Impact of moisture on thermally induced denaturation and decomposition of lyophilized bovine somatotropin

The nonisothermal transitions of lyophilized recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbSt) as seen via differential scanning calorimetry were evaluated with respect to moisture content. The transition peak temperature of rbSt decreased with increasing moisture from 161°C in the dry state to a plateau of 65°C at 28% moisture, which is similar to that of rbSt in solution. Using high performance liquid chromatography, this irreversible endothermic transition consisted primarily of unfolding, hydrophobic aggregation, and some covalent modifications. In the dry state, covalent modifications, including polymerization into compounds of higher molecular weight, were more prominent, while in the presence of moisture, hydrophobic aggregation was most prominent. The irreversibility and scan rate dependence of the endothermic phenomena supports the kinetic nature of the transition rather than a simple equilibrium between globular and unfolded states. The apparent activation energy, for the net transition (i.e., unfolding, hydrophobic aggregation, and covalent modifications) was 57 kcal/mol for rbSt at 9.9% moisture. The observed enthalpy of the transition increased, decreased, then approximately leveled off as a function of increasing moisture content. This can be explained by the increasingly significant contribution of the exothermic aggregation at higher moisture contents. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Neural and endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity in rat penile erectile tissue

NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-D) activity and immunoreactivity for neural and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (nNOS and eNOS, respectively) were used to investigate nitric oxide (NO) regulation of penile vasculature. Both the histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques for NOS showed that all smooth muscles regions of the penis (dorsal penile artery and vein, deep penile vessels, and cavernosal muscles) were richly innervated. The endothelium of penile arteries, deep dorsal penile vein, and select veins in the crura and shaft were also stained for NADPH-D and eNOS. However, the endothelium of cavernous sinuses was unstained by both techniques. Fewer fibers were seen in the glans penis, those present being associated with small blood vessels and large nerve bundles near the trabecular walls. All penile neurons in the pelvic plexus, located by retrograde transport of a dye placed in the corpora cavernosa penis, were stained by the NADPH-D method. Essentially similar results were obtained with an antibody to nNOS. These data suggest that penile parasympathetic neurons comprise a uniform population, as all seem capable of forming nitric oxide. However, in contrast to the endothelium of penile vessels, the endothelium lining the cavernosal spaces may not be capable of nitric oxide synthesis.     

High-level 2H/13C/15N labeling of proteins for NMR studies

Summary The protein human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) has been isotopically labeled with ²H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N for high-resolution NMR assignment studies and pulse sequence development. To increase the sensitivity of several key ¹H/¹³C/¹⁵N triple-resonance correlation experiments, ²H has been incorporated into HCA II in order to decrease the rates of ¹³C and ¹H_N T₂ relaxation. NMR quantities of protein with essentially complete aliphatic ²H incorporation have been obtained by growth of E. coli in defined media containing D₂O, [1,2-¹³C₂, 99%] sodium acetate, and [¹⁵N, 99%] ammonium chloride. Complete aliphatic deuterium enrichment is optimal for ¹³C and ¹⁵N backbone NMR assignment studies, since the ¹³C and ¹H_N T₂ relaxation times and, therefore, sensitivity are maximized. In addition, complete aliphatic deuteration increases both resolution and sensitivity by eliminating the differential ²H isotopic shift observed for partially deuterated CH_nD_m moieties.     

The purification of hydrogenase II (uptake hydrogenase) from the anaerobic N2-fixing bacterium Clostridium pasteurianum

The H₂ uptake activity (units/mg protein) of Clostridium pasteurianum cells with methylene blue as the electron acceptor increases with cell density independent of the growth conditions. The H₂ evolution activity (units/mg protein) of the same cells with reduced methyl viologen as the electron donor remains fairly constant under all growth conditions tested. Cells grown under N₂-fixing conditions have the highest H₂ uptake activity and were used for the purification of hydrogenase II (uptake hydrogenase). Attempts to separate hydrogenase II from hydrogenase I (bidirectional hydrogenase) by a previously published method were unreliable. We report here a new large-scale purification procedure which employs a rapid membrane filtration system to fractionate cell-free extracts. Hydrogenases I and II were easily filtered into the low-molecular-weight fraction (M_r less than 100 000), and from this, hydrogenase II was further purified to a homogeneous state. Hydrogenase II is a monomeric iron-sulfur protein of molecular weight 53 000 containing eight iron atoms and eight acid-labile sulfur atoms per molecule. Hydrogenase II catalyzes both H₂ oxidation and H₂ evolution at rates of 3000 and 5.9 μmol H₂ consumed or evolved/min per mg protein, respectively. The purification procedure for hydrogenase II using the filtration system described greatly facilitates the large-scale purification of hydrogenase I and other enzymes from cell-free extracts of C. pasteurianum.