwiched by chitosan. The usage of these particles in vaccine formulation is here proposed for the first time in the literature. The Chitosan-REVs now stabilized by polyvinilic alcohol were the vehicle for Diphtheria toxoid (Dtxd). Round chitosan-sandwiched REVs (REVs-Chi) particles of 373 ± 17 nm containing 65% Dtxd were obtained. After 200 min of incubation in a simulated gastric fluid, 70% of the Dtxd was liberated from REVs-Chi in comparison to 100% of Dtxd liberated from pure REVs. In PBS, the Dtxd liberation from REVS-Chi was about 60%. Mice were immunized with Dtxd encapsulated within REVs-Chi and with other REVs/Dtxd formulations adsorbed onto Freund adjuvant or alumen [AIF and Al(OH)₃]. The response patterns and the immune maturity were measured by IgG₁ and IgG_2a titrations. REVs-Chi containing Dtxd elicited both antibodies production giving the animals higher immune response and selectivity. It was interesting that the memory of those mice immunized with REVs-Chi containing Dtxd enhanced, after booster, antibody production by 47% in contrast with 17 and 7% in mice immunized with the antigen vehiculated in REVs-AIF or REVs-Al(OH)₃, respectively.     

Purification of VP3 protein of infectious bursal disease virus using nickel ion-immobilized regenerated cellulose-based membranes

In this study, hexa-histidine tagged VP3 protein of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) was purified using immobilized metal ion affinity technique from the fermentation of Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) containing a recombinant plasmid with a VP3 gene. The purification efficiencies of VP3 protein (TVP3 and DeltaTVP3) using Ni(2+)-NTA commercial agarose gels and Ni(2+)-IDA regenerated cellulose-based membranes at 4 degrees C were compared. A good washing condition for removing most impurity proteins was found as 20 mM NaH(2)PO(4), 500 mM NaCl, 40 mM imidazole, pH 7.8, whereas an efficient elution condition was 20 mM NaH(2)PO(4), 500 mM NaCl, 500 or 750 mM imidazole, pH 7.8. By applying these conditions to the flow experiments, similar recovery (86-88%) and purity (98-99%) for VP3 were obtained in both gel column (1 ml gel) and membrane cartridge (four membrane disks) under the flow rate of 1.7 ml/min for protein loading and 2.7 ml/min for protein elution. Regarding that the membrane process exhibited some advantages such as shorter residence time and lower cost, a better process efficiency in a large-scale system could be expected for the Ni(2+)-IDA membranes.     

A high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure for the purification of mouse monoclonal antibodies

High-performance liquid chromatography was applied to the purification of monoclonal antibodies from mouse ascites fluid. The method was based on anion-exchange chromatography using a TSK DEAE-5PW column and a gradient elution with 20 mM Tris, pH 8.5, and 20 mM Tris, pH 8.5, containing 2.0 M sodium acetate. The method can be applied to analytic or preparative scale separations. Purified immunoglobulins were isolated from samples of 20 to 100 microliter containing up to 19 mg total protein. The average recovery of total protein was 89 +/- 12%. Recovery of the immunoglobulins, based on recovery of immunological activity, was quantitative. In addition to separating the immunoglobulins from the other serum proteins, the various classes of IgG were resolved.     

Recovery of a monoclonal antibody from hybridoma culture supernatant by affinity precipitation with Eudragit S-100

An IgG₁ monoclonal antibody (MAB) was isolated from hybridoma culture supernatant by affinity precipitation with an Eudragit S-100-based heterobifunctional ligand. Affinity binding was performed in a homogeneous aqueous phase at pH 7.5 followed by precipitation of the bound affinity complex by lowering the pH to 4.8. After two washing steps, elution of specifically bound MAB was achieved by incubating the precipitate with 0.1 M glycine.HCl pH 2.5. The influence of elution volume and time on the recovery of active MAB and the overall purification factor were studied. The best conditions enabled the recovery of 50.2% of active MAB with a purification factor of 6.2. A further dialysis against 50 mM Tris.HCl pH 8.0 increased the activity yield and the purification factor to 68.4% and 8.3, respectively. This result showed that part of the antibody activity loss during affinity precipitation was due to a reversible inactivation process, being easily recovered after a refining dialysis step.     

One-step purification of the recombinant catalytic subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase

A facile one-step affinity chromatographic purification of the recombinant catalytic subunit (PDPc) of bovine pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase (PDP) to near homogeneity is described. PDPc binds in the presence of Ca(2+) to the inner lipoyl domain (L2) of the dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase component (E2) of the mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. The affinity column consists of a glutathione S-transferase (GST)-L2 fusion protein bound to glutathione-Sepharose 4B beads. An extract of transformed Escherichia coli cells containing 50 mM Tris buffer (pH 7.5), 2 mM CaCl(2), 5 mM MgCl(2,) 150 mM NaCl, 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, 1% Triton X-100, and l M urea was passed through the affinity column, and the column was washed extensively with this buffer mixture. PDPc was eluted with 50 mM Tris buffer (pH 7.5) containing 5 mM MgCl(2), 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, and 1 mM EGTA. Approximately 22 mg of highly purified PDPc was obtained from 10 g (wet weight) of transformed cells. The preparation contained a small amount of a "nicked" form of PDPc. The cleavage is between Arg-394 and Arg-395.     

一种快速提取丝状真菌染色体DNA的方法

介绍了一种适用于丝状真菌染色体DNA大片段的快速提取方法,该方法以(100mM Tris,100mM NaGl,50mM EDTA-Na2 2%SDS,pH值9.0)为提取液,经石英砂研磨破壁.应用该方法成功地提取了粗糙脉胞菌(Neurospora crassa)、米曲霉(Aspergillus oryzae)、产黄青霉(Penicillium chrysogenum)和头孢霉菌(Cep- halosporium sp.)等4种不同丝状真菌的染色体DNA大片段,且所提DNA片段均大于20kb,可直接用于限制性酶切、PCR等分子生物学研究.     

Production and purification of refolded recombinant human IL-7 from inclusion bodies

A recombinant form of human rhIL-7 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli HMS174 (DE3) pLysS under the control of a T7 promoter. The resulting insoluble inclusion bodies were separated from cellular debris by cross-flow filtration and solubilized by homogenization with 6 M guanidine HCl. Attempts at refolding rhIL-7 from solubilized inclusion bodies without prior purification of monomeric, denatured rhIL-7 were not successful. Denatured, monomeric rhIL-7 was therefore initially purified by size-exclusion chromatography using Prep-Grade Pharmacia Superdex 200. Correctly folded rhIL-7 monomer was generated by statically refolding the denatured protein at a final protein concentration of 80-100 microg/ml in 100 mM Tris, 2mM EDTA, 500 mM L-arginine, pH 9.0, buffer with 0.55 g/l oxidized glutathione at 2-8 degrees C for at least 48 h. The refolded rhIL-7 was subsequently purified by low-pressure liquid chromatography, using a combination of hydrophobic interaction, cation-exchange, and size-exclusion chromatography. The purified final product was >95% pure by SDS-PAGE stained with Coomassie brilliant blue, high-pressure size-exclusion chromatography (SEC-HPLC), and reverse-phase HPLC. The endotoxin level was <0.05 EU/mg. The final purified product was biologically active in a validated IL-7 dependent pre-B-cell bioassay. In anticipation of human clinical trials, this material is currently being evaluated for safety and efficacy in non-human primate toxicology studies.     

Expression,refolding and purification of a human interleukin-17A variant

A human interleukin-17A (IL-17A) variant was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) under the control of a T₇ promoter. The resulting insoluble inclusion bodies were isolated and solubilized by homogenization with 6 M guanidine HCl. The denatured recombinant human IL-17A variant was refolded in 20 mM Tris–HCl, pH 9.0, 500 mM arginine, 500 mM guanidine HCl, 15% glycerol, 1 mM cystamine, and 5 mM cysteine at 2–8 °C for 40 h. The refolded IL-17A variant was subsequently purified using a combination of cation-exchange, reversed-phase and fluoroapatite chromatography. The final purified product was a monodisperse and crystallizable homodimer with a molecular weight of 30,348.3 Da. The protein was active in both receptor binding competition assay and IL-17A-dependent biological activity assay using human dermal fibroblasts.     

A chromatographic method for the purification of K99 pili from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Details of a relatively inexpensive method for the purification of K99 pili in their native conformation are reported. The method involved sequential precipitation of K99 pili with (NH4)2SO4, followed by precipitation in 12% (w/v) mannose or sorbitol solution. The crude pili preparation was adsorbed with Bio-Gel A-5m and subjected to sequential gel filtration on Bio-Gel A-5m equilibrated with Tris/EDTA/NaN3/NaCl buffer and KSCN/KCl solution, respectively. The K99 containing peak was subjected to sequential ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Bio-Gel A equilibrated with 0.02 M-Tris/HCl, pH 8.6 containing 0.05 M-NaCl and DEAE-Sephadex A-50 equilibrated with 0.05 M-phosphate buffer, pH 7.2. The purified pili yielded a single band on SDS-PAGE with an estimated molecular weight of 13000. Attempts to purify pili by other methods evaluated, viz. MgCl2 precipitation and chromatofocusing were unsuccessful. While the amino acid composition of purified K99 pili was similar to that reported previously the N-terminal amino acid was apparently blocked.     

Recombinant protein purification using complementary peptides as affinity tags

Affinity tags have become highly popular tools for purifying recombinant proteins from crude extracts by affinity chromatography. Besides, short peptides are excellent ligands for affinity chromatography, as they are not likely to cause an immune response in case of leakage into the product, they are more stable than antibodies to elution and cleaning conditions and they usually have very acceptable selectivity. Hydropathically complementary peptides designed de novo show enough selectivity to be used successfully as peptide ligands for protein purification from crude extracts. Recognition specificity and selectivity in the interaction between the complementary peptide pair His-Leu-Leu-Phe-Pro-Ile-Ile-Ile-Ala-Ala-Ser-Leu and Lys-Asn-Tyr-Pro-Lys-Lys-Lys-Met-Glu-Lys-Arg-Phe have been demonstrated by other authors. In this work, we designed a recombinant protein purification method using a peptide affinity tag that binds to a peptide-binding partner immobilized on a chromatographic matrix. The enhanced green fluorescent protein expressed (EGFP) in Escherichia coli was used as the model. The peptide Gly-Gly-Gly-His-Leu-Leu-Phe-Pro-Ile-Ile-Ile-Ala-Ala-Ser-Leu was synthesized by solid phase using the Fmoc chemistry and immobilized in NHS-Sepharose (PC-Sepharose). Gly residues were added as a spacer arm at the N terminus. The EGFP was expressed either with the fusion tag Lys-Asn-Tyr-Pro-Lys-Lys-Lys-Met-Glu-Lys-Arg-Phe on the C terminus (EGFP-CPTag) or without any fusion tag. After cell disruption, the extract was directly applied to the PC-Sepharose column equilibrated with 20mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. The adsorbed EGFP-CPTag was then eluted with 1M Tris. The yield was 98% and the purification factor 4.6. By contrast, EGFP without tag pass through without interacting with the PC-Sepharose column. The method designed can be applied for the purification of other recombinant proteins.     

Growth conditions of clostridium perfringens type B for production of toxins used to obtain veterinary vaccines

The diseases caused for Clostridium perfringens are generically called enterotoxemias because toxins produced in the intestine may be absorbed into the general circulation. C. perfringens type B, grown in batch fermentation, produced toxins used to obtain veterinary vaccines. Glucose in concentrations of 1.4–111.1 mM was used to define the culture medium. The minimum concentration for a satisfactory production of vaccines against clostridial diseases was 55.6 mM. Best results were brought forth by meat and casein peptones, both in the concentration 5.0 g l^?1 in combination with glucose and a culture pH maintained at 6.5 throughout the fermentation process. The production of lactic, acetic and propionic organic acids was observed. Ethanol was the metabolite produced in the highest concentration when cultures maintained steady pH of 6.5 with exception of cultures with initial glucose concentration of 1.4 mM, where the highest production was of propionic acid. Maximal cell concentration and the highest toxin title concomitantly low yield coefficient to organic acids and ethanol were obtained using basal medium containing 111.1 mM glucose under a controlled pH culture (pH) 6.5 in batch fermentations of C. perfringens type B. These data contribute to improve process for industrial toxin production allowing better condition to produce a toxoid vaccine.     

Optimization of diphtheria toxin production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Corynebacterium diphtheriae</Emphasis> using a casein-based medium in a fermenter

The Td-based combined vaccine contains only small amounts of the diphtheria toxoid antigen. However, a high level of purity is necessary for this antigen. The diphtheria toxin is produced by growing Corynebacterium diphtheriae in a semisynthetic, casein-based medium in a fermenter. In order to obtain a highly pure diphtheria toxoid, the optimal conditions to express the toxin at 300 Lf/mL in a fermenter culture were determined. When C. diphtheriae was cultivated in a fermenter and a high concentration of toxin was obtained, specific patterns for the pH and dissolved oxygen levels identified. Overall, the fermenter cultivation process was divided into four stages according to variations in the pH. A specific range of K _La in the fermenter (0.0092 ~ 0.0093/sec) was required to produce high level expression of diphtheria toxin. The amount of toxin expression varied significantly according to culture conditions. Agitation and aeration in the fermenter affected toxin expression, even when the optimal K _La value for toxin production was maintained. A previous study has reported that the amounts of agitation and aeration are important factors when cultivating fungus in the fermenter to produce chitinolytic enzyme. A mass production of diphtheria toxoid with a purity level greater than 2,500 Lf/ mgPN was obtained through purification and detoxification from this optimized toxin production.     

Intein-mediated fusion expression, high efficient refolding, and one-step purification of gelonin toxin

An open reading frame of gelonin (Gel), one of ribosome inactivating proteins, was inserted into the vector pBSL-C which contains the coding region of chitin binding domain (CBD)-intein, resulting in the fusion expression of CBD-intein-Gel in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) by the induction of IPTG. The fusion product formed an aggregate of the misfolded protein, commonly referred to as inclusion bodies (IBs). The IBs were denatured and then refolded by step-wise dialysis. About 69% fusion protein was in vitro refolded to native state in the presence of GSSG and GSH as monitored by size-exclusion HPLC. The refolded CBD-intein-Gel was loaded onto chitin beads column equilibrated with 10 mM Tris buffer, 500 mM NaCl, pH 8.5, and about 2.4 mgGel/L culture with 96% homogeneity was directly eluted from the captured column by incubation at 25 degrees C under pH 6.5 for 48 h based on intein C-terminal self-cleavage. Western blot, ELISA, and in vitro inhibition of protein synthesis demonstrated that the bioactivity of recombinant Gel was comparable to that of native Gel purified from seeds. This implied that the purified Gel by this method is biologically active and suitable for further studies.     

Physiological and enzymatic properties of the ram epididymal soluble form of germinal angiotensin I-converting enzyme.

The 94-kDa ram epididymal fluid form of the sperm membrane-derived germinal angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) was purified by chromatography, and some of its enzymatic properties were studied. For the artificial substrate furanacryloyl-L-phenylalanylglycylglycine (FAPGG), the enzyme exhibited a Michaelis constant (K(m)) of 0.18 mM and a V(max) of 34 micromoles/(min x mg) and for hippuryl-L-histidyl-L-leucine a K(m) of 2.65 mM and a V(max) of 163 micromoles/(min x mg) under the defined standard conditions (300 mM NaCl and 50 mM Tris; pH 7.5 and 8.3, respectively). The FAPGG hydrolysis was decreased by 82.5% and 67.5% by EDTA and dithioerythritol, respectively, and was totally inhibited by specific ACE inhibitors such as captopril, P-Glu-Trp-Pro-Arg-Pro-Glu-Ile-Pro-Pro, and lisinopril. Optimum activity for FAPGG was with pH 6.0, 50 mM chloride, and 500 microM zinc. Under the various conditions tested, bradykinin, angiotensin (Ang) I, Ang II, and LHRH were competitors for FAPGG. Bradykinin and angiotensin I were the best competitors. The enzyme cleaved Ang I into Ang II, and the optimal conditions were with pH 7.5 and 300 mM chloride. The relationship between the carboxypeptidase activity in seminal plasma and the prediction of fertility of young rams was also studied. These results indicated a correlation between sperm concentration and ACE activity in semen but showed no statistically significant correlation between such activity and fertility of the animal. Finally, we tested the role of ACE in fertilization; no difference in the in vitro fertilization rate was observed in the presence of 10(-4) M captopril.     

Evaluation of alternatives for human lysozyme purification from transgenic rice: impact of phytic acid and buffer

Producing economically competitive recombinant human lysozyme from transgenic rice demands an inexpensive purification process for nonpharmaceutical applications. Human lysozyme is a basic protein, and thus, cation exchange chromatography was the selected method for lysozyme purification. Similar to other protein production systems, the identification of critical impurities in the rice extract was important for the development of an efficient purification process. Previous adsorption data indicated that phytic acid was probably responsible for an unacceptably low cation exchange adsorption capacity. In this study, we confirm that reducing phytic acid concentration improves lysozyme binding capacity and investigate alternative process conditions that reduce phytic acid interference. Compared with the previous best process, the adsorption capacity of human lysozyme was increased from 8.6 to 19.7 mg/mL when rice extract was treated with phytase to degrade phytic acid. Using tris buffer to adjust pH 4.5 extract to pH 6 before adsorption reduced phytic acid interference by minimizing phytic acid-lysozyme interactions, eliminated the need for phytase treatment, and increased the binding capacity to 25 mg/mL. Another method of reducing phytic acid concentration was to extract human lysozyme from rice flour at pH 10 with 50 mM NaCl in 50 mM sodium carbonate buffer. A similar binding capacity (25.5 mg/mL) was achieved from pH 10 extract that was clarified by acidic precipitation and adjusted to pH 6 for adsorption. Lysozyme purities ranged from 95 to 98% for all three processing methods. The tris-mediated purification was the most efficient of the alternatives considered.     

pH-dependent inhibitory effects of tris and lithium ion on intestinal brush-border sucrase

Tris and two of its hydroxylated amine analogs were examined in a metal-free, universal n-butylamine buffer, for their interaction with intestinal brush border sucrase. Our recent three-proton-families model (Vasseur, van Melle, Frangne and Alvarado (1988) Biochem. J., 251, 667-675) has provided the sucrase pK values necessary to interpret the present work. At pH 5.2, 2-amino-2-methyl-l-propanol (PM) causes activation whereas Tris has a concentration-dependent biphasic effect, first causing activation, then fully competitive inhibition. The amine species causing activation is the protonated, cationic form. The difference between the two amines is related to the fact that Tris has a much lower pKa value than PM (respectively, 8.2 and 9.8). Even at pH 5.2, Tris (but not PM) exists as a significant proportion of the free base which, by inhibiting the enzyme fully competitively, overshadows the activating effect of the cationic, protonated amine. Above pH 6.8, both Tris and PM act as fully competitive inhibitors. These inhibitions increase monotonically between pH 6.5 and 8.0 but, above pH 8, inhibition by 2.5 mM Tris tends to diminish whereas inhibition by 40 mM PM increases abruptly to be essentially complete at pH 9.3 and above. As pH increases from 7.6 to 9.0, the apparent affinity of the free amine bases decreases whereas that of the cationic, protonated amines, increases. In this way, the protonated amines replace their corresponding free bases as the most potent inhibitors at high pH. The pH-dependent inhibition by 300 mM Li+ is essentially complete at pH 8, independent of the presence or absence of either 2.5 mM Tris or 40 mM PM. Even at pH 7.6, an excess (300 mM) of Li+ causes significant increases in the apparent Ki value of each Tris, PD (2-amino-2-methyl-1-3-propanediol) and PM, suggesting the possibility of a relation between the effects of Li+ and those of the hydroxylated amines which in fact are mutually exclusive inhibitors. The inhibitory results are interpreted in terms of a mechanistic model in which the free bases bind at two distinct sites in the enzyme's active center. Binding at the glucosyl sub-site occurs through the amine's free hydroxyl groups. This positioning facilitates the interaction between the lone electron pair of the deprotonated amino group with a proton donor in the enzyme's active center, characterized by a pK0 around 8.1. When this same group deprotonates, then the protonated amines acting as proton donors replace the free bases as the species giving fully competitive inhibition of sucrase.