Primary structure of cyanogen bromide fragments of sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) pituitary somatotropin]

5 fragments are isolated after the degradation of somatotropin from sei whale pituitary glands with cyanogen bromide: N-terminal 4-segmented; C-terminal 12-segmented with the internal disulfide bond; middle 25- and 30-segmented and a high molecular weight fragment following N-terminal tetrapeptide and bound with disulfide bond to 30-segmented fragment. Complete amino acid sequence of three shortest cyanogen bromide fragments is deciphered and N- and C-terminal sequence is investigated in two large fragments after their uncoupling under performic acid oxidation. Amino acid sequence is deciphered of a peptide obtained after trypsine hydrolysis of 30-segmented cyanogen bromide fragment. Comparison of amino acid sequence of whale somatotropin fragments with that of sheep, beef and human somatotropin has revealed that 57 out of 61 identified amino acid residues of whale somatotropin repeat amino acid residues in similar regions of beef somatotropin, 56--of sheep and only 42--of human somatotropins. Besdies, 4 of 5 revealed amino acid substitutions in whale hormone, as compared with sheep somatotropin, are amino acids which are present at the same positions in human hormone.     

A direct effect of growth hormone on the incorporation of precursors into proteins and nucleic acids of perfused rat liver

1. The livers of rats were perfused in situ. When the amino acid concentration in the perfusing medium was that present in rat plasma, the addition of growth hormone to the medium stimulated the incorporation of labelled amino acids into liver protein only marginally and not to a statistically significant extent. When, however, the amino acid concentration was raised to three times that present in rat plasma, growth hormone significantly and substantially stimulated amino acid incorporation into protein within 30min. of perfusion of normal rat liver. 2. A significant effect of growth hormone on labelling of normal rat-liver protein was seen with concentrations not much greater than those reported to be present in rat plasma. 3. The labelling of nucleic acids of normal and hypophysectomized rat liver by [(3)H]orotic acid was enhanced by addition of growth hormone to the perfusing medium when normal concentrations of amino acids were used. 4. At elevated concentrations of amino acids, growth hormone stimulated labelling of nucleic acids of hypophysectomized rat liver at 30 and 60min. of perfusion. Under these conditions, nucleic acids of normal rats were labelled to about the same extent in control and hormone-treated livers at 30min. and, because of a fall in the radioactivity of the control livers, there was more labelled nucleic acids in growth-hormone-treated livers at 60min. than in the control livers. 5. Growth hormone, unlike insulin, had no inhibitory effect on the release of glucose by the perfused liver. 6. It is concluded that growth hormone can stimulate the incorporation of precursor into proteins and nucleic acids of liver directly and without the mediation of other organs or of insulin.     

Biosynthesis and degradation of prolactin in the rat anterior pituitary gland. Time course of incorporation of label in vitro and evidence for rapid degradation.

Biosynthesis of prolactin was studied in anterior pituitary glands from female rats, incubated in vitro. In this system [3H]leucine was incorporated into pituitary proteins, including somatotropin (growth hormone) and prolactin. The rate of uptake of label into prolactin (and to a lesser extent into total protein) slowed considerably during the first 2 h of incubation, although the rate of uptake into somatotropin was constant for 8 h. The most probable explanation for this apparent decrease in the rate of prolactin synthesis is degradation of prolactin in the gland. Degradation of this hormone was also demonstrated by incubating prelabelled pituitaries in unlabelled medium and following the content of labelled prolactin, and by studying the hormonal content of pituitary glands (by radioimmunoassay) before and after incubation. Degradation of prolactin appears to be much more rapid than that of somatotropin, and may represent a physiological mechanism whereby over-accumulation of prolactin is prevented when secretion of the hormone has been rapidly switched off.     

Elephant growth hormone. Isolation and characterization

Growth hormone has been purified to homogeneity from elephant pituitary glands. It has 191 amino acids with two disulfide bridges and a single tryptophan residue. The somatotropin activity is only 15% when compared with the bovine hormone in the radioreceptor binding assay. From circular dichroism spectra alpha-helical content of elephant growth hormone is estimated to be 50%. Difference absorption spectra of the hormone suggest the presence of a hydrogen bond between the single Trp and a carboxylate ion.     

Isolation and characterization of growth hormone from blue fox pituitary glands

Growth hormone has been purified to homogeneity from blue fox pituitary glands. It has 191 amino acids with two disulfide bridges and a single tryptophan residue. The somatotropin activity is only 8% when compared with the bovine hormone in the receptor-binding assay. From radioimmunoassay data using baboon antisera to porcine or bovine growth hormone, the fox hormone has 14-17% immunoreactivity of bovine or porcine hormone.     

Stimulation of anterior pituitary prostaglandin E content and somatotropin (growth hormone) synthesis by phospholipase A.

The prostaglandin E content of dispersed rat anterior pituitary glands was found to increase in the presence of phospholipase A or arachidonic acid. The increases were abolished by the addition of indomethacin. Similarly, the rate of somatotropin (growth hormone) synthesis was increased by these two agents, and the increases were again abolished by indomethacin. Phospholipase A also stimulated somatotropin release. The stimulation of prostaglandin E accumulation was a specific response to those fatty acids that are precursors for prostaglandin synthesis. One such precursor, [3H]arachidonic acid, was incorporated by rat anterior pituitary glands in vitro, and found to be associated mainly with phosphatidylethanolamine-like material. It is concluded that the intracellular concentration of prostaglandin E is limited by the availability of precursor fatty acids and that this can be increased by the addition of exogenous precursors or by the action of exogenous phospholipase A on the cellular phospholipid. Factors that increased prostaglandin E concentrations also increase the rate of synthesis of somatotropin, providing further evidence for the concept that prostaglandin E is involved in modulation of the rate of synthesis of this hormone.     

Comparative analytical studies on recombinant and native human somatotropin

In polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing, somatotropin produced by recombinant DNA technology is as heterogeneous as highly purified native pituitary somatotropin. This heterogeneity is not attributable to different degrees of deamination of a single molecular species. In addition to the main protein of 22 kDa, the cloned products contain traces of interchain disulphide dimers of somatotropin. The quantitative amino acid analyses of the three cloned somatotropins investigated are neither identical nor do they correspond to the analysis of the native pituitary hormone. Moreover, there are discrepancies between the amino acid compositions of the hormones studied and the generally recognized amino acid analysis for human somatotropin.     

Multiple forms of pig somatotropin]

The multiple forms of pig somatotropin were investigated. Four monomer hormone variants were isolated and some of their physico-chemical characteristics were determined. It is shown that they differ in their molecular mass, N-terminal amino acid residues and amino acid composition. The results of work permit supposing that the identified somatotropin forms are controlled by two different genes. The age dependence of spectrum of somatotropin monomer forms is demonstrated.     

Lack of effect of amino acid concentration on protein synthesis in the perfused rat liver.

The effect of increasing the perfusate concentration of amino acids on the incorporation of labelled valine into protein was followed in perfusions of rat livers lasting for 2h. A fixed amount of labelled and unlabelled valine was added to the perfusate as the other amino acids were increased in multiples of the concentrations normally found in rat plasma. Under these conditions no increase in valine incorporation was observed, which appeared to be in conflict with results published by other workers, However, a different method of labelling from that used here was used in the earlier studies. An increasing amount of a labelled amino acid was added as the concentrations of the unlabelled amino acids were increased in the perfusate. An experiment directly comparing to the two labelling methods produced results that indicated that the apparent increase in liver protein synthesis observed by the other workers could have been due to the method of radioisotope addition. It is therefore concluded that increasing the perfusate concentration of amino acids does not increase amino acid incorporation into liver protein.     

猪生长激素的提纯及其生物学活性和某些理化性质的研究

通过调pH抽提、硫酸铵分级分离和DEAE-纤维素柱层析等方法从猪垂体中提取了生长激素。平均产率约为0.5g生长激素/1000g鲜垂体。用去垂体大白鼠胫骨测定法测得共促生长效应为1.84。提取的生长激素在高pH不连续缓冲体系聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳时呈现两条带;Sephadex G75柱层析得到一个峰;SDS聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳呈现一条带,其分子量约为21,900道尔顿;聚丙烯酰胺凝胶等电聚焦电泳呈现五条带,主带在pH7.8处;DNS法测定其N-末端氨基酸为苯丙氨酸一种。此外,还测定了它的氨基酸组成。     

Modification of pentobarbital effects by natural and synthetic polypeptides: dissociation of brain and pituitary effects.

Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) antagonizes pentobarbital sedation and hypothermia; somatotropin release inhibiting factor amplifies them. Other hypothalamic polypeptide releasing factors, Substance P and a variety of amino acids are ineffective. Three congeners of TRH antagonize pentobarbital; one amplifies it. The potencies of congeners as pentobarbital antagonists are unrelated to their potencies as pituitary thyrotropin releasers.     

Formation of complexes between 125I-labelled human or bovine somatotropins and binding proteins in vivo in rat liver and kidney.

At 5 min after intravenous injection, both 125I-labelled human somatotropin and 125I-labelled bovine somatotropin were concentrated in rat liver and kidney. When the labelled hormones were administered along with an excess of the corresponding unlabelled hormone, a significant decrease of the uptake was observed in the liver, but not in the kidney. Study of the subcellular distribution of radioiodinated somatotropins in liver revealed that most of the radioactivity was specifically concentrated in the microsomal fraction. In contrast, the kidney fraction that accounted for most of the radioactivity was the 100 000 g supernatant. After solubilization, with 1% (w/v) Triton X-100, of the microsomal fractions obtained from both organs, the radioactive material was analysed by gel filtration on Sepharose CL-6B. By using this approach, it was demonstrated that both 125I-labelled human somatotropin and 125I-labelled bovine somatotropin bind in vivo to proteins present in liver. A small proportion of 125I-labelled human somatotropin was also shown to form complexes with proteins present in kidney. The present results demonstrate that the liver uptake is mainly due to binding of somatotropins to specific proteins, in contrast with the kidney, in which binding to specific sites contributes minimally to the overall uptake.     

Studies on metabolism of vitamin A. The effect of hormones on gestation in retinoate-fed female rats

1. The preparation of cell suspensions by treatment of chick embryo hearts with collagenase at various stages of development is described. 2. Measurements of oxygen consumption, incorporation of labelled leucine into protein and accumulation of labelled alpha-aminoisobutyric acid against a concentration gradient indicated a long-lasting viability of the isolated heart cells in vitro; a satisfactory preservation of subcellular structures, including plasma membrane, was assessed by electron-microscopic examination. 3. The rate of alpha-aminoisobutyric acid accumulation by cardiac cells isolated from hearts at different stages of embryological development decreased with aging; insulin stimulated the intracellular accumulation of this amino acid analogue. 4. Insulin increased the uptake by isolated heart cells of several (14)C-labelled naturally occurring amino acids; however, the fraction of amino acid taken up by the cells that was recovered free intracellularly, and therefore the concentration ratio (between intracellular water and medium), was enhanced by the hormone only with glycine, proline, serine, threonine, histidine and methionine. When isolated heart cells were incubated in the presence of a mixture of labelled amino acids, the addition of insulin increased the disappearance of radioactivity from the medium. 5. The general pattern of amino acid transport (in the absence and in the presence of insulin) in isolated cardiac cells was similar to that found in intact hearts, suggesting that the biological preparation described in this paper might be useful for studies of cell permeability and insulin action.     

Human somatotropin. Reaction with hydrogen peroxide

Two methionine-modified derivatives of human somatotropin have been prepared by oxidation of the methionines with H₂O₂ to sulfoxide. The monomeric derivatives were characterized by exclusion chromatography, amino acid composition, circular dichroism spectra, relative rates of tryptic digestion, and biological property. Partially oxidized somatotropin, with two of its three methionines oxidized, was found to be similar to the native hormone by all criteria examined except that the growth promoting potency was reduced to 25% of the native hormone. The unoxidized methionine in this derivative was found to be the residue at position 170. The derivative in which all of the methionines had been oxidized showed major changes in all physical parameters examined as well as significant loss of the growth-promoting activity.     

Amino acid requirement for the growth-hormone stimulation of incorporation of precursors into protein and nucleic acids of liver slices

1. Incorporation of [(14)C]leucine into protein in rat liver slices, incubated in vitro, increased as the concentration of unlabelled amino acids in the incubation medium was raised. A plateau of incorporation was reached when the amino acid concentration was 6 times that present in rat plasma. Labelling of RNA by [(3)H]orotic acid was not stimulated by increased amino acid concentration in the incubation medium. 2. When amino acids were absent from the medium, or present at the normal plasma concentrations, no effect of added growth hormone on labelling of protein or RNA by precursor was observed. 3. When amino acids were present in the medium at 6 times the normal plasma concentrations addition of growth hormone stimulated incorporation of the appropriate labelled precursor into protein of liver slices from normal rats by 31%, and into RNA by 22%. A significant effect was seen at a hormone concentration as low as 10ng/ml. 4. Under the same conditions addition of growth hormone also stimulated protein labelling in liver slices from hypophysectomized rats. Tissue from hypophysectomized rats previously treated with growth hormone did not respond to growth hormone in vitro. 5. No effect of the hormone on the rate or extent of uptake of radioactive precursors into acid-soluble pools was found. 6. Cycloheximide completely abolished the hormone-induced increment in labelling of both RNA and protein. 7. It was concluded that, in the presence of an abundant amino acid supply, growth hormone can stimulate the synthesis of protein in rat liver slices by a mechanism that is more sensitive to cycloheximide than is the basal protein synthesis. The stimulation of RNA labelling observed in the presence of growth hormone may be a secondary consequence of the hormonal effect on protein synthesis. 8. The mechanism of action of growth hormone on liver protein synthesis in vitro was concluded to be similar to its mechanism of action in vivo.     

Analysis of therapeutic growth hormone preparations: report of an interlaboratory collaborative study on growth hormone assay methodologies.

Recombinant DNA-derived human growth hormone (somatotropin) is widely used to treat growth hormone-deficient children. The potency of this product is determined by in-vivo bioassay in hypophysectomized rats, which is imprecise, costly and invasive, and there have been suggestions that it could safely be replaced with in-vitro or physico-chemical alternatives. In this report we present the results of a collaborative study designed to test this proposal. Somatotropin was modified by mild or severe proteolysis, mild or severe oxidation or treatment at high pH, and compared in a multi-centre collaborative study with unmodified somatotropin or with dimerized somatotropin. Participating laboratories included manufacturers and national control laboratories, and pharmacopoeial bioassays were compared with in-house in-vitro and physico-chemical bioassays. Although performing adequately with untreated somatotropin, for degraded samples the in-vivo bioassays were relatively unresponsive to changes in the growth hormone molecule. In contrast, the physico-chemical assays, in particular the reverse-phase HPLC, performed with a high degree of selectivity. We conclude that in the case of somatotropin, the in-vivo bioassay can be removed from the routine product specification with an acceptable degree of security. This however does not obviate the requirement rigorously to demonstrate biological activity in-vivo during product development, nor may the conclusions of this study be applied to other therapeutic recombinant proteins without similar collaborative investigations.     

MEASUREMENTS OF RATES OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN RAT BRAIN SLICES

The use of tracer concentrations of labelled amino acids to measure incorporation in incubated slices of brain results in wide fluctuations with time in the specific activity of the precursor. Using concentrations of about 1 mm of labelled amino acid facilitates the accurate measurement of rates of synthesis. These higher precursor levels in the medium decrease the fluctuations in free amino acid specific activity due to dilution by endogenous amino acid and the production of amino acid by protein degradation, and decrease the lag in incorporation due to transport phenomena. Concentrations of 1 mm amino acid in the medium did not inhibit protein synthesis; with valine, leucine, phenylalanine, lysine and histidine, incorporation rates were similar when measured at trace concentrations and at 1 mm medium levels. The source of amino acid for protein synthesis appears to be intracellular. No evidence could be found for the preferential use of extracellular medium amino acid. The rate of incorporation of amino acids in incubated slices of rat brain was 0.087 per cent of the protein amino acid/h.     

Studies on the induction and biosynthesis of vitellogenin, an oestrogen-induced glycolipophosphoprotein

1. Oestrogen treatment induces the formation of a Ca(2+)-binding glycolipophosphoprotein, vitellogenin, in Xenopus laevis. 2. The incorporation of l-[4,5-(3)H]-leucine into vitellogenin in vivo and in vitro was observed 12-24h after hormone treatment and increased progressively up to 21 days after treatment. 3. Vitellogenin is shown to be the major protein component biosynthesized and released into the incubation medium in vitro by livers from oestrogen-treated animals. 4. The biosynthesis in vitro of vitellogenin was inhibited by cycloheximide and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, stimulated by increased Ca(2+) concentrations and decreased by raising the incubation temperature from 22 to 37 degrees C. 5. Incorporation of labelled amino acids into vitellogenin began after approx. 2h. No lag phase was noted for the incorporation of labelled amino acids into total tissue proteins. 6. The incorporation of label from [(32)P]phosphate and [2-(14)C]acetate into the protein as well as into the lipid moiety of vitellogenin showed a lag phase similar to that noted for the incorporation of amino acids. 7. These results suggest that the release of vitellogenin into the incubation medium occurs about 2h after the initiation of its biosynthesis.     

Pools and protein synthesis in mammalian cells.

From the kinetics of incorporation into protein shown by four amino acids and one amino acid analogue in suspension cultured HeLa S-3 cells, two distinctly different patterns were observed under the same experimental conditions. An initial slow exponential incorporation followed by linear kinetics was characteristic of the two non-essential amino acids, glycine and proline, whereas the two essential amino acids studied, phenylalanine and leucine, showed linear kinetics of incorporation with no detectable delay. The analogue amino acid, p-fluorophenylalanine also showed immediate linear kinetics of incorporation. There was a poor correlation between the rate of formation of acid-soluble pools and incorporation kinetics. However, the rate of formation of the freely diffusible pool of amino acids correlated more closely with incorporation kinetics. The lack of direct involvement of the acid-soluble pool in protein synthesis was also demonstrated by pre-loading of pools before treatment of cells with labelled amino acids. The results partially support the hypothesis that precursor amino acids for protein synthesis come from the external medium rather than the acid-soluble pool, but suggest that the amino acid which freely diffuses into the cell from the external medium could also be the source.