Sodium currents during differentiation in a human neuroblastoma cell line

The electrophysiological properties of a human neuroblastoma cell line, LA-N-5, were studied with the whole-cell configuration of the patch clamp technique before and after the induction of differentiation by retinoic acid, a vitamin A metabolite. Action potentials could be elicited from current clamped cells before the induction of differentiation, suggesting that some neuroblasts of the developing sympathetic nervous system are excitable. The action potential upstroke was carried by a sodium conductance, which was composed of two types of sodium currents, described by their sensitivity to tetrodotoxin (TTX) as TTX sensitive and TTX resistant. TTX-sensitive and TTX-resistant sodium currents were blocked by nanomolar and micromolar concentrations of TTX, respectively. The voltage sensitivity of activation and inactivation of TTX-resistant sodium current is shifted -10 to -30 mV relative to TTX-sensitive sodium current, suggesting that TTX-resistant sodium current could play a role in the initiation of action potentials. TTX-sensitive current comprised greater than 80% of the total sodium current in undifferentiated LA-N-5 cells. The surface density of total sodium current increased from 24.9 to 57.8 microA/microF after cells were induced to differentiate. The increase in total sodium current density was significant (P less than 0.05). The surface density of TTX-resistant sodium current did not change significantly during differentiation, from which we conclude that an increase in TTX-sensitive sodium current underlies the increase in total current.     

Signaling via the inositol phospholipid pathway by T cell antigen receptor is limited by receptor number.

Engagement of the TCR initiates at least two transmembrane signaling pathways, the phosphatidylinositol pathway and a tyrosine kinase pathway. The T cell leukemic line Jurkat was used to study the relationship between the number of occupied TCR on the cell surface and the TCR-mediated activation of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. We characterized a series of Ti beta-chain transfectants of the Jurkat mutant J.RT3-T3.5, in which surface expression of the TCR is limited by expression of the TCR beta-chain. Calibrated flow cytometry was used to determine the number of binding sites for anti-CD3 mAb on the surface of these cells, which was less than 1.2 x 10(3) to 1.2 x 10(4) sites/cell. In the presence of lithium chloride, the accumulation of inositol phosphates (InsP) in these cell lines in response to saturating concentrations of anti-CD3 mAb was proportional to the calculated surface TCR number. This result was consistent with dose-response studies using anti-CD3 mAb in Jurkat cells, in which ligand concentration, rather than number of binding sites, was limiting. Increase in intracellular free calcium concentration was a sensitive indicator of TCR engagement and correlated with the level of TCR expression, but less closely than did InsP levels. Induction of the early lymphocyte activation marker CD69 by anti-CD3 mAb also correlated with surface expression of TCR. In order to test whether limitation of this signaling pathway by TCR number may be relevant to signal transduction in the wild-type cell, we compared PLC activity in Jurkat cells during soluble anti-CD3 mAb-induced internalization of the TCR and also in response to immobilized mAb. The net accumulation of InsP per min decreased linearly with TCR number during the rapid phase of TCR internalization, confirming the limiting role of TCR number in this system. When internalization was prevented by immobilization of the stimulus, there was no decrease in the net accumulation of InsP per minute over time. In a Jurkat cell line transfected with the heterologous human muscarinic receptor, subtype 1, the InsP response to a muscarinic agonist was unaffected by TCR internalization, indicating that the distal phosphatidylinositol pathway was not affected by prolonged stimulation of the TCR. We conclude that transmembrane signaling through the TCR may be regulated by the number of surface TCR-ligand complexes. This observation has implications for transmembrane signaling in both mature T cells and thymocytes.     

Studies of three Amerindian populations using nuclear DNA polymorphisms.

Three Amerindian populations, two from Rond?nia, Brazil (Karitiana and Rond?nia Suruí), and one from Campeche, Mexico (Mayan), were typed for up to 30 nuclear restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). Heterozygosities, both observed and expected, were compared with those of Europeans. Average heterozygosity is reduced among these Amerindians (relative to that of Europeans) by 7.0% (Mayan) to 27.1% (Karitiana). This amount of heterozygosity in the nuclear DNA is nevertheless high enough that it is unlikely that there was a severe or prolonged bottleneck.     

Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase toxin and hemolytic activities require a second gene, cyaC, for activation.

In these studies, the Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase toxin-hemolysin homology to the Escherichia coli hemolysin is extended with the finding of cyaC, a homolog to the E. coli hlyC gene, which is required for the production of a functional hemolysin molecule in E. coli. Mutations produced in the chromosome of B. pertussis upstream from the structural gene for the adenylate cyclase toxin revealed a region which was necessary for toxin and hemolytic activities of the molecule. These mutants produced the 216-kDa adenylate cyclase toxin as determined by Western blot (immunoblot) analysis. The adenylate cyclase enzymatic activities of these mutants were equivalent to that of wild type, but toxin activities were less than 1% of that of wild type, and the mutants were nonhemolytic on blood agar plates and in in vitro assays. The upstream region restored hemolytic activity when returned in trans to the mutant strains. This genetic complementation defined a gene which acts in trans to activate the adenylate cyclase toxin posttranslationally. Sequence analysis of the upstream region defined an open reading frame with homology to the E. coli hlyC gene. In contrast to E. coli, this open reading frame is oriented oppositely from the adenylate cyclase toxin structural gene.     

R15 alpha 1 and R 15 alpha 2 peptides from Aplysia: comparison of bioactivity, distribution, and function of two peptides generated by alternative splicing

The mRNA precursor encoded by the R15 gene is alternatively spliced in different neurons to form two related variants, R15-1 and R15-2 mRNA. One of the peptides encoded by the R15-2 mRNA, the R15 alpha 1 peptide, is expressed in the endogenously bursting neuron R15 and mediates some of its central and peripheral synaptic actions. In this study we found that the R15 alpha 2 peptide, which is encoded by the R15-1 mRNA, is synthesized in other neurons in the abdominal ganglion and is also bioactive. The R15 alpha 1 and R15 alpha 2 peptides were found to exert many similar actions on the cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, and reproductive systems. However, the differences between many of the pharmacological effects of the R15 alpha 1 and R15 alpha 2 peptides indicate that alternative splicing in this system results in two functionally different peptides. Widespread immunoreactivity was found for an antibody directed against the R15 alpha 2 peptide, both in the central nervous system and the periphery. But because of the shared sequence with the R15 alpha 1 peptide, the antibody cross-reacts with the R15 alpha 1 peptide. To distinguish immunocytochemically between the two peptides, we also raised a second antibody that recognizes only the R15 alpha 1 peptide. This antibody labeled the cell body of only one neuron in the central nervous system, R15, although widespread immunoreactivity was found in axons and varicosities in the periphery.     

Experimental onchocerciasis in chimpanzees. Antibody response and antigen recognition after primary infection with Onchocerca volvulus.

Nine of 18 chimpanzees inoculated with 250 infective third-stage larvae (L3) each developed patent (i.e., positive for microfilariae) Onchocerca volvulus infection. Four of 6 infected chimpanzees that received 200 micrograms/kg ivermectin at 28 days postinfection (pi) became patent, whereas, when ivermectin was given concurrently with L3 challenge only 1 of 6 infected animals developed patent infection. The antibody response to O. volvulus adult worm-derived antigens (OvAg) showed clear differences between patent and nonpatent chimpanzees. Three months pi, all sera detected several OvAg in the range of M(r) 35-120 k. Sera collected 6 mo pi from later patent animals recognized increasing numbers of OvAg, especially in the lower MW range of M(r) 13 to 33 k. Beginning 10 months pi Onchocerca-antigens of M(r) 21, 24, 26, and 28 k were detected only by patent chimpanzee's sera. The antibody response in nonpatent chimpanzees consistently recognized fewer OvAg, most of which were limited to the higher M(r) range (35-120 k). The reactivity of sera from infected chimpanzees to a low molecular weight fraction (LMW) of total OvAg doubled within 6 months pi, and increased continuously in patent animals from 13 until 30 months pi. Serological reactivity of nonpatent animals to LMW-OvAg remained low. The titers of circulating IgG directed against total OvAg increased in all infected chimpanzees, and continued to rise with patency. In nonpatent chimpanzees the antibody production gradually returned to preinfection values. Total and OvAg-specific IgE increased in patent and nonpatent chimpanzees. Also, during prepatency the granulocyte and antibody-mediated in vitro killing of microfilariae of O. volvulus increased in subsequently patent chimpanzees. The in vitro immobilization of L3 remained low.     

Feline leukemia virus subgroup B uses the same cell surface receptor as gibbon ape leukemia virus.

Pseudotypes of gibbon ape leukemia virus/simian sarcoma-associated virus (GALV/SSAV) and feline leukemia virus subgroup B (FeLV-B) have been constructed by rescuing a Moloney murine leukemia virus vector genome with wild-type GALV/SSAV or FeLV-B. The resulting recombinant viruses utilized core and envelope proteins from the wild-type virus and conferred resistance to growth in L-histidinol upon infected cells by virtue of the HisD gene encoded by the vector genome. They displayed the host range specificity of the rescuing viruses and could be neutralized by virus-specific antisera. Receptor cross-interference was observed when the GALV/SSAV or FeLV-B pseudotypes were used to superinfect cells productively infected with either GALV/SSAV or FeLV-B. Although murine cells are resistant to FeLV-B infection, murine cells expressing the human gene for the GALV/SSAV receptor became susceptible to FeLV-B infection. Therefore GALV/SSAV and FeLV-B utilize the same cell surface receptor.     

Non-linear inhibition curves for tight-binding inhibitors of dimeric ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductases. Evidence for rapid inhibitor mobility.

Steady-state electron flow through and electron delivery into isolated dimeric bc1 complex (ubiquinol--cytochrome c oxidoreductase) from Neurospora crassa and beef heart mitochondria were studied in the presence of increasing concentrations of antimycin A, funiculosin and/or myxothiazol. Parabolic or linear inhibition curves were obtained, depending upon the different quinols and inhibitors that were used. Linear curves occur when the inhibitor directly affects the rate-determining step. The most reasonable explanation for the parabolic curves is given by a fast intradimeric exchange of the hydrophobic inhibitors antimycin A, funiculosin (rate less than 500 s-1) and of myxothiazol (rate greater than 1 s-1). Using mitochondria from beef heart, the shape of the inhibition curve with antimycin A is parabolic if the quinol--O2 oxidoreductase turns over at about 300 s-1, but hyperbolic if the rate is 5 times less. The hyperbolic titration curve may be the result of both intradimeric and an additional interdimeric redistribution (rate approximately 100 s-1) of inhibitors between enzymes incorporated in a continuous phospholipid membrane. This explanation is supported by experiments with chromatophores obtained from Rhodobacter capsulatus. As recently described [Fernandez-Velasco, J. & Crofts, A. R. (1992) Biophys. J. 2, A153], cytochrome b becomes fully reoxidized within 1 s after a flash at substoichiometric concentrations of antimycin A. This kinetic of the slow reoxidation can be expressed in terms of the intradimeric and interdimeric redistribution with rate constants of about 10 s-1 and 2 x 10(6) M-1 s-1, respectively. It seems that rapid inhibitor redistribution may be a widespread phenomenon for hydrophobic inhibitors of enzymes incorporated in lipid membranes.