Studies on lipogenesis in vivo: Comparison of cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis in rats and mice

1. The importance of fatty acid synthesis as a pathway for the disposal of ingested glucose has been evaluated in rats and mice given a purified diet high in glucose and low in fat. [U-¹⁴C]Glucose was either added to the diet and fed for 24hr. or given by stomach tube as a 250mg. (mice) or 1000mg. (rats) meal. The two methods of isotope administration gave similar results. 2. Under the conditions employed fatty acid synthesis appeared to be a more important pathway for glucose disposal in mice than in rats. In mice 15·3% of ingested [U-¹⁴C]glucose was converted into fatty acid and in rats the corresponding value was 8·6%. In contrast, the conversion of [U-¹⁴C]glucose into cholesterol, as a percentage of dose, was twice as high in rats as in mice. 3. The effect of 20% of corn oil in the diet on the conversion of dietary [U-¹⁴C]glucose into fat was also investigated. Mice given diets containing 1% or 20% of corn oil converted 14·6% or 7·0% respectively of dietary [U-¹⁴C]glucose into fatty acid over a 24hr. period. There was no effect of fat on the incorporation of the isotope into cholesterol. 4. In mice given diets containing 1% or 20% of corn oil approx. 10% and 2% respectively of newly synthesized fatty acids were found in the liver. Hepatic fatty acid synthesis appears to be more sensitive to dietary fat than is extrahepatic synthesis.     

Studies on lipogenesis in vivo: Fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis in hyperglycaemic-obese mice

1. Lipogenesis has been studied in intact genetically obese mice by measuring the incorporation of a single oral dose of 250mg. of [U-¹⁴C]glucose into fatty acid and cholesterol in the liver and extrahepatic tissues. Studies were also carried out with [U-¹⁴C]glucose added to the diet and fed for 24hr. With either method of isotope administration, the conversion of [U-¹⁴C]glucose into fatty acid was greatly elevated in the livers of the obese mice. In contrast, conversion of the single dose of [¹⁴C]glucose into fatty acid in extrahepatic tissues of obese mice was only half that occurring in the non-obese litter mates. When [¹⁴C]glucose was given in the diet for 24hr. the total accumulation of labelled fatty acid in extrahepatic tissues of obese mice was slightly less than in the non-obese. Uptake of labelled glucose and conversion into fatty acid in adipose tissue of the obese mice decreased with age. 2. Conversion of the single dose of [¹⁴C]glucose into liver cholesterol was comparable in obese and non-obese mice fed on a purified low-fat diet. However, obese mice given this diet for 12 weeks accumulated 1·54% of cholesterol in the liver compared with 0·29% in the non-obese litter mates. This accumulation apparently resulted from a decrease in removal of cholesterol from the liver, rather than an increased synthesis. 3. Conversion of the single dose of [¹⁴C]glucose into extrahepatic fatty acid was decreased by 18hr. starvation proportionally as much in obese as in non-obese mice. The decrease in liver fatty acid synthesis caused by starvation also was considerable in obese mice, although somewhat less marked than in the non-obese. 4. The metabolic derangements in the liver could be more fundamental to the development of the obesity than the changes seen in extrahepatic tissues.     

Photoperiodic influences on sexual behavior in male Syrian hamsters

The effect of photoperiodic conditions on sexual behavior was investigated in male Syrian hamsters that were either gonadally intact, or castrated and treated with low doses of testosterone throughout the experiment. Hamsters were exposed to long (LD 16:8) or short (LD 8:16) days for 7 weeks; for the next 8 weeks, either they were exposed to an intermediate daylength (LD 12:12), or daylength conditions remained unchanged. Sexual behavior was affected by photoperiod conditions in both gonadally intact animals and testosterone-treated castrates, but to different degrees. Intact males exposed to short days for 15 weeks exhibited gonadal regression, and their copulatory performance was impaired. The percentage of animals that intromitted or ejaculated was significantly reduced. Additional measures of sexual performance among the copulating males were also affected. In contrast, among the castrates with testosterone clamped at low but stable levels, the proportion of males that mounted, intromitted, or ejaculated was not affected by photoperiod. However, among the males that continued to copulate, sexual performance changes were present in the short-day castrates that resembled those displayed by the intact males. We infer that these behavioral effects in both hormonal conditions reflect primarily a difficulty in the attainment of intromission. Gonadal regression alone cannot easily account for the behavioral deficits of the intact males, because circulating testosterone levels at the end of the experiment were not significantly different between the gonadally intact hamsters and the castrated, testosterone-treated hamsters exposed continuously to short days. Males transferred from either long or short days to the intermediate-daylength condition responded behaviorally to this photoperiod as if it were a short day, that is, their ejaculatory frequency declined. We conclude that male hamsters exposed to photoinhibitory daylengths exhibit deficits in their sexual behavior, not only because endogenous levels of testosterone decrease, but also because the substrates on which this hormone acts become less responsive. We hypothesize that under physiological conditions, the episodic secretion of testosterone imposes constraints on the maintenance or restoration of copulation, and that the potent behavioral effects achieved by constant-release implants of testosterone may mask the presence of photoperiodically induced alterations in the hamster's sensitivity to this gonadal hormone.     

Is androgen-dependent aromatase activity sexually differentiated in the rat and dove preoptic area?

Aromatase activity is higher in the male than in the female anterior hypothalamic-preoptic area (POA) in both the avian and the rodent adult brain. This sex difference is abolished after castration of the male and restored by androgen treatment. Gonadectomy has no effect on POA aromatase in the female. The aim of this study was to find out whether sex dimorphism in adult POA aromatase is only due to a sex difference in circulating gonadal hormones or dependent upon sexual differentiation of the brain. Aromatase activity was measured in vitro in microdissected POA samples using a sensitive radiometric assay. We examined the effects of gonadectomy and testosterone treatment on enzyme activity in adult rats and doves of both sexes. We also studied the effects of neonatal gonadectomy and hormone substitution in male and female rats. The results suggest that levels of POA aromatase in the adult depend primarily on gonadal activity, but that mechanisms involved in the regulation of aromatase activity and enzyme induction may be sex-specific and could result from sexual differentiation of the brain in early life. Further work will be required to determine the developmental stage when this occurs and the exact mechanism(s) responsible for increased sensitivity of the adult male POA to the inductive effect of testosterone.     

Purification and characterization of the adenosine A2-like binding site from human placental membrane

We have purified and characterized the adenosine A2-like binding site from human placental membranes. 5'-N-Ethylcarboxamido[2,8-3H]adenosine ([3H]NECA) binds to this site, with a Kd of 240 nM and a Bmax of 13.0 pmol/mg in human placental membranes. The adenosine A2-like binding site was purified after extraction from placental membranes with 0.1% 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonic acid. The purification included ammonium sulfate precipitation and concanavalin A, DEAE-Sephadex, and Sepharose 6B gel filtration chromatographies. The protein was purified 127-fold to homogeneity, with a final specific activity of 1.5-1.9 nmol/mg of protein and a 5.5-8.1% yield of binding activity from the membranes. The purified protein had similar binding properties and an identical potency order for displacement of [3H] NECA by adenosine analogs as the initial membranes. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of purified protein revealed a single band at 98 kDa which coeluted with [3H]NECA binding activity during Sepharose 6B gel filtration chromatography. In 0.1% Triton X-100, the binding complex has a Stokes radius of 70 A, a sedimentation coefficient of 6.9 S, and a partial specific volume of 0.698 ml/g. The detergent-protein complex has a calculated molecular mass of 230 kDa. The estimated frictional ratio is 1.5. The native binding complex appears to consist of a dimer of identical subunits. The function of this ubiquitous protein remains unclear.     

Maturation in Larch : II. Effects of Age on Photosynthesis and Gene Expression in Developing Foliage

The effect of maturation on the morphological and photosynthetic characteristics, as well as the expression of two genes involved in photosynthesis in the developing, current year foliage of Eastern larch (Larix laricina [Du Roi]) is described. These effects were observed on foliage during the third growing season after grafting of scions from trees of different ages onto 2 year old rootstock. Specific leaf weight (gram dry weight per square meter), leaf cross-sectional area (per square millimeter), and chlorophyll content (milligram per gram dry weight) all increase with increasing age in long shoot foliage from both indoor- and outdoor-grown trees. Net photosynthesis (NPS) (mole of CO₂ per square millimeter per second) increases with age on indoor- but not outdoor-grown trees. NPS also increases with increased chlorophyll content, but outdoor-grown scions of all ages had higher chlorophyll content, and chlorophyll does not appear to be limiting for NPS outdoors. To extend these studies of maturation-related differences in foliar morphology and physiology to the molecular genetic level, sequences were cloned from the cab and rbsS gene families of larch. Both cab and rbcS gene families are expressed in foliage but not in roots, and they are expressed in light-grown seedlings of larch but only at very low levels in dark-grown seedlings (~2% of light-grown seedlings). Steady-state cab mRNA levels are relatively higher (~40%) in newly expanding short shoot foliage from juvenile plants compared to mature plants. Unlike cab, the expression of the rbcS gene family did not seem to vary with age. These data show that the maturation-related changes in morphological and physiological phenotypes are associated with changes in gene expression. No causal relationship has been established, however. Indeed, we conclude that the faster growth of juvenile scions reported previously (MS Greenwood, CA Hopper, KW Hutchison [1989] Plant Physiol 90: 406-412) is not due to increased NPS or cab expression. Long shoot foliage is the dominant foliar type on young trees and its lower specific leaf weight will permit production of more photosynthetic surface area per unit of leaf biomass.     

Mutational analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease suggests functional homology with aspartic proteinases.

Processing of the retroviral gag and pol gene products is mediated by a viral protease. Bacterial expression systems have been developed which permit genetic analysis of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease as measured by cleavage of the pol protein precursor. Deletion analysis of the pol reading frame locates the sequences required to encode a protein with appropriate proteolytic activity near the left end of the pol reading frame but largely outside the gag-pol overlap region, which is at the extreme left end of pol. Most missense mutations within an 11-amino-acid domain highly conserved among retroviral proteases and with sequence similarity to the active site of aspartic proteinases abolish appropriate processing, suggesting that the retrovirus proteases share a catalytic mechanism with aspartic proteinases. Substitution of the amino acids flanking the scissile bond at three of the processing sites encoded by pol demonstrates distinct sequence requirements for cleavage at these different sites. The inclusion of a charged amino acid at the processing site blocks cleavage. A subset of these substitutions also inhibits processing at the nonmutated sites.     

Actions of Rho family small G proteins and p21-activated protein kinases on mitogen-activated protein kinase family members.

The mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases are a family of serine/threonine kinases that are regulated by distinct extracellular stimuli. The currently known members include extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1 (ERK1), ERK2, the c-Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinases (JNK/SAPKs), and p38 MAP kinases. We find that overexpression of the Ste20-related enzymes p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) and PAK2 in 293 cells is sufficient to activate JNK/SAPK and to a lesser extent p38 MAP kinase but not ERK2. Rat MAP/ERK kinase kinase 1 can stimulate the activity of each of these MAP kinases. Although neither activated Rac nor the PAKs stimulate ERK2 activity, overexpression of either dominant negative Rac2 or the N-terminal regulatory domain of PAK1 inhibits Ras-mediated activation of ERK2, suggesting a permissive role for Rac in the control of the ERK pathway. Furthermore, constitutively active Rac2, Cdc42hs, and RhoA synergize with an activated form of Raf to increase ERK2 activity. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized connection between Rho family small G proteins and the ERK pathway.