Regulation of cAMP-dissociation kinetics in lactating rat mammary gland

The cAMP-dissociation kinetics of rat mammary gland cytosols are dependent upon the temperature of cAMP association. Dissociation rates (measured at pH 6.5, 24 degrees C) were biphasic (k = 0.08-0.23 min-1 and k = 0.02 min-1) and monophasic (k-1 = 0.02 min-1) after 0 degrees C and 24 degrees C association, respectively. The temperature-dependent change from an initial fast rate to an initial slow rate was observed at all concentrations of cAMP tested from 1 to 1000 nM. When the slow-dissociating site was associated with non-radioactive 8-bromo-cAMP, the dissociation rates of [3H]-cAMP from the remaining dissociating site was slow (k = 0.02 min-1) and fast (k = 0.05 min-1) at 24 degrees C and 0 degrees C associating rate can be converted to the slow-dissociating rate by warming. When 0.2 M sodium thiocyanate was added to the association mixture at 24 degrees C, biphasic dissociation rates of k = 0.23 min-1 and k = 0.02 min-1 were observed, suggesting that the chaotropic salt blocks the interconversion of rates. The data are consistent with the model for cAMP-dependent protein kinase which exhibits two binding sites with different affinities. The type II enzyme from mammary gland cytosol exhibits in addition the phenomenon of temperature-dependent interconversion of the two binding affinities.     

Acyl specificity in triglyceride synthesis by lactating rat mammary gland.

We have studied the specificity of the acyl-CoA:diglyceride acyltransferase reaction in lactating rat mammary gland to provide a rational explanation at the enzyme level for the nonrandom distribution of fatty acids in milk fat triglycerides. Acyl-CoA:diglyceride acyltransferase activity was measured using various diglyceride and radioactive acyl-CoA substrates; products were identified as triglycerides by thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography. Most of the enzymatic activity was located in the microsomal fraction and showed a broad specificity for the acyl donors tested C10, C12, C14, C16, C18, and C18:1 CoA esters). The acyltransferase activity was highly specific for sn-1,2-diglyceride enantiomers; rac-1,3- and sn-2,3-diglycerides were relatively inactive. The acyl-CoA specificity was not affected by the type of 1,2-diglyceride acceptor offered, although dilaurin was the best acceptor and sn-1,2-dilaurin greater than sn-1,2-dimyristin greater than sn-1,2-dipalmitin greater than sn-1,2-distearin. We have previously shown that in the microsomal fraction from lactating rat mammary gland, the acyltransferase activities concerned with the conversion of sn-glycero-3-phosphate to diacylglycerophosphate show a very marked specificity for long chain acyl-CoA's. Therefore, we conclude that the predominant localization of long chain fatty acids in the 1 and 2 positions, and of shorter chain fatty acids in the 3 position of the glycerol backbone, results at least in part from the specificities of the mammary gland acyltransferases.     

Pyruvate carboxylase in lactating rat and rabbit mammary gland

1. Pyruvate carboxylase [pyruvate-carbon dioxide ligase (ADP), EC 6.4.1.1] was found in cell-free preparations of lactating rat and rabbit mammary glands, and optimum assay conditions for this enzyme were determined. 2. Subcellular-fractionation studies with marker enzymes showed pyruvate carboxylase to be distributed between the mitochondrial and soluble fractions of lactating rat mammary gland. Evidence is presented that the soluble enzyme is not an artifact due to mitochondrial damage. 3. In contrast, pyruvate carboxylase in lactating rabbit mammary gland is confined to the mitochondrial fraction. 4. The final product of pyruvate carboxylase action in the mitochondrial and particle-free supernatant fractions of lactating rat mammary gland was shown to be citrate. 5. The effects of freeze-drying, ultrasonic treatment and freezing-and-thawing on the specific activity of mitochondrial pyruvate carboxylase were investigated.     

Monosaccharide transport in the mammary gland of the intact lactating rat.

The Michaelis-Menten equation for the utilization of competing substrates was applied to the uptake of 2-deoxy[3H]glucose into the mammary gland of anaesthetized lactating rats. Intracellular water was calculated from total tissue water and sucrose space. Fed rats had a mean transport capacity of 2.2 mumol/min per g of tissue, giving an actual glucose transport in vivo of 1.1 mumol/min per g. Transport decreased by 90% on overnight starvation and returned to normal by 2 h of re-feeding. Similar changes were observed in the 1 min or 5 min transport of circulating 3-O-methylglucose. Transport of 3-O-methylglucose in starved rats was restored towards normal by insulin. In fed rats it increased between parturition and day 12 of lactation. The findings support the proposal that transport is a rate-limiting factor in the mammary utilization of carbohydrate.     

Simulation of the pentose cycle in lactating rat mammary gland

A computer model representing the pentose cycle, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and glycolysis in slices of lactating rat mammary glands has been constructed. This model is based primarily on the studies, with radioactive chemicals, of Abraham & Chaikoff (1959) [although some of the discrepant data of Katz & Wals (1972) could be accommodated by changing one enzyme activity]. Data obtained by using [1-(14)C]-, [6-(14)C]- and [3,4-(14)C]-glucose were simulated, as well as data obtained by using unlabelled glucose (for which some new experimental data are presented). Much past work on the pentose cycle has been mainly concerned with the division of glucose flow between the pentose cycle and glycolysis, and has relied on the assumption that the system is in steady state (both labelled and unlabelled). This assumption may not apply to lactating rat mammary glands, since the model shows that the percentage flow through the shunt progressively decreased for the first 2h of a 3h experiment, and we were unable to construct a completely steady-state model. The model allows examination of many quantitative features of the system, especially the amount of material passing through key enzymes, some of which appear to be regulated by NADP(+) concentrations as proposed by McLean (1960). Supplementary information for this paper has been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50023 at the British Museum (Lending Division) (formerly the National Lending Library for Science and Technology), Boston Spa, Yorks. LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies can be obtained on the terms indicated in Biochem. J. (1973) 131, 5.     

Lipid synthesis in lactating mammary gland

The mammary gland o f a high-yielding cow may produce as much as 1–2 kg o f fat in a day. Studies reveal unique mechanisms at work to produce typical milk lipid.     

Triacylglycerol hydrolysis by cells isolated from lactating rat mammary gland

The hydrolysis of exogenous trioleoylglycerol emulsions by suspensions of cells prepared from lactating rat mammary gland has been investigated.Cell integrity remains high throughout short (at least 30 min) incubations, during which extracellular hydrolysis of trioleoylglycerol proceeds at a mean rate (11 preparations) of 1.9 nmol oleate (and 0.6 nmol glycerol) released/min per mg protein. This hydrolysis shows partial dependence upon added serum and partial inhibition by protamine sulphate—both characteristic properties of lipoprotein lipase-catalyzed lipolysis. One or more monoacylglycerol hydrolase enzymes may also contribute to the measured lipolysis. Evidence is presented consistent with the hypothesis that a surface-located lipoprotein lipase is responsible for the observed lipolysis. Very little lipoprotein lipase activity is released from the cell surface by heparin.During trioleoylglycerol hydrolysis, non-esterified oleate does not accumulate in the cells or in the medium in quantities stoicheiometric with glycerol release. Analyses indicate that it passes into the cells without prior equilibration with the extracellular oleate pool(s). Once inside the cells, oleate is rapidly re-esterified into the triacylglycerol fraction.The possible relevance of these findings to the physiological mechanism of fatty acid uptake from triacylglycerol at the capillary endothelium is discussed.     

Oxytocin binding sites in lactating rabbit mammary gland.

Material which specifically binds oxytocin was prepared from a crude preparation of lactating rabbit mammary gland by purification on a sucrose density gradient. On examination of activities of enzyme markers and the molar ratio of cholesterol to phospholipid, this material was considered to be a highly purified plasma membrane fraction. For the determination of specificity and time course of oxytocin binding, a Scatchard plot analysis was carried out for the crude and purified fractions. Dissociation constant (Kd) and binding capacity values were found to be as follows: crude, Kd equals 1.83 X 10(-9) M, capacity equals 670 fmol/mg protein; purified, Kd equals 2.8 X 10(-9) M, capacity equals 1700 fmol/mg protein. Treatment of the purified material with different detergents resulted in loss of all [3H]oxytocin binding capacity. However, preincubation of this material with [3H]oxytocin prior to detergent treatment resulted in solubilization of a receptor-hormone complex. This complex remained in the supernatant even after centrifugation at 210 000 X g for 30 min. Using oxytocin analogs, we have shown this solubilized complex to be oxytocin specific.     

Function of arginase in lactating mammary gland

The potential for a considerable formation of ornithine exists in lactating mammary gland because of its arginase content. Late in lactation arginase reaches an activity in the gland higher than that present in any rat tissue except liver. Occurrence of the urea cycle can be excluded since two enzymes for the further reaction of ornithine in the cycle, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I and ornithine carbamoyltransferase, are both absent from this tissue. Instead, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase II appears early in lactation, associated with accumulation of aspartate carbamoyltransferase and DNA, consistent with the proposed role of these enzymes in pyrimidine synthesis. The facts require another physiological role for arginase apart from its known function in the urea cycle. Significant activity of ornithine aminotransferase develops in mammary gland in close parallel with the arginase. By this reaction, ornithine can be converted into glutamic semialdehyde and subsequently into proline. The enzymic composition of the lactating mammary gland is therefore appropriate for the major conversion of arginine into proline that is known to occur in the intact gland.     

Lactogenesis in the rat. Metabolism of uridine diphosphate galactose by mammary gland

1. Lactose synthetase activity in the rat mammary gland increases during the last day of pregnancy from an essentially zero value. There is a parallel increase of tissue lactose and of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. 2. Mammary-gland homogenates prepared both before and after parturition hydrolyse the lactose precursors glucose 6-phosphate, glucose 1-phosphate, UDP-glucose, UDP-galactose and also maltose, but not lactose. 3. A role of lactose synthetase as the rate-limiting enzyme for lactose biosynthesis and the possible significance of the hydrolytic activities are discussed with respect to lactogenesis.     

Involvement of gamma-glutamyltransferase in amino-acid uptake by the lactating mammary gland of the rat.

1. Arteriovenous differences of amino acids across the lactating mammary gland have been measured in normal rats and in rats injected with serine--borate (an inhibitor of gamma-glutamyltransferase). 2. Comparison of the arteriovenous differences show that gamma-glutamyltransferase is involved in amino-acid uptake by the gland. 3. Reduced-glutathione content of isolated acini incubated with high concentrations of amino acids was lower than that of the controls. 4. High concentrations of amino acids had no effect on reduced-glutathione content of isolated acini when serine--borate was added to the incubation medium. 5. The findings provide evidence for the functioning of the gamma-glutamyl cycle in the lactating mammary gland in vivo.