scholarly journals The stability of rat liver ribonucleic acid in vivo after methylation with methyl methanesulphonate or dimethylnitrosamine

1971 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 821-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn J. McElhone ◽  
P. J. O'Connor ◽  
A. W. Craig

1. RNA was isolated from rat liver at selected times after the intraperitoneal injection of either [14C]methyl methanesulphonate (50mg/kg) or [14C]dimethylnitrosamine (2mg/kg). These doses were chosen to minimize effects due to toxicity. 2. Two methods of extraction and purification of RNA were used and an analysis of the radioactivity present was made by column chromatography of acid hydrolysates of the purified RNA. 3. The extent of methylation of guanine, the principal site of alkylation in rat liver RNA, was determined at times up to 14 days after injection. Although dimethylnitrosamine is a potent liver carcinogen and methyl methanesulphonate is not carcinogenic to rat liver, the rate of disappearance of 7-methylguanine from RNA was similar for both compounds, with a half-life of about 3.5 days. 4. An estimate of the biological half-life of rRNA was made by using [3H]orotic acid. A half-life of 5 days was obtained and this was not affected by injecting animals with unlabelled methyl methanesulphonate at the same dosage of 50mg/kg used in the studies of RNA methylation. 5. After administration of labelled orotic acid, reutilization of labelled RNA degradation products probably results in an overestimation of the biological half-life for rRNA. It is suggested that non-toxic doses of methylating agents such as methyl methanesulphonate and dimethylnitrosamine may prove to be a more effective way of accurately estimating the biological turnover of RNA species.

1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (04) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schümichen ◽  
B. Mackenbrock ◽  
G. Hoffmann

SummaryThe bone-seeking 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compound (compound A) was diluted both in vitro and in vivo and proved to be unstable both in vitro and in vivo. However, stability was much better in vivo than in vitro and thus the in vitro stability of compound A after dilution in various mediums could be followed up by a consecutive evaluation of the in vivo distribution in the rat. After dilution in neutral normal saline compound A is metastable and after a short half-life it is transformed into the other 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compound A is metastable and after a short half-life in bone but in the kidneys. After dilution in normal saline of low pH and in buffering solutions the stability of compound A is increased. In human plasma compound A is relatively stable but not in plasma water. When compound B is formed in a buffering solution, uptake in the kidneys and excretion in urine is lowered and blood concentration increased.It is assumed that the association of protons to compound A will increase its stability at low concentrations while that to compound B will lead to a strong protein bond in plasma. It is concluded that compound A will not be stable in vivo because of a lack of stability in the extravascular space, and that the protein bond in plasma will be a measure of its in vivo stability.


1981 ◽  
Vol 46 (03) ◽  
pp. 658-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Korninger ◽  
J M Stassen ◽  
D Collen

SummaryThe turnover of highly purified human extrinsic plasminogen activator (EPA) (one- and two-chain form) was studied in rabbits. Following intravenous injection, EPA-activity declined rapidly. The disappearance rate of EPA from the plasma could adequately be described by a single exponential term with a t ½ of approximately 2 min for both the one-chain and two-chain forms of EPA.The clearance and organ distribution of EPA was studied by using 125I-labeled preparations. Following intravenous injection of 125I-1abeled EPA the radioactivity disappeared rapidly from the plasma also with a t ½ of approximately 2 min down to a level of 15 to 20 percent, followed by a small rise of blood radioactivity. Gel filtration of serial samples revealed that the secondary increase of the radioactivity was due to the reappearance of radioactive breakdown products in the blood. Measurement of the organ distribution of 125I at different time intervals revealed that EPA was rapidly accumulated in the liver, followed by a release of degradation products in the blood.Experimental hepatectomy markedly prolonged the half-life of EPA in the blood. Blocking the active site histidine of EPA had no effect on the half-life of EPA in blood nor on the gel filtration patterns of 125I in serial plasma samples.It is concluded that human EPA is rapidly removed from the blood of rabbits by clearance and degradation in the liver. Recognition by the liver does not require a functional active site in the enzyme. Neutralization in plasma by protease inhibitors does not represent a significant pathway of EPA inactivation in vivo.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Gattinger ◽  
Shiva Izadi ◽  
Clemens Grünwald-Gruber ◽  
Somanath Kallolimath ◽  
Alexandra Castilho

The potential therapeutic value of many proteins is ultimately limited by their rapid in vivo clearance. One strategy to limit clearance by metabolism and excretion, and improving the stability of therapeutic proteins, is their fusion to the immunoglobulin fragment crystallizable region (Fc). The Fc region plays multiple roles in (i) dimerization for the formation of “Y”-shaped structure of Ig, (ii) Fc-mediated effector functions, (iii) extension of serum half-life, and (iv) a cost-effective purification tag. Plants and in particular Nicotiana benthamiana have proven to be suitable expression platforms for several recombinant therapeutic proteins. Despite the enormous success of their use for the production of full-length monoclonal antibodies, the expression of Fc-fused therapeutic proteins in plants has shown limitations. Many Fc-fusion proteins expressed in plants show different degrees of instability resulting in high amounts of Fc-derived degradation products. To address this issue, we used erythropoietin (EPO) as a reporter protein and evaluated the efforts to enhance the expression of full-length EPO-Fc targeted to the apoplast of N. benthamiana. Our results show that the instability of the fusion protein is independent from the Fc origin or IgG subclass and from the peptide sequence used to link the two domains. We also show that a similar instability occurs upon the expression of individual heavy chains of monoclonal antibodies and ScFv-Fc that mimic the “Y”-shape of antibodies but lack the light chain. We propose that in this configuration, steric hindrance between the protein domains leads to physical instability. Indeed, mutations of critical residues located on the Fc dimerization interface allowed the expression of fully stable EPO monomeric Fc-fusion proteins. We discuss the limitations of Fc-fusion technology in N. benthamiana transient expression systems and suggest strategies to optimize the Fc-based scaffolds on their folding and aggregation resistance in order to improve the stability.


1990 ◽  
Vol 267 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
J L Maxwell ◽  
L Terracio ◽  
T K Borg ◽  
J W Baynes ◽  
S R Thorpe

Residualizing labels are tracers which remain in lysosomes after uptake and catabolism of the carrier protein and have been especially useful for studies on the sites of plasma protein degradation. Thus far these labels have contained radioactive reporters such as 3H or 125I. In the present paper we describe a fluorescent residualizing label, NN-dilactitol-N′-fluoresceinylethylenediamine (DLF). Modification of asialofetuin (ASF) or rat serum albumin (RSA) with DLF affected neither their normal kinetics of clearance from the rat circulation nor their normal tissue sites of uptake and degradation. After injection of DLF-ASF, fluorescent degradation products were recovered nearly quantitatively in liver and retained with a half-life of about 2 days. Fluorescent degradation products from DLF-RSA were recovered in skin and muscle, and were localized in fibroblasts by fluorescence microscopy. These results confirm previous studies with radioactive residualizing labels in which fibroblasts in peripheral tissues were identified as primary sites of albumin degradation. Fluorescent catabolites also accumulated in fibroblasts incubated with DLF-RSA in vitro, and residualized with a half-life of about 2 days. Overall, the data establish that DLF functions efficiently as a fluorescent residualizing label both in vivo and in vitro. The advantages of fluorescent, compared with radioactive, residualizing labels should make them valuable tools for studies on protein uptake and catabolism in biological systems.


1974 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. Männistö

ABSTRACT The effect of lithium chloride (LiCl) on the deiodination of iodotyrosines, on the degradation of 125I-L-thyroxine (125I-L-T4) in vitro and on the disappearance of exogenous 125I-L4 and 125I-rat-TSH in vivo was studied in rats. Iodotyrosine deiodination was studied in vitro with three techniques. The whole thyroid lobes were not satisfactory as substrate. When a diluted mixture of prelabelled iodo-amino acids was used as substrate, thyroid homogenates deiodinated iodotyrosines. The reaction was inhibited by boiling and by 3,5-dinitro-L-tyrosine (DNT), but LiCl (2 × 10−2 m) had no effect. When 125I-3-iodo-L-tyrosine (125I-L-MIT) served as substrate, increasing concentrations of thyroid homogenates showed an increasing deicdinating activity, which was stimulated by NADP (1.5 × 10−4 m). Inhibitors of dehalogenase DNT (10−4 and 10 −3 m) and menandione (10−4 m) inhibited deiodination, but LiCl (5×10−3 − 0.1 m) was again without effect. The degradation of 125I-L-T4 by liver and kidney homogenates was inhibited by LiCl (5 × 10−3 − 0.1 m). The disappearance of 125I-L-T4 was studied in rats treated with LiCl for 1 – 4 or 60 – 64 days in vivo. The half-lives were as follows: at 1 –4 days, the control rats 15.9 ± 1.3 h and the LiCl treated rats 19.1 ± 2.1 h (P < 0.05) and at 60 – 64 days 11.2 ± 2.0 h and 66.8 ± 12.3 h (P < respectively. The prolonged half-life in the LiCl treated rats was not due to the decreased excretion of radioactivity in the urine or faeces. The biological half-life of 125I-rat-TSH (11.4 ± 3.2 min) was not modified by LiCl treatment for 5 days. It can be concluded that the antithyroid effect of LiCl neither originates from the inhibition of iodotyrosine deiodination nor from the change in the half-life of TSH. The half-life of thyroxine is prolonged by LiCl, an effect which is perhaps due to the decreased degradation of thyroxine by tissues.


1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1547-1555 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Robinson

Sprague–Dawley rats were fed on diets ranging from 40 μg I/kg to 3885 μg I/kg. Single doses of iodide-131 were injected intraperitoneally into each of the rats. In vivo measurements of radioisotope levels were made at intervals for 11 to 15 days over the neck and thorax. Thyroidal I131 curves were obtained by using a fraction of the thoracic counts to correct for the extrathyroidal component of the neck counts. Animals on low-iodine diets concentrated I131 in their thyroids more rapidly and to greater peak values, had lower protein-bound iodine (I127) concentrations, and lower total thyroidal iodide (I127) content than did rats in the high-iodine groups. An attempt was made to compensate the thyroidal counts for the continuing decrease in the concentration of iodide-131 in the plasma. From this attempt was derived the "thyroidal index", a parameter which may be related to the rate of exchange of the total thyroidal iodine stores. Biological half-life values (I131 in thyroid gland) for the low-iodine groups were larger than those for the high-iodine animals. The hypothesis is advanced that, at least for the conditions reported here, the biological half-life does not adequately reflect thyroidal activity; exchange of iodine between the rat and its environment is considered to be the more important factor in controlling the numerical value of this parameter.


1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1547-1555 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Robinson

Sprague–Dawley rats were fed on diets ranging from 40 μg I/kg to 3885 μg I/kg. Single doses of iodide-131 were injected intraperitoneally into each of the rats. In vivo measurements of radioisotope levels were made at intervals for 11 to 15 days over the neck and thorax. Thyroidal I131 curves were obtained by using a fraction of the thoracic counts to correct for the extrathyroidal component of the neck counts. Animals on low-iodine diets concentrated I131 in their thyroids more rapidly and to greater peak values, had lower protein-bound iodine (I127) concentrations, and lower total thyroidal iodide (I127) content than did rats in the high-iodine groups. An attempt was made to compensate the thyroidal counts for the continuing decrease in the concentration of iodide-131 in the plasma. From this attempt was derived the "thyroidal index", a parameter which may be related to the rate of exchange of the total thyroidal iodine stores. Biological half-life values (I131 in thyroid gland) for the low-iodine groups were larger than those for the high-iodine animals. The hypothesis is advanced that, at least for the conditions reported here, the biological half-life does not adequately reflect thyroidal activity; exchange of iodine between the rat and its environment is considered to be the more important factor in controlling the numerical value of this parameter.


1968 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Sadowski ◽  
Janet Alcock Howden

Isolated rat liver nuclei were washed with Triton-X-100 in the presence of liver cell sap. This treatment liberated a fraction of polysomes which were isolated by differential centrifugation and were designated "outer membrane polysomes." The outer membrane polysomes synthesized protein in vivo. Shortly after injection of orotic acid-14C, the RNA of outer membrane polysomes had a higher specific activity than that of cytoplasmic polysomes. It was postulated that outer membrane polysomes may be an intermediate in the transfer of newly synthesized RNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In other experiments, Triton-washed rat liver nuclei were lysed in the presence of deoxycholate and deoxyribonuclease. A ribonucleoprotein fraction was isolated from the lysate by differential centrifugation. This fraction contained "intranuclear ribosomes," which sedimented like partially degraded polysomes in sucrose gradients. This degradation could be partially prevented if intranuclear ribosomes were purified by sedimentation through heavy sucrose. The resulting pellets were termed "intranuclear polysomes" because they contained some undergraded polysomes. Intranuclear polysomes were highly radioactive after a brief pulse with orotic acid-14C, but did not appear to synthesize protein rapidly in vivo. Intranuclear polysomes may represent the initial stage of assembly of polyribosomes in the nucleus.


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