Measurement of protein using bicinchoninic acid

Bicinchoninic acid, sodium salt, is a stable, water-soluble compound capable of forming an intense purple complex with cuprous ion (Cu1+) in an alkaline environment. This reagent forms the basis of an analytical method capable of monitoring cuprous ion produced in the reaction of protein with alkaline Cu2+ (biuret reaction). The color produced from this reaction is stable and increases in a proportional fashion over a broad range of increasing protein concentrations. When compared to the method of Lowry et al., the results reported here demonstrate a greater tolerance of the bicinchoninate reagent toward such commonly encountered interferences as nonionic detergents and simple buffer salts. The stability of the reagent and resulting chromophore also allows for a simplified, one-step analysis and an enhanced flexibility in protocol selection. This new method maintains the high sensitivity and low protein-to-protein variation associated with the Lowry technique.     

Oxidation and reduction of cytochrome c bound to the phosphoprotein phosvitin

The oxidation-reduction reactions and structural characteristics of phosvitin-bound cytochrome c were examined at various ratios of cytochrome c to phosvitin. At binding ratios below half the maximum, the rate constants for the oxidation reactions with cytochrome c oxidase and ferricyanide and the rate constants for the reduction reactions with cytochrome b2 and ascorbate were low, but at higher ratios these rate constants gradually increased to that of free cytochrome c and, in particular, the rate constant for oxidation by cytochrome c oxidase was raised to two to three times that of the free form. This binding-ratio dependence of the rate constants for the oxidation and reduction reactions was different from that of the net charge of the cytochrome c-phosvitin complex, implying that the negative charges of phosvitin are unlikely to modulate the rates. In contrast, the broadening of the NMR signals for the heme and methionine-80 methyl groups and the conformational transition in the vicinity of the heme moiety on change from the native to the cyanide-bound or urea-denatured form of cytochrome c showed a similar binding-ratio dependence to the rate constants for the oxidation and reduction reactions. Since the conformation and electronic structure in the heme environment of ferric and ferrous cytochromes c were not changed significantly by binding to phosvitin, and since the binding strength of cytochrome c to phosvitin at binding ratios below half the maximum is different from that at higher ratios, these findings suggest that a difference in the movement of cytochrome c in its complex with phosvitin may modulate its oxidation-reduction reactions.     

Suppressor T lymphocyte induction by a factor released from cultured blastocysts

For the analysis of immunologic escape mechanisms of embryos during the implantation period in mice, the effects of culture supernatant of blastocysts on in vitro responsiveness to alloantigen of mice was investigated. Blastocyst-cultured conditioned medium was prepared by culturing late blastocysts of outbred ICR mice for 5 days. The addition of culture supernatant containing four or eight blastocysts to allogeneic mixed lymphocyte culture inhibited both the MLR responses and the generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Preincubation of the culture supernatant with lymphocytes syngeneic to the responder cells of MLR induced potent suppressor cell activity in the MLR. The supernatant did not inhibit the activity of CTL at the effector phase, but preinduced suppressor cells obtained by incubation of splenocytes with the supernatant showed almost complete suppression of CTL activity at the effector phase. Both of the suppressor cells, active on MLR and at the generation phase of CTL as well as active at the effector phase, had a surface phenotype of Thy-1+ and Ig-. The suppressive material could be extracted from the eight-cell stage of fertilized ova or blastocysts but not from unfertilized ova, indicating that the production of the factor(s) is dependent on the stages of early embryogenesis. These results suggest that the active induction of suppressor T lymphocytes by the factor(s) released from implanted embryos is one of the protective mechanisms from maternal immunologic attack.     

Effect of dinitrophenyl modification on oxidation-reduction of glutathione reductase from yeast

Covalent modification of glutathione reductase (GR) from yeast with 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (FDNB) inhibited the NADPH-GSSG reductase activity completely. This modification also decreased the NADPH-thio-NADP+ transhydrogenase activity, stimulated the NADPH-oxidase activity, and induced the NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity. Spectrophotometric titration showed that one tyrosine residue per FAD was modified with a dinitrophenyl group. The modified enzyme showed conversion of the two-electron reduced form (EH2) to the four-electron reduced form (EH4) in anaerobic conditions and conversion of EH2 to the oxidized form (E) in aerobic conditions. These results indicate that the modification of one tyrosine residue of the active site induces the instability of EH2.     

Aspartate aminotransferase isozymes from rabbit liver. Purification and properties

Cytosolic and mitochondrial isozymes of aspartate aminotransferase (L-aspartate:2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase [EC 2.6.1.1] ) were purified to homogeneity from rabbit liver. The rabbit liver isozymes were closely similar to the corresponding isozymes from other sources, including human heart, pig heart, chicken heart, and rat liver, in their molecular weights, absorption spectra, amino acid compositions, isoelectric points, and Michaelis constants for the substrates. The NH2-terminal amino acid sequences of rabbit liver isozymes were identified up to 30 residues, and showed some differences from those of the corresponding isozymes obtained from other animals so far studied.     

Purification and characterization of rat brain prostaglandin D synthetase

Prostaglandin D synthetase was purified 2,600-fold from rat brain to apparent homogeneity, as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation. The purified enzyme was a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of 27,000 +/- 1,000. The pI value, sedimentation coefficient, and partial specific volume were 4.6, 4.1 s, and 0.73 ml/g, respectively. The enzyme was stable between pH 4 and 11 at the temperature lower than 25 degrees C and resistant to a heat treatment under alkaline conditions (pH 8-11). About 50% of the activity was detected after a heat treatment at 100 degrees C for 5 min at pH 10. However, the enzyme was readily inactivated by the isomerase reaction of prostaglandin H2 to prostaglandin D2. The enzyme required sulfhydryl compounds such as dithiothreitol, glutathione, beta-mercaptoethanol, cysteine, and cysteamine for the reaction, but stoichiometric oxidation of these sulfhydryl compounds was not observed. The optimum pH, Km value for prostaglandin H2, and the turnover number were 9.5, 14 microM, and 170 min-1, respectively. The antibody was raised against the purified enzyme in a rabbit, which showed only one positive band in immunoblotting after gel electrophoresis of crude extracts of the brain at the same position as that of the purified enzyme. More than 90% of the prostaglandin D synthetase activity in the brain was absorbed by an excess amount of the antibody, indicating that our preparation is a major component of the enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of prostaglandin D2 in the brain.     

Mammalian signal peptidase: partial purification and general characterization of the signal peptidase from microsomal membranes of porcine pancreas

Signal peptidase has been enriched extensively from microsomal membranes of porcine pancreas. Microsomal membranes were washed with 1 M KCl and Brij 35, and then solubilized with 1% Nonidet P-40. The solubilized signal peptidase was purified by DEAE-cellulose chromatography and Sepharose CL-6B filtration. Cleavage of pre-human placental lactogen with the partially purified enzyme gave the mature form, whose NH2-terminus was identified as valine. The signal peptidase is heat-labile and approximately 90% of the enzymatic activity was lost at 60 degrees C within 1 min. The pH optimum of the activity was 7 to 8. Chymostatin and o-phenanthroline at concentrations of 2.5 mM inhibited the signal peptidase activity by 62% and 30%, respectively.     

Phorbol ester increases the level of interleukin 2 mRNA in mitogen-stimulated human lymphocytes

TPA alone did not induce the production of IL 2 in human tonsillar lymphocytes but enhanced the PHA-induced IL 2 production by seven-fold. That the effect of TPA was due to an increase in IL 2 mRNA was demonstrated by examining the amount of IL 2 mRNA translatable in Xenopus laevis oocytes, and by Northern blotting analysis using IL 2 cDNA as a probe. In these ways, it was shown that TPA alone did not induce any significant IL 2 mRNA synthesis, but when added together with PHA it increased the level of IL 2 mRNA by at least 10-fold, as compared with that induced by PHA alone.     

Gastric K+-stimulated p-nitrophenylphosphatase cytochemistry

Summary A cytochemical study of gastric K⁺-stimulated p-nitrophenylphosphatase (K-NPPase) activity, corresponding to a K⁺-stimulated phosphoprotein phosphatase of H-K-ATPase system, has been made by a new cytochemical method.Sections of fixed guinea pig gastric mucosa in a mixture of 2% paraformaldehyde and 0.25% glutaraldehyde, were incubated with the incubation medium (1.0 M glycine-0.1 M KOH buffer, pH 9.0, 2.5 ml; 1.1 M KCl, 0.5 ml; 10 mM lead citrate dissolved in 50 mM KOH, 4 ml; levamisole, 6.0 mg; dimethyl sulfoxide, 2.0 ml; 0.1 M p-nitrophenylphosphate (Mg-salt), 1.0 ml; ouabain, 73.0 mg) for 30 min at room temperature. Under a light microscope the specific gastric K-NPPase reaction was distributed only in the parietal cells of the fundic glands. The electron microscopic cytochemistry showed that the gastric K-NPPase activity was localized on the membrane lining the apical surfaces, secretory canaliculi and tubulovesicles. On the other hand, ouabain-sensitive K-NPPase activity (Na-K-ATPase) was demonstrated to localize only in the basolateral membrane of parietal cells with Mayahara's method.These findings support the interrelationships between the apical surface membrane, secretory canalicular membrane and tubulovesicles, and the functional differentiation of the membrane between the secretory membrane and basolateral membrane.In honour of Prof. P. van DuijnPart of this paper was presented at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry held in Nagoya, October 27–28, 1983 (Ogawa KS, Fujimoto K, Ogawa K (1983) A new lead citrate method for the cytochemical demonstration of the H⁺–K⁺-ATPase with p-NPP as a substrate. Acta Histochem Cytochem 16:662)This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists No. 60770019 to K. Fujimoto from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, the Japanese Government