Electric field control of lipase membrane activity

Lipase (EC 3.1.1.3., from Pseudomonas sp.) was entrapped in collagen membrane containing liquid crystal (4-methoxybenzilidene-4′-n-butylaniline). The activity of the lipase–liquid crystal membrane at an applied voltage of 4 V was 3.4 compared to a membrane tested without imposition of an external electric field. A linear relationship was observed between the activity of the lipase–liquid crystal membrane and the current. The apparent Michaelis constant (K′_m) of the lipase–liquid crystal membrane under electric field was identical to that of the membrane under ordinary condition. Activation of the lipase–liquid crystal membrane was observed repeatedly, i.e., activation in the presence of an electric field and reversion to a basal level upon removal of the field occurred cyclically. Activity control of immobilized enzymes is desirable for switching devices of a bioreactor. Possible mechanisms of the lipase activation by electric field are discussed.     

Limulus anti-LPS factor: An anticoagulant which inhibits the endotoxin-mediated activation of Limulus coagulation system

Exposure of $\text{Limulus}$ amebocytes to bacterial endotoxins (lipopolysaccharides, LPS) results in the activation of the coagulation system, which consists of several protein components. During the separation of these components, a potent anticoagulant, named tentatively anti-LPS factor, which inhibits the endotoxin-mediated coagulation reaction, was found in both amebocytes from the hemolymphs of $\text{Tachypleus}\text{tridentatus}$ and $\text{Limulus}\text{polyphemus}$. The principle purified partially from $\text{Tachypleus}$ amebocyte lysate had a molecular weight less than 10,000, as judged with the ordinary gelfiltration experiment. It inhibited specifically the activation of factor B, which has recently been characterized to be a coagulation factor highly sensitive to LPS, but it did not inhibit the activities of the active factor B and the active clotting enzyme separated from the lysate. The inhibitory activity of anti-LPS factor disappeared almost completely by the treatments with pronase-P and subtilisin, suggesting its polypeptide-like substance, but it resisted to a boiling treatment. A possible site of the anticoagulant action on the $\text{Limulus}$ coagulation system was discussed.     

gamma-Carboxyglutamic acid (Gla)-domainless blood coagulation factor IXa species: preparation and properties.

To investigate the function of the gamma-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) residues of factor IXa in the activation of factor X, a new species of bovine factor IXa, designated "factor IXa beta'," and its corresponding Gla-domainless form, designated "Gla-domainless factor IXa beta'," were prepared under controlled conditions and characterized. First, bovine factor IXa alpha was converted by alpha-chymotrypsin in the presence of calcium ions to factor IXa beta' (Mr 47,000). Compared with factor IXa beta, factor IXa beta' had essentially identical activities towards a synthetic substrate, benzoyl-L-arginine ethylester (BAEE), towards an active site titrant, p-nitrophenyl-p'-guanidinobenzoate, and towards protein substrate, namely, factor X. Next, the Gla-rich region (residues 1-41) of the light chain was removed from factor IXa beta' by additional selective cleavage by alpha-chymotrypsin in the absence of calcium ions. Gla-domainless factor IXa beta' was purified to homogeneity on a column of DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B. The heavy chain was not altered by either chymotryptic digestion. Functional comparisons of the three activated forms, namely, factor IXa alpha, factor IXa beta', and Gla-domainless factor IXa beta', with factor IXa beta revealed that all four activated forms of factor IX had one active-site residue per molecule and essentially identical specific esterase activity towards BAEE. However, the clotting activity of Gla-domainless factor IXa beta' was less than 0.5% of that of factor IXa beta'.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Release of Excitatory Amino Acids from Cultured Hippocampal Astrocytes Induced by a Hypoxic-Hypoglycemic Stimulation

An excess release of excitatory amino acids (EAA) is an important factor for postischemic brain damage. In the present communication, we demonstrate that cultured hippocampal cells release EAA after hypoxic-hypoglycemic treatment. The amounts of EAA released from astrocytes were appreciably above those released from neurons. Furthermore, the amount of aspartate released from astrocytes was comparable to that of glutamate, although the endogenous content of aspartate was one-fifth that of glutamate. The endogenous content of aspartate in astrocytes increased even after hypoxic-hypoglycemic treatment. These results suggests that ischemic neuronal death is due, at least in part, to the excitotoxicity of aspartate and glutamate derived from surrounding astrocytes.     

Deficiency of X and Y chromosomal pairing at meiotic prophase in spermatocytes of sterile interspecific hybrids between laboratory mice (Mus domesticus) and Mus spretus

The normal association between the X and Y chromosomes at metaphase I of meiosis, as seen in air-dried light microscope preparations of mouse spermatocytes, is frequently lacking in the spermatocytes of the sterile interspecific hybrid between the laboratory mouse strains C57BL/6 and Mus spretus. The purpose of this work is to determine whether the separate X and Y chromosomes in the hybrid are asynaptic, caused by failure to pair, or desynaptic, caused by precocious dissociation. Unpaired X-Y chromosomes were observed in air-dried preparations at diakinesis, just prior to metaphase I. Furthermore, immunocytology and electron microscopy studies of surface-spread pachytene spermatocytes indicate that the X and Y chromosomes frequently fail to initiate synapsis as judged by the failure to form a synaptonemal complex between the pairing regions of the X and Y Chromosomes. Several additional chromosomal abnormalities were observed in the hybrid. These include fold-backs of the unpaired X or Y cores, associations between the autosome and sex chromosome cores, and autosomal univalents. The occurrence of abnormal autosomal and XY-autosomal associations was also correlated with cell degeneration during meiotic prophase. The primary breakdown in hybrid spermatogenesis occurs at metaphase I (MI), with the appearance of degenerated cells at late MI. In those cells, the X and Y are decondensed rather than condensed as they are in normal mouse MI spermatocytes. These results, in combination with the previous genetic analysis of spermatogenesis in hybrids and backcrosses with fertile female hybrids, suggest that the spermatogenic breakdown in the interspecific hybrid is primarily correlated with the failure of XY pairing at meiotic prophase, asynapsis, followed by the degeneration of spermatocytes at metaphase I. Secondarily, the failure of XY pairing can be accompanied by failure of autosomal pairing, which appears to involve an abnormal sex vesicle and degeneration at pachytene or diplotene.by C. Heyting     

Tissue factor potentiates the factor VIIa-catalyzed hydrolysis of an ester substrate.

We designed a simple and sensitive method to assay the activity of the factor VIIa-tissue factor complex, using as a substrate N alpha-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-arginine p-nitrobenzyl ester (Z-Arg-ONb) (Zur, M., and Nemerson, Y. (1978) J. Biol. Chem. 253, 2203-2209). The principle was to measure the amount of p-nitrobenzyl alcohol released during ester hydrolysis using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Z-Arg-ONb had a broad specificity for plasma serine proteases and factor IXa. Using this method, we examined the effect of tissue factor on the esterase activity of factor VIIa under various conditions. We found that tissue factor greatly potentiates the factor VIIa-catalyzed hydrolysis of Z-Arg-ONb. Phospholipids were not required for the factor VIIa-catalyzed hydrolysis of Z-Arg-ONb, even in the presence of tissue factor. The Km value of factor VIIa alone toward the ester substrate was six times higher than that of a VIIa-tissue factor complex (3.2 versus 0.54 mM), whereas the kcat value was 12 times lower than that of the VIIa-tissue factor complex (14.3 versus 173 s-1). Thus, tissue factor apparently affects the catalytic site of factor VIIa and enhances hydrolysis of the ester substrate. This enhancing effect of tissue factor disappeared on removal of the gamma-carboxyglutamic acid domain from factor VIIa, whereas the esterase activity in the absence of tissue factor was not affected by this modification. The gamma-carboxyglutamic acid domain is probably required as a potent determinant for interactions with tissue factor, even in the absence of phospholipids in the reaction mixture.     

Putative inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate binding proteins in rat brain cytosol.

In previous works, we synthesized a series of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins(1,4,5)P3) analogs, with a substituent on the second carbon of the inositol ring. Using these analogs, the Ins(1,4,5)P3 affinity media were also synthesized (Hirata, M., Watanabe, Y., Ishimatsu, T., Yanaga, F., Koga, T., and Ozaki, S. (1990) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 168, 379-386). When the cytosol fraction from the rat brain was applied to an Ins(1,4,5)P3 affinity column, an eluate with a 2 M NaCl solution was found to have remarkable Ins(1,4,5)P3-binding activity. The active fraction was further fractionated with gel filtration chromatography, and two proteins with an apparent molecular mass of 130 or 85 kDa were found to be Ins(1,4,5)P3-binding proteins but with no Ins(1,4,5)P3 metabolizing activities. Partial amino acid sequences determined after proteolysis and reversed-phase chromatography revealed that the protein with an apparent molecular mass of 85 kDa is the delta-isozyme of phospholipase C and that of 130 kDa has no sequence the same as the Ins(1,4,5)P3-recognizing proteins hitherto examined. Ins(1,4,5)P3 at concentrations greater than 1 microM strongly inhibited 85-kDa phospholipase C delta activity, without changing its dependence on the concentrations of free Ca2+ and H+. Among inositol phosphates examined, Ins(3,4,5,6)P4 inhibited the binding of [3H]Ins(1,4,5)P3 to the 130-kDa protein at much the same concentrations as seen with Ins(1,4,5)P3. This report seems to be the first evidence for the presence of soluble Ins(1,4,5)P3-binding proteins in the rat brain, one of which is the delta isozyme of phospholipase C.     

Expression of human soluble tissue factor in yeast and enzymatic properties of its complex with factor VIIa.

The extracellular domain of human tissue factor (TF, amino acids 1-217) was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using the inducible yeast acid phosphatase promoter and the yeast invertase signal sequence to direct its secretion into the culture broth. Two active soluble forms sTF alpha (high molecular weight form) and sTF beta (low molecular weight form) were purified, the yield being approximately 10 and 1 mg/liter of culture supernatant, respectively. sTF alpha had an apparent molecular mass of 150 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and contained more than 200 residues of mannose/mol of protein. sTF beta had an apparent molecular mass of 37 kDa and contained 22 residues of mannose/mol of protein. N-Glycosidase F treatments of both rTFs reduced the apparent molecular mass to 35 kDa. The amino-terminal sequences and amino acid compositions of sTF alpha and sTF beta were consistent with those deduced from the cDNA sequence, thereby indicating that the difference in molecular mass is caused by heterogeneity of oligosaccharide structures. Of these recombinant TFs, sTF beta enhanced factor VIIa-amidolytic activity 40-fold toward the chromogenic substrate and 147-fold toward the fluorogenic substrate, affecting mainly the kcat value. The enhancement was comparable with that of TF purified from human placenta. The TF-mediated enhancement of factor VIIa-amidolytic activity was inhibited by heparin-activated antithrombin III, forming a high molecular weight complex. As treatment of sTF beta with denaturants such as guanidine hydrochloride or urea led to a biphasic loss of the activity, the extracellular domain of TF probably consists of two discrete domains. This expression system provides a significant amount of the extracellular domain of TF so that studies of interactions with factor VII are feasible.