Genetic control of ganglioside biosynthesis in mice

The enzymatic basis for the differences in hepatic ganglioside patterns in the mouse strains C57Bl/6 and Swiss White (SW) was investigated. SW has a “Swiss-type” ganglioside profile, expressing G_M1 ^? and G_D1a ^? in addition to G_M2 ^? as major hepatic gangliosides, whereas C57Bl/6 shows a “G_M2-type” profile, expressing only G_M2 ^? as the major hepatic ganglioside. The enzyme UDP-galactose:G_M2 ganglioside galactosyltransferase (G_M2-GalT), which catalyzes the synthesis of G_M1 ganglioside, showed a four- to fivefold elevation in intact and solubilized liver Golgi membrane fractions of the SW strain compared to C57Bl/6. Crosses between C57Bl/6 and SW produced an F₁ generation with a hepatic ganglioside and enzymatic phenotype intermediate between those of the two parental strains. All three genotypic groups show two forms of the Golgi apparatus enzyme with isoelectric points of 6.5–6.8 and 8.3–9.0. The simplest mode of action of genes which control the enzymatic phenotype that would be consistent with these findings are one or two structural genes or one or two cis-regulatory genes affecting the rate of enzyme synthesis.     

Linkage analysis of schizophrenia with five dopamine receptor genes in nine pedigrees

Alterations in dopamine neurotransmission have been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia for nearly 2 decades. Recently, the genes for five dopamine receptors have been cloned and characterized, and genetic and physical map information has become available. Using these five loci as candidate genes, we have tested for genetic linkage to schizophrenia in nine multigenerational families which include multiple affected individuals. In addition to testing conservative disease models, we have used a neurophysiological indicator variable, the P50 auditory evoked response. Deficits in gating of the P50 response have been shown to segregate with schizophrenia in this sample and may identify carriers of gene(s) predisposing for schizophrenia. Linkage results were consistently negative, indicating that a defect at any of the actual receptor sites is unlikely to be a major contributor to schizophrenia in the nine families studied.     

Two Intracellular Signaling Pathways for the Dopamine D3 Receptor: Opposite and Synergistic Interactions with Cyclic AMP

Abstract: As cerebral neurons express the dopamine D₁ receptor positively coupled with adenylyl cyclase, together with the D₃ receptor, we have investigated in a heterologous cell expression system the relationships of cyclic AMP with D₃ receptor signaling pathways. In NG108-15 cells transfected with the human D₃ receptor cDNA, dopamine, quinpirole, and other dopamine receptor agonists inhibited cyclic AMP accumulation induced by forskolin. Quinpirole also increased mitogenesis, assessed by measuring [³H]thymidine incorporation. This effect was blocked partially by genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Forskolin enhanced by 50–75% the quinpirole-induced [³H]thymidine incorporation. This effect was maximal with 100 n M forskolin, occurred after 6–16 h, was reproduced by cyclic AMP-permeable analogues, and was blocked by a protein kinase A inhibitor. Forskolin increased D₃ receptor expression up to 135%, but only after 16 h and at concentrations of >1 µ M . Thus, in this cell line, the D₃ receptor uses two distinct signaling pathways: it efficiently inhibits adenylyl cyclase and induces mitogenesis, an effect possibly involving tyrosine phosphorylation. Activation of the cyclic AMP cascade potentiates the D₃ receptor-mediated mitogenic response, through phosphorylation by a cyclic AMP-dependent kinase of a yet unidentified component. Hence, transduction of the D₃ receptor can involve both opposite and synergistic interactions with cyclic AMP.     

Observations on populations of the horseshoe crabLimulus (=Xiphosura) polyphemus

1. Marked populations of Limulus (=Xiphosura) polyphemus reveal that in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, they consisted of 10,000–18,000 adults in 1957 and 1961. The sex ratio in 1957 was about 4 males: 1 female. Pairs may remain attached for as long as 9 days. An undisturbed female may lay as many as 12,000 eggs in one nest.
2. The Cold Spring Harbor populations appear to be rather sedentary: none of the 1,000 animals marked on the north edge of the sandspit in 1961 were detected in the outer harbor either at Laurel Hollow Beach or the peninsula adjacent to the Cold Spring Harbor Yacht Club 500–800 meters from the tagging site (see Fig. 1), nor were they found in the small beach adjacent to the Biological Laboratory in the inner harbor. Similarly, none of the 300 animals marked at this last site were found at the north edge of the sandspit.
3. The phenotype of the compound eye varies from black to pigmentless. Samples observed in Cold Spring Harbor and in the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts (separated by Long Island Sound and a distance of 150 miles) differ in the frequency of the various phenotypes scored, but the mode of inheritance of eye color remains obscure.
4. The available evidence indicates Limulus has considerable phenotypic variation in regard to body size, eye color, and other characters believed to be inherited, with the result that demes or physiological races are created. It is argued that the belief that this organism is stable and has not changed since the Triassic 200 million years ago has foundation only in regard to the pattern of the body of Limulus, but not in regard to its genotype. Limulus does not seem to be different from other organisms for which considerable genetic evidence is available, and thus the statement that DNA is fairly stable and has remained so for 200 million years is open to question.

     

Purification and characterization of an NADP+-linked alcohol oxido-reductase which catalyzes the interconversion of gamma-hydroxybutyrate and succinic semialdehyde.

Abstract— An NADP⁺ -linked enzyme, capable of interconverting γ-hydroxybutyrate and succinic semialdehyde, has been isolated from hamster liver and brain. The enzyme which was isolated from liver has been purified 300-fold and exhibits a single band by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of the enzyme is - 31,000 as estimated from gel filtration and 38,000 as estimated from sodium dodccyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. The enzyme is inhibited by amobarbital, diphenylhy-dantoin, 2-propylvalerate, and diethyldithiocarbamate, but not by pyrazole. The enzymes from brain and liver appear to be very similar with regard to their molecular weights and their kinetic constants for γ-hydroxybutyrate and succinic semialdehyde.     

Cerebral Metabolic Effects of Monoamine Oxidase Inhibition in Normal and 1-Methyl-4-Phenyl-1,2,3,6-Tetrahydropyridine Acutely Treated Monkeys

The neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) induces dopaminergic cell death in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and clinical parkinsonism in humans and experimental animals. Pretreatment with monoamine oxidase inhibitors prevents this cell death and associated parkinsonism by blocking the oxidation of MPTP to a toxic intermediate. The 2-deoxyglucose method was used to study the acute effects of MPTP in the monkey brain and the effects of monoamine oxidase inhibition on local cerebral glucose utilization in both normal and MPTP-treated monkeys. MPTP administration alone caused a major increase in glucose utilization in the SNpc and smaller increases in some subnuclei within the ventral tegmental area in which eventual dopaminergic cell loss also occurs. Pretreatment with pargyline abolished these metabolic increases, a finding suggesting both that the oxidized product of MPTP generates the metabolic increases and that the increased glucose consumption may contribute to cell toxicity. On the other hand, in most cortical, thalamic, striatal, brainstem, and cerebellar areas MPTP alone caused reductions in glucose utilization, and pargyline failed to prevent these effects. Pargyline alone depressed metabolism in the locus coeruleus and a few other monoaminergic structures.     

Comparison of Rates of Local Cerebral Glucose Utilization Determined with Deoxy[l-14C]glucose and Deoxy[6-14C]glucose

The activity of the pentose phosphate shunt pathway in brain is thought to be linked to neurotransmitter metabolism, glutathione reduction, and synthetic pathways requiring NADPH. There is currently no method available to assess flux of glucose through the pentose phosphate pathway in localized regions of the brain of conscious animals in vivo. Because metabolites of deoxy[1-14C]glucose are lost from brain when the experimental period of the deoxy[14C]glucose method exceeds 45 min, the possibility was considered that the loss reflected activity of this shunt pathway and that this hexose might be used to assay regional pentose phosphate shunt pathway activity in brain. Decarboxylation of deoxy[1-14C]glucose by brain extracts was detected in vitro, and small quantities of 14C were recovered in the 6-phosphodeoxygluconate fraction when deoxy[14C]glucose metabolites were isolated from freeze-blown brains and separated by HPLC. Local rates of glucose utilization determined with deoxy[1-14C]glucose and deoxy[6-14C]glucose were, however, similar in 20 brain structures at 45, 60, 90, and 120 min after the pulse, indicating that the rate of loss of 14CO2 from deoxy[1-14C]glucose-6-phosphate in normal adult rat brain is too low to permit assay pentose phosphate shunt activity in vivo. Further metabolism of deoxy[1-14]glucose-6-phosphate via this pathway does not interfere during routine use of the deoxyglucose method or explain the progressive decrease in calculated metabolic rate when the experimental period exceeds 45 min.     

Effects of Dopaminergic Transmission Interruption on the D2 Receptor Isoforms in Various Cerebral Tissues

We examined the effects of an interruption of dopamine neurotransmission, by either dopamine receptor blockade or degeneration of dopamine neurons by 6-hydroxydopamine, on the levels of D2 receptor mRNAs. In addition, we evaluated by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the relative abundance of the two D2 receptor isoform mRNAs generated by alternative splicing. Daily injections of 4 mg/kg of haloperidol to rats elicited in striatum a rapid and progressive increase in D2 receptor mRNA levels, which reached 70% after a 15-day treatment. By contrast, there was no apparent change in D2 receptor mRNA levels in cerebral cortex and pons-medulla, in spite of an increased density of D2 receptor in the former tissue. Using the PCR with primers flanking the alternative exon, we observed that the relative proportion of the shorter receptor isoform (D2S) mRNA was slightly but significantly enhanced in cerebral cortex (17%) and pons-medulla (18%) after a 15-day haloperidol treatment. Unilateral degeneration of dopamine neurons induced by local injection of 6-hydroxydopamine resulted in a marked decrease in levels of total D2 receptor mRNAs in substantia nigra (-79%) and ventral tegmental (-63%) area, two cell body areas. In the substantia nigra, the longer isoform (D2L) mRNA was significantly more decreased in content than the D2S isoform mRNA, so that there was a large enhancement in the relative abundance of the latter (81%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)