Properties of ornithine decarboxylase-antizyme from mammary gland of lactating rats

Ornithine decarboxylase-antizyme was induced in mammary gland of fasted lactating rats by administration of 1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol. Antizyme from mammary gland showed similar chemical and kinetic behavior to that previously reported by Canellakis and co-workers for antizyme from liver [J. S. Heller, W. F. Fong, and E. S. Canellakis (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72, 1858-1862]; specifically the inhibitor was nondialyzable, heat labile, and ribonuclease insensitive, and the inhibition was time independent, proportional to the concentration of antizyme present, and noncompetitive with respect to the substrate, ornithine. However, ornithine decarboxylase-antizyme from mammary gland eluted from Sephadex G-75 with an apparent molecular mass of 55 kDa, compared with 27 kDa, for antizyme from liver under identical conditions. The elution pattern was unaffected by the presence of high salt concentrations, indicating that the larger size was not due to macromolecular complexes. The presence of antizyme-ornithine decarboxylase complex was detected in mammary gland of untreated lactating rats fasted for 6 or 24 h, thus indicating that antizyme plays a role in the regulation of ornithine decarboxylase in mammary gland under physiological conditions.