Cardiac nonmyofibrillar proteins in copper-deficient rats

Cardiac nonmyofibrillar proteins from copper-deficient rats appear to have diminished quantity of selected peptides. Identification of some of these peptides was the objective of the present study. Male weanling Long-Evans rats were fed either copper-adequate (n=6) or copper-deficient (n=6) diets for 5 wk. At the end of 5 wk, the rat hearts were removed, quick frozen in liquid nitrogen, and non-myofibrillar proteins separated using sodium-dodecyl-sulfate poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). A peptide in the 16-kDa mol-wt region was diminished in copper-deficient rats. Blotting of gels to an Immobilon-P membrane and subsequent sequencing of the amino acids identified the peptide as the δ subunit of mitochondrial ATP synthase. Blotting of gels to nitrocellulose followed by Western blot assay for cytochrome C oxidase using antibodies against the enzyme complex revealed decreased protein content in the copper-deficient rat for this enzyme, primarily the nuclear encoded subunits.