Interactions of chloride and amiloride with the renal Na+/H/ antiporter

Amiloride is a reversible inhibitor of the Na+/H+ antiporter which acts at the external aspect of the transport system. The kinetics of inhibition of the Na+/H+ antiporter with amiloride have been controversial, with the usual finding of simple competitive inhibition, but with other reports of mixed and noncompetitive inhibition of the transporter by amiloride. The present experiments demonstrate that the chloride content of the external transport buffer affects the kinetics of amiloride inhibition. Either simple competitive or mixed inhibition by amiloride was observed in the same vesicle preparations depending on the presence of chloride or gluconate in the buffer. The effect of chloride on the inhibitory effect of amiloride was dependent on the concentration of chloride and amiloride. Similar effects were observed with more potent analogues of amiloride. These findings suggest that the external aspect of the antiporter has a site or sites at which the inhibitory effects of amiloride on the Na+/H+ antiporter can be modified by chloride, even though chloride has only slight effects on the kinetics of the Na+/H+ antiporter in the absence of amiloride.     

Clearance of rat C-reactive protein in vivo and by perfused liver.

The clearance in vivo of rat C-reactive protein (CRP) was studied: (i) in the whole animal and (ii) by using a rat liver perfusion system. Rat CRP is a glycosylated serum protein containing a complex-type biantennary carbohydrate structure on each of its five subunits. The half-life of rat asialo CRP was approximately 5 min. More than 75% of the radioactivity associated with rat asialo CRP and asialo alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) was recovered in the liver. A small amount of radioactivity (0.8%) associated with rat CRP and rat asialo CRP was found in the lungs. Competitive inhibition of the clearance of 125I-labelled rat asialo CRP from the circulation by asialo AGP was dose dependent, and resulted in a corresponding decrease in the recovery of radioactivity associated with rat asialo CRP in the liver. This indicated that asialo AGP and rat asialo CRP were cleared by the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor. This observation was confirmed when the clearance of rat asialo CRP was studied using a rat liver perfusion system. Using this system, the clearance of rat asialo CRP and asialo AGP from the perfusate was inhibited by N-acetylgalactosamine, but not by phosphorylcholine, a ligand through which most of the CRP reactions are mediated. This study provides an example of a circulating serum glycoprotein containing a biantennary carbohydrate structure that is cleared by the asialoglycoprotein receptor.     

Studies on the regeneration-restore and karyotype of protoplast in Metarhizium anisopliae var. majus

Abstract:  The characteristics and regeneration-restore of protoplasts and its karyotype of an insect pathological fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae var. majus were studied. Among the protoplasts, 25.3% were without a nucleus, and 74.7% contained a nucleus. Among the nucleus protoplasts, 53.6% contained a single nucleus. The regeneration-restore of protoplasts was of three distinct shapes. Considering the frequency of regeneration and the growing speed of the colony, 0.7 mol/l glucose was the optimum as osmotic stabilizer of culture medium in the regeneration-restore of the protoplasts. The chromosomal DNA molecules of M. anisopliae var. majus have been separated into seven bands by pulsed-field gel electrophoreses. Using the Schizosaccharomyces pombe chromosomes as size standard, the size of chromosomal DNA was estimated to be 1.1–6.5 Mb and its karyotype exhibited polytypism among strains.