Growth-rate-related and hydroxysterol-induced changes in membrane fluidity of cultured hepatoma cells: correlation with 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl CoA reductase activity

Creatine kinase (CK) activity in plasma obtained non-invasively from adult healthy, Sprague-Dawley, male rats was found to be 528 +/- 270 U/L (N = 17), a value which was 7 times that obtained in human specimens. Agarose gel electrophoresis revealed that the only detectable CK isoenzyme present was CK-BB, in contrast to the human serum isoenzyme which was CK-MM. Furthermore, it was found that the rat CK-BB could be detected using an RIA technique designed to quantitate human CK-BB occasionally present in blood after brain injury (rat CK-BB = 84.5 +/- 55.2 micrograms/L, N = 17, human CK-BB: Not detectable). It was thus possible to calculate the CK-BB specific activity (SA) in rat plasma using total CK assay and RIA (rat CK-BB SA = 6.25 +/- 3.87 U/micrograms, N = 17). When six rats (156 +/- 23 g) were treated with lead acetate in the drinking water (26 mM) for 3 weeks, the CK-BB SA rose to 18 +/- 5.8 U/micrograms (P less than .02). At this point the electrophoresis pattern of the CK-BB showed a transient change from a single band to a doublet. The dose was then increased to 52 mM for 6 weeks, during which time the CK-BB SA declined steadily to 1.6 +/- 0.6, a level significantly less than that of the untreated animals (p less than .02). The results suggest that chronic lead treatment evokes a biphasic response in CK-BB SA with the initial release of enzyme of high SA from tissues. Further treatment apparently results in an inactivation of the enzyme within lead sensitive tissues.