Regulation of 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate and of hypoxanthine uptake and release in human erythrocytes by oxypurine cycling.

Uptake and release of purines by red blood cells has been shown to be markedly sensitive to changes in pH, inorganic phosphate (Pi), and oxygen concentration (Berman, P., Black, D., Human, L., and Harley, E. (1988) J. Clin. Invest. 82, 980-986). The mechanism of this regulation has been further studied. We have shown that incubation of red cells in medium containing xanthine oxidase rapidly and completely depletes intracellular hypoxanthine and causes accumulation of 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) at physiological Pi concentrations. Hypoxanthine release from intracellular IMP is strictly dependent on PRPP depletion, induced by either alkalinizing the cells or by adding excess adenine. Xanthine oxidase abolishes this dependence. Oxygen depletion enhances adenine uptake and prevents hypoxanthine release. The results suggest that hypoxanthine release is governed by PRPP-dependent recycling of hypoxanthine to IMP. We propose that PRPP accumulation in red cells is regulated by a substrate cycle, comprising hypoxanthine, IMP, and inosine. Cycle flux is controlled by Pi inhibition and 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate activation of purine-5'-nucleotidase, which converts IMP to inosine. Oxypurine cycling may account for the sensitive control of purine uptake and release by changes in pH and oxygen tension that occur physiologically.     

Hypoxanthine-guanine exchange by intact human erythrocytes

The uptake and release of [14C]hypoxanthine by human erythrocytes, suspended in a tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris)-glucose-NaCl isotonic medium (pH 7.4), have been studied at 37 degrees C. The uptake of hypoxanthine, mediated by its incorporation into inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP), was markedly stimulated by preincubating the cells in phosphate-buffered saline. After a lag time, [14C]IMP-enriched erythrocytes released [14C]hypoxanthine in the medium. Formycin B, at concentrations known to inhibit purine nucleoside phosphorylase in intact erythrocytes, affected hypoxanthine uptake and release and led to an increase in the intracellular concentration of inosine, suggesting that the main catabolic path of IMP is the sequential degradation of the nucleotide to inosine and hypoxanthine. The addition of guanine to a suspension of [14C]IMP-enriched erythrocytes led to an increase in the rate of [14C]hypoxanthine release, which was unaffected by the presence of formycin B. During the guanine-induced hypoxanthine release, guanine was taken up by the cells as GMP. These results suggest that the presence of guanine in the incubation medium activates a catabolic path in human erythrocytes leading to IMP degradation without formation of inosine.     

Adenine-induced hypoxanthine release from IMP-enriched human erythrocytes

Adenine uptake and hypoxanthine release by IMP-enriched human erythrocytes has been studied. The presence of IMP within the erythrocytes leads to an increase in the rate of adenine incorporation. Adenine is taken up by IMP-enriched erythrocytes as AMP, even when intracellular 5-phoshorobosyl-1-pyrophosphate concentration is undetectable and too low to allow IMP synthesis from hypoxanthine. During adenine uptake and AMP synthesis, hypoxanthine is released by the cells. The possibility that 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate, necessary for AMP synthesis, is formed through the hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferese-catalyzed IMP pyrophosphorolysis is considered.     

Accelerated degradation of adenine nucleotide in erythrocytes of patients with chronic renal failure

Recently, we have shown that erythrocytes obtained from patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) exhibited an increased rate of ATP formation from adenine as a substrate. Thus, we concluded that this process was in part responsible for the increase of adenine nucleotide concentration in uremic erythrocytes. There cannot be excluded however, that a decreased rate of adenylate degradation is an additional mechanism responsible for the elevated ATP concentration. To test this hypothesis, in this paper we compared the rate of adenine nucleotide breakdown in the erythrocytes obtained from patients with CRF and from healthy subjects.Using HPLC technique, we evaluated: (1) hypoxanthine production by uremic RBC incubated in incubation medium: (a) pH 7.4 containing 1.2 mM phosphate (which mimics physiological conditions) and (b) pH 7.1 containing 2.4 mM phosphate (which mimics uremic conditions); (2) adenine nucleotide degradation (IMP, inosine, adenosine, hypoxanthine production) by uremic RBC incubated in the presence of iodoacetate (glycolysis inhibitor) and EHNA (adenosine deaminase inhibitor). The erythrocytes of healthy volunteers served as control.The obtained results indicate that adenine nucleotide catabolism measured as a hypoxanthine formation was much faster in erythrocytes of patients with CRF than in the cells of healthy subjects. This phenomenon was observed both in the erythrocytes incubated at pH 7.4 in the medium containing 1.2 mM inorganic phosphate and in the medium which mimics hyperphosphatemia (2.4 mM) and metabolic acidosis (pH 7.1). The experiments with EHNA indicated that adenine nucleotide degradation proceeded via AMP-IMP-Inosine-Hypoxanthine pathway in erythrocytes of both patients with CRF and healthy subjects. Iodoacetate caused a several fold stimulation of adenylate breakdown. Under these conditions: (a) the rate of AMP catabolites (IMP + inosine + adenosine + hypoxanthine) formation was substantially higher in the erythrocytes from patients with CRF; (b) in erythrocytes of healthy subjects degradation of AMP proceeded via IMP and via adenosine essentially at the same rate; (c) in erythrocytes of patients with CRF the rate of AMP degradation via IMP was about 2 fold greater than via adenosine.The results presented in this paper suggest that adenine nucleotide degradation is markedly accelerated in erythrocytes of patients with CRF.     

Characterization of purine nucleotide metabolism in cultured fibroblasts with deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase and with superactivity of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase

Cultured fibroblasts with hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) deficiency exhibited acceleration of purine synthesis de novo, absence of salvage IMP synthesis from hypoxanthine, but normal total IMP synthesis. Cells with phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase superactivity exhibited acceleration of both de novo and salvage IMP synthesis and increased total IMP synthesis. The study of mutant cells furnished evidence that in normal as well as mutant cells, GMP and AMP are not converted to each other in significant amounts and that these nucleotides are not degraded by nucleotidases. Purine nucleotide degradation in fibroblasts occurs mainly by dephosphorylation of IMP. In HGPRT-containing cells, salvage IMP synthesis from preformed and exogenously supplied hypoxanthine is the main source for IMP production.     

Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase: radiochemical assay procedures for the forward and reverse reactions

Simple and rapid radiochemical assay procedures for the forward (IMP synthesis) and reverse (IMP pyrophosphorolysis) reactions catalyzed by hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase have been developed. Enzyme activity in the forward direction was assessed by measuring the amount of [8-14C]IMP formed from [8-14C]hypoxanthine following their separation by polyethyleneimine-cellulose TLC in methanol:water (1:1, v/v). [8-14C]IMP has been synthesized from [8-14C]hypoxanthine, using hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase derived from human brain, with subsequent purification by elution from phenyl boronate-agarose. Enzyme activity in the reverse direction was assessed by measuring the amount of [8-14C]uric acid formed from the labeled IMP following their separation by polyethyleneimine-cellulose TLC in 0.2 M LiCl saturated with boric acid (pH 4.5):95% ethanol (1:1, v/v), the transferase reaction being coupled with excess xanthine oxidase and catalase to overcome the unfavorable equilibrium.     

Metabolism and salvage of adenine and hypoxanthine by myocytes isolated from mature rat heart

Adenine and hypoxanthine can be utilised by cardiac muscle cells as substrates for the synthesis of ATP. A possible therapeutic advantage of these compounds as high-energy precursors is their lack of vasoactive properties. Myocytes isolated from mature rat heart have been used to establish in kinetic detail the capacity of the heart to incorporate adenine, hypoxanthine and ribose into cellular nucleotides. Maximum rates of catalysis by enzymes on the salvage pathways have been established. Whilst the rate of incorporation of adenine into the ATP pool appears to depend upon intracellular concentrations of adenine and phosphoribosylpyrophosphate, for hypoxanthine the pattern is more complex. Hypoxanthine is salvaged at a slow rate compared with adenine, and is incorporated into GTP and IMP as well as into adenine nucleotides. The rate of incorporation of hypoxanthine into both IMP and ATP is accelerated in myocytes incubated with ribose. However, the rate-limiting reaction appears to be that catalysed by adenylosuccinate synthetase, for the rate of ATP synthesis is not accelerated when hypoxanthine concentration is increased from 10 to 50 microM, while the rate of IMP synthesis is more than doubled. Adenine and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferases are present in equal catalytic amounts, but rat cardiac myocytes have very little adenylosuccinate synthetase activity. Exogenous ribose is incorporated into adenine nucleotides in amounts equimolar with adenine or hypoxanthine.     

Behavior of the enzymes of the salvage pathway of purine bases in leukemia lymphocytes

The Authors present a procedure for the determination of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) in lymphocytes which exhibits high sensitivity and requires low quantities of lymphocytes. 5 normal subjects and 4 patients affected by chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were considered. Human lymphocytes were prepared and treated as previously reported. To the incubation mixtures buffered with 50 mM TRIS-HCl pH 7.4 either 14C-adenine or 14C-hypoxanthine was added: after deproteinization and neutralization we followed the formation of either 14C-adenylic acid (AMP) or 14C-inosinic acid (IMP) by HPLC. A Supelcosil C18 5 microns (250 X 4.5 mm) column was used: IMP was eluted with 20 mM KH2PO4 pH 5.5 while AMP with a linear gradient to 40% B in 20 min., where A was 20 mM KH2PO4 pH 5.5 and B methanol/water 60:40. Evaluation of AMP and IMP formed was carried out by determination of the radioactivity of the collected peaks. The values of APRT in leukemic patients were enhanced when referred to the proteins and those of HGPRT decreased: the Authors propose to complete the study evaluating the intracellular content of adenine and hypoxanthine.     

Incorporation of adenosine and adenine into hypoxanthine nucleotides of fresh red blood cells

Incorporation of adenosine and adenine into hypoxanthine nucleotides of fresh red blood cells was monitored using 8-14C-adenosine and 8-14C-adenine added to the incubation medium containing adenosine, pyruvate and inorganic phosphate (APP medium). Using 8-14C-adenosine it was shown that 21.7% of the isotope contained in the incubation medium penetrated red blood cells. Of that quantity about 50% becomes incorporated into nucleotides. Of the isotope 5.3% was found in hypoxanthine nucleotides (1.3% in ITP and 4.0% in IMP). During incubation of red blood cells in APP medium fortified with the 8-14C-adenine about 95% of isotope penetrated into cells and 60% of that quantity became incorporated into nucleotides. In hypoxanthine nucleotides only trace amounts of isotope were found (0.12% in IMP and 0.13% in ITP).     

The inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis by mycophenolic acid

1. Mycophenolic acid, an antibiotic of some antiquity that more recently has been found to have marked activity against a range of tumours in mice and rats, strongly inhibits DNA synthesis in the L strain of fibroblasts in vitro. 2. The extent of the inhibition of DNA synthesis is markedly increased by preincubation of the cells with mycophenolic acid before the addition of [(14)C]thymidine. 3. The inhibition of DNA synthesis by mycophenolic acid in L cells in vitro is reversed by guanine in a non-competitive manner, but not by hypoxanthine, xanthine or adenine. 4. The reversal of inhibition by guanine can be suppressed by hypoxanthine, 6-mercaptopurine and adenine. 5. Mycophenolic acid does not inhibit the incorporation of [(14)C]thymidine into DNA in suspensions of Landschütz and Yoshida ascites cells in vitro. 6. Mycophenolic acid inhibits the conversion of [(14)C]hypoxanthine into cold-acid-soluble and -insoluble guanine nucleotides in Landschütz and Yoshida ascites cells and also in L cells in vitro. There is some increase in the radioactivity of the adenine fraction in the presence of the antibiotic. 7. Mycophenolic acid inhibits the conversion of [(14)C]hypoxanthine into xanthine and guanine fractions in a cell-free system from Landschütz cells capable of converting hypoxanthine into IMP, XMP and GMP. 8. Preparations of IMP dehydrogenase from Landschütz ascites cells, calf thymus and LS cells are strongly inhibited by mycophenolic acid. The inhibition showed mixed type kinetics with K(i) values of between 3.03x10(-8) and 4.5x10(-8)m. 9. Evidence was also obtained for a partial, possibly indirect, inhibition by mycophenolic acid of an early stage of biosynthesis of purine nucleotides as indicated by a decrease in the accumulation of formylglycine amide ribonucleotide induced by the antibiotic azaserine in suspensions of Landschütz and Yoshida ascites cells and L cells in vitro.     

Utilization of exogenous purine compounds in Bacillus cereus. Translocation of the ribose moiety of inosine.

Intact cells of Bacillus cereus catalyze the breakdown of exogenous AMP to hypoxanthine and ribose 1-phosphate through the successive action of 5'-nucleotidase, adenosine deaminase, and inosine phosphorylase. Inosine hydrolase was not detectable, even in crude extracts. Inosine phosphorylase causes a "translocation" of the ribose moiety (as ribose 1-phosphate) inside the cell, while hypoxanthine remains external. Even though the equilibrium of the phosphorolytic reaction favors nucleoside synthesis, exogenous inosine (as well as adenosine and AMP) is almost quantitatively transformed into external hypoxanthine, since ribose 1-phosphate is readily metabolized inside the cell. Most likely, the translocated ribose 1-phosphate enters the sugar phosphate shunt, via its prior conversion into ribose 5-phosphate, thus supplying the energy required for the subsequent uptake of hypoxanthine in B. cereus.     

Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase and hypoxanthine uptake in human erythrocytes.

A system of hypoxanthine uptake and IMP retention was studied and characterized in human erythrocytes. It follows closely the system already described for rabbit erythrocytes[7]. IMP formation and retention are dependent on the activity of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl-transferase and on intracellular availability of phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (P-Rib-PP), which is one of the substrates. In the extrecellular medium, neither P-Rib-PP nor GMP -- a potent inhibitor of the enzyme in vitro -- has any influence on IMP retention. The amount of residual hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase in erythrocyte ghost preparations is directly related to the residual hemoglobin content. Thus the enzyme is characterized as typically soluble and "loosely bound" to membranes. There is a slight difference in the kinetic properties of the ghost-bound and the free soluble enzyme. The possible importance of these results for purine uptake and utilization in human red cells is discussed.     

Deoxyribose 1-phosphate: radioenzymatic and spectrophotometric assays

A method has been developed to measure deoxyribose 1-phosphate in the presence of ribose 1-phosphate and other sugar phosphates. The specificity of the method is based on the observation that only deoxyribose 1-phosphate is hydrolyzed by heating at pH 7.4, while both deoxyribose 1-phosphate and ribose 1-phosphate remain unchanged when heated at pH 10. A tissue extract is heated at pH 10. The amount of deoxyribose 1-phosphate plus ribose 1-phosphate is determined from that of deoxyinosine plus inosine formed in a coupled enzymatic reaction, based on the following two-stage transformation: deoxyribose 1-phosphate (ribose 1-phosphate) + adenine in equilibrium deoxyadenosine (adenosine) + inorganic phosphate, catalyzed by adenosine phosphorylase; deoxyadenosine (adenosine) + H2O----deoxyinosine (inosine), catalyzed by adenosine deaminase. By taking advantage of its unique heat lability, deoxyribose 1-phosphate is eliminated by heating the tissue extract at pH 7.4, and ribose 1-phosphate is determined as above. The amount of deoxyribose 1-phosphate stems from the difference between the amount of deoxyinosine plus inosine measured in the tissue extract heated at pH 10 and that of inosine measured in the tissue extract heated at pH 7.4. Free deoxyribose 1-phosphate has been found in rat tissues, as well as in Bacillus cereus during stationary phase of growth.     

Erythroid induction of K562 human leukemia cells: enhancement by purines

K562 cells are human leukemia cells inducible for hemoglobin synthesis by a variety of agents. This report demonstrates that hypoxanthine, which alone has no inductive effect, enhances induction by thymidine, resulting in a greater absolute, as well as relative, percentage of benzidine positive cells. This effect is seen over a 20-fold concentration range for both thymidine and hypoxanthine. This enhancement involves commitment, i.e., a process in which the induction of hemoglobin synthesis is coupled to a limitation in the number of subsequent cell divisions. Although thymidine alone increases the percentage of cells in S phase, hypoxanthine does not augment this. Purines other than hypoxanthine also enhance induction by thymidine. This enhancement by hypoxanthine of thymidine induction is inhibited by pyrimidine nucleosides. Mycophenolic acid, an inhibitor of IMP dehydrogenase, itself an effective K562 inducer, is not additive to thymidine and hypoxanthine, suggesting that hypoxanthine may act by reducing the supply of guanosine nucleosides.     

Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate in rat erythrocytes. Inhibition of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate synthesis and measurement by glycerate 2,3-bisphosphate.

The concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate found in freshly isolated erythrocytes was below the limit of detection (20 pmol/ml of packed cells). However, it increased to about 250 pmol/ml of cells when erythrocytes were incubated with glucose at pH 6.9, but not at pH 7.4 or 8.2. This could be explained by variations in the content of glycerate 2,3-bisphosphate, which was found to inhibit 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase, the enzyme responsible for fructose 2,6-bisphosphate synthesis. Glycerate 2,3-bisphosphate was also found to inhibit the potato enzyme (pyrophosphate:fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase) used for the measurement of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate.     

Inhibition by 6-mercaptopurine of purine phosphoribosyltransferases from Ehrlich ascites-tumour cells that are resistant to this drug

1. A strain of Ehrlich ascites-tumour cells that showed little inhibition of growth in the presence of 6-mercaptopurine accumulated less than 5% as much 6-thioinosine 5′-phosphate in vivo, in the presence of 6-mercaptopurine, as did the sensitive strain from which it was derived. 2. Specific activities of the phosphoribosyltransferases that convert adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine and 6-mercaptopurine into AMP, GMP, IMP and 6-thioinosine 5′-phosphate were similar in extracts of the resistant and the sensitive cells. 3. As found previously with sensitive cells, 6-mercaptopurine is a competitive inhibitor of guanine phosphoribosyltransferase and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase from the resistant cells and does not inhibit the adenine phosphoribosyltransferase from these cells. Michaelis constants and inhibitor constants of the purine phosphoribosyltransferases from resistant cells did not differ significantly from those measured with the corresponding enzymes from sensitive cells. 4. Resistance to 6-mercaptopurine in this case is probably not due to qualitative or quantitative changes in these transferases.     

Inosine synthesis and phosphoribosylpyrophosphate availability in rat liver cells in the presence of allopurinol

In the presence of allopurinol, apparent phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PP-ribose-P) availability as measured by adenine incorporation into ribonucleotides was decreased in rat liver cells, hypoxanthine incorporation into ribonucleotides was increased, and there was a large synthesis of inosine from hypoxanthine. Inosine was formed directly by the reversal of the purine nucleoside phosphorylase reaction which was very rapid in liver cells. We tested the hypothesis that utilization of ribose 1-phosphate for inosine synthesis could decrease PP-ribose-P availability. Our results indicate that the apparent decrease of PP-ribose-P availability in the presence of allopurinol was due to competition between adenine and hypoxanthine salvage pathways into nucleotides, and not to the synthesis of inosine.     

Effects of benzimidazole on the purine and pyrimidine metabolism of yeast.

Yeast cells inhibited by benzimidazole accumulate hypoxanthine with associated efflux of xanthine. Unlike control cells, inhibited cells contain no detectable free UMP and CMP. Benzimidazole decreases uptake of [8-14C]hypoxanthine into the intracellular pool of hypoxanthine and xanthine but causes radioactive xanthine to accumulate in the medium. In inhibited cultures there is a threefold increase in incorporation of [8-14C]hypoxanthine into the total (intracellular plus extracellular) xanthine. Uptake of [8-14C]hypoxanthine into free nucleotides and into bound adenine and guanine was inhibited by 70%. Uptake of [U-14C]glycine into IMP, AMP, GMP, DNA and RNA was also substantially decreased. Incorporation of [2-14C]uracil into the intracellular uracil pool was inhibited by 30% and into free uridine and cytidine by over 90%. Benzimidazole inhibited incorporation of [8-3H]IMP into AMP and GMP, and decreased substantially the activity of glutamine-amidophosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.14). Yeast cultures were shown to N-ribotylate benzimidazole. Results are consistent with benzimidazole inhibiting yeast growth by competing for P-rib-PP and so depriving other ribotylation processes such as the 'salvage' pathways and de novo synthesis of purines and pyrimidines.     

Adenine nucleotide metabolism and nucleoside transport in human erythrocytes under ATP depletion conditions

The adenine nucleotides of human red cells were labeled by incubation of the cells with [3H]adenosine. Then, the cells were incubated in Tris-saline with various supplements that cause the loss of cellular ATP, and the degradation products were quantitated as a function of time of incubation at 37 degrees C. Incubation of the cells with 2.5 or 5 mM iodoacetate, iodoacetamide or 1 mM HCHO in combination with 5 mM KF and 50 mM deoxyglucose, 50 mM D-glucose or 10 mM inosine was most efficient in depleting the cells of ATP (100% in 0.5-1 h) without causing cell lysis. In iodoacetate- and iodoacetamide-treated cells practically all catabolism of ATP occurred via ADP----AMP----IMP----inosine----hypoxanthine with hypoxanthine accumulating in the medium. In HCHO-treated cells and in cells incubated in Tris-saline or in Tris-saline with deoxyglucose with and without KF, a substantial proportion of ATP (up to 50%) was catabolized via ADP----AMP----adenosine----inosine----hypoxanthine. Under all conditions, AMP deamination and IMP and AMP hydrolysis were rate-limiting reactions. IMP degradation was more rapid in iodoacetamide- and HCHO-treated than in iodoacetate-treated red cells. It was also more rapid in fresh than in outdated red cells, and it was inhibited by Pi. Treatment with iodoacetamide and HCHO under ATP-depletion conditions resulted in a 60-80% inhibition of uridine transport by the cells. Treatment with iodoacetate or deoxyglucose plus KF had only minor effects on nucleoside transport; thus, cells treated in this manner might be useful for studying the transport of adenosine and deoxyadenosine under conditions were their phosphorylation is prevented.     

Metabolic regulation of ATP breakdown and of adenosine production in rat brain extracts

ATP concentration is dramatically affected in ischemic injury. From previous studies on ATP mediated purine and pyrimidine salvage in CNS, we observed that when "post-mitochondrial" extracts of rat brain were incubated with ATP at 3.6 mM, a normoxic concentration, formation of IMP always preceded that of adenosine, a well known neuroactive nucleoside and a homeostatic cellular modulator. This observation prompted us to undertake a study aimed at assessing the precise pathways and kinetics of ATP breakdown, a process considered to be the major source of adenosine in rat brain. The results obtained using post-mitochondrial extracts strongly suggest that the breakdown of intracellular ATP at normoxic concentration follows almost exclusively the pathway ATP<=>ADP<=>AMP --> IMP --> inosine<=>hypoxanthine, with little, if any, intracellular adenosine production. At low ischemic concentration, intracellular ATP breakdown follows the pathway ATP<=>ADP<=>AMP --> adenosine --> inosine<=>hypoxanthine with little IMP formation. At the same time, extracellular ATP, whose concentration is known to be enhanced during ischemia, is actively broken down to adenosine through the pathway ATP --> ADP --> AMP --> adenosine, catalysed by the well characterized ecto-enzyme cascade system. Moreover, we show that during intracellular GTP catabolism, xanthosine, in addition to guanosine, is generated through the so called "ribose 1-phosphate recycling for nucleoside interconversion". These results considerably extend our knowledge on the long debated question of the extra or intracellular origin of adenosine in CNS, suggesting that at least in normoxic conditions, intracellular adenosine is of extracellular origin.