There are two major types of hepatitis C virus in Japan

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) in plasma from chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis patients. By choice of adequate primers, 19 of 24 samples (79%) were found positive. Sequence analysis of amplified 400 bp cDNA fragments encoding a portion of NS5 gene suggested that HCV can be classified into two types (named K1 and K2) in Japan. Slot blot hybridization of the fragments indicated that 13 were HCV-K1 and 6 were HCV-K2, which show 80% and 67% nucleotide sequence homology, respectively, with that of the prototype.     

Biological characterization of human brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and rat BNP: species-specific actions of BNP

We examined the diuretic-natriuretic activities of rat BNP and human BNP in anesthetized rats in vivo and their vasorelaxant activities for rat thoracic aorta and porcine coronary artery in vitro. Rat BNP was almost equipotent to rat ANP in diuresis and natriuresis with relative potencies of 1.6 and 2.5, respectively, while human BNP exerted no significant activity. Rat ANP, rat BNP and human BNP relaxed PGF2 alpha-contracted rat aortic strips with IC50 values of 0.62, 0.64 and 12.1 nM, respectively, while they relaxed PGF2 alpha-contracted porcine coronary arteries with IC50 values of 0.04, 1.10 and 0.02 nM, respectively. These results strongly suggest that the biological action of BNP is species-specific.     

Ligand-dependent reactivity of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase with showdomycin

Showdomycin inhibited pig brain ($\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{)-}\text{ATPase}$ with pseudo first-order kinetics. The rate of inhibition by showdomycin was examined in the presence of 16 combinations of four ligands, i.e., Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and ATP, and was found to depend on the ligands added. Combinations of ligands were divided into five groups in terms of the magnitude of the rate constant; in the order of decreasing rate constants these were: (1)$\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}$, (2) $\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}$, $\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$, $\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ and none, (3) $\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{,}\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$, $\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ and $\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}$, (4) $\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}\text{,}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}$ and $\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}\text{, (5)}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}$, $\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}$, $\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}$, $\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{+}\text{ATP}$ and ATP. The highest rate was obtained in the presence of Na⁺, Mg²⁺ and ATP. The apparent concentrations of Na⁺, Mg²⁺ and ATP for half-maximum stimulation of inhibition ($\text{K}{}_{0.5}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>s</mtext>}}$) were 3 mM, 0.13 mM and 4μM, respectively. The rate was unchanged upon further increase in Na⁺ concentration from 140 to 1000 mM. The rates of inhibition could be explained on the basis of the enzyme forms present, including E₁, E₂, ES, E₁-P and E₂-P, i.e., E₂ has higher reactivity with showdomycin than E₁, while E₂-P has almost the same reactivity as E₁-P. We conclude that the reaction of ($\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{)-}\text{ATPase}$ proceeds via at least four kinds of enzyme form (E₁, E₂, E₁ · nucleotide and EP), which all have different conformations.     

Induction of immunity and specific unresponsiveness in vitro by cell-bound antigen: I. Symmetry in enhancement of both responses

Pulse treatment of lymphoid cells from rabbits with solubilized antigens from T2 phage results in the firm binding of small but highly active amounts of antigen. Binding of phage antigens to viable, nonviable, or disrupted cells enhances their ability to evoke antibody formation or specific unresponsiveness in the primary in vitro response of rabbit spleen cells. Transfer of sonicate containing the equivalent of 10₂ to 10₃ antigen-pulsed cells carrying 10^?8 to 10^?7 μg phage protein nitrogen into spleen cell cultures regularly evokes antibody formation, while introduction to such cultures of 10^?3 μg phage protein nitrogen in cell-bound form evokes unresponsiveness. These findings indicate a 10- to 100-fold amplification of tolerogenic and immunogenic activities of cell-bound over soluble T2 antigen.     

Sodium ion discharge from pig kidney Na+, K+-ATPase Na+-dependency of the E1P-E2P equilibrium in the absence of KCl

The two phosphoenzymes (E1P and E2P) of Na+,K+-ATPase were measured as ADP-sensitive and K+-sensitive fractions. The sum of these fractions was nearly 1 in the range of 50 to 1,200 mM NaCl. The effects of Na+ on the levels of E1P and E2P, on the rate constant of E2P leads to E1P transition (k2), on the rate constant of E2P dephosphorylation (k3), on the rate constant of E1P leads to E2P transition (k1) and on the apparent equilibrium constant between E1P and E2P (Kapp) were examined. k1 was found to decrease with increasing Na+ concentration, whereas k2 increased. Kapp was found to be directly proportional to the third power of Na+ concentration. k3 increased with increasing Na+ concentration and saturated at about 1 M NaCl. These results are consistent with a simple model in which ATP hydrolysis occurs through effectively only two phosphoenzyme intermediates in the absence of K+ and three sodium ions are discharged cooperatively from the enzyme during the E1P leads to E2P conversion.     

Organ secificity of rat sodium- and potassium-activated adenosine triphosphatase.

We compared several Na,K-ATPase preparations from various organs of the rat. The brain Na,K-ATPase differed from the enzymes of other organs in its pH dependence and responses to ouabain and N-ethylmaleimide in spite of similarities in the kinetic parameters of activation by Na+, K+, Mg2+, and ATP. The optimum pH of the brain MaI-enzyme was at 7.4 to 7.5 at 37 degrees D. The Lubrol extract of this brain enzyme preparation showed a lower optimum oH of 6.6. When the Lubrol extract of the brain was fractionated wtih (NH4)2SO4, the activity of the precipitate in the neutral pH region was restored. On the other hand, the optimum pH of the kidney NaI-enzyme was slightly affected by Lubrol and ammonium sulfate treatments (pH 7.5 leads to 7.3). The brain enzyme (K 1/2 = 0.9 microM) showed about 100-fold higher sensitivity to ouabain than the enzymes from other organs (I 1/2 = 100 microM) in the presence of 120 mM Na+ and 10 mM K+. In a Hill plot of the ouabain inhibition, the former failed to give a linear relationship, while the latter gave a straight line with a Hill coefficient of 1.0. The effect of K4 on the brain enzyme-ouabain interaction led us to consider that the brain enzyme might have two components as regards ouabain affinity, high and low affinity components. The time course of N-ethylmaleimide inhibition of the brain enzyme was rapid and biphasic, while the kidney enzyme showed only a slow phase following pseudo-first order kinetics. ATP protected the kidney enzyme activity completely agai,st N-ethylmaleimide inhibition, but the protection of the brain enzyme activity by ATP was only partial. We divided rat Na,K-ATPases into two groups, the brain type, which is restricted to the central nervous system, and the kidney type, which is found in most organs.     

Induction of immune interferon in mice treated with a bacterial immunopotentiator,OK-432

Summary When a bacterial immunopotentiator, OK-432, was injected to intact DDI mice, a viral inhibitor with the properties of immune interferon (IF) was induced in the circulation. The maximum titer of antiviral activity (10,240 units/ml) was observed 24 h after intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 50 KE OK-432/kg body weight. The possibility that the induction of immune IF may depend upon the action of thymus-derived (T) lymphocytes and macrophages was inferred from experiments with thymus-defective nude mice and DDI mice treated with either X-rays or immunosuppressive agents.     

Spectroscopic studies on the active site of Sepioteuthis lessoniana hemocyanin.

The absorption, circular dichroism (CD), and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra in the visible region have been measured for $\text{Sepioteuthis lessoniana}$ hemocyanin at 77, 198, and 293K. From the temperature dependence of the CD spectra of oxyhemocyanin, the bands observed at 450, 565, and 700 nm were resolved into those centered at 430, 490, 565, 600, and 700 nm. Since these five peaks are most probably due to the d-d transitions, the two copper ions at the oxygenated active center are inferred to be Cu(II) ions each in a non-equivalent coordination geometry of very low symmetry. The MCD spectral data confirm the view and reasonably explain the diamagnetism of oxyhemocyanin.