scholarly journals Occurrence of ornithine decarboxylase and polyamines in cartilage

1977 ◽  
Vol 162 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
P D Conroy ◽  
D M Simms ◽  
J J Pointon

The activity of ornithine decarboxylase was investigated in cartilage from chick embryos, rabbits, rats and human foetuses. The enzyme activity in these cartilages was of the same order as the detected in other body tissues. Ornithine decarboxylase activity in chick-embryo cartilage and liver was the same when compared on the basis of total soluble tissue protein. The cartilage enzyme exhibited a pH optimum of 6.5 and a Km for ornithine of 0.16mM. Ornithine decarboxylase activity in chick-embryo pelvic leaflets was maintained at the value in vivo for up to 22h when the isolated tissue was incubated in a modified Waymouth's medium (MB 752/1) at 37 degrees C. After addition of cycloheximide to the incubation medium, ornithine decarboxylase activity declined, with a half-life of 40 min. The concentrations of the polyamines spermidine and spermine in chick-embryo pelvic cartilage and rabbit costal cartilage were of the same order as the concentrations detected in other tissues.

1985 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Widmer ◽  
Ch. Schmid ◽  
J. Zapf ◽  
E. R. Froesch

Abstract. Biological effects of insulin-like growth factors (IGF) I and II on primary cultures of chick embryo liver cells have been investigated and compared 1) with the biological effect of insulin and 2) with competitive binding of the three hormones to their respective binding sites. IGF I and II stimulate the incorporation of d[U-14C]-glucose into liver cell glycogen in a time- and dose-dependent manner, but with a 5–10-fold lower potency than insulin: Both IGFs also lead to enhanced incorporation of 5-[3H]uridine and l[U-14C]valine into trichloroacetic acid (TCA) insoluble material and to activation of ornithine decarboxylase activity. Their potency in stimulating RNA synthesis and ornithine decarboxylase activity is comparable to that of insulin. Protein synthesis is maximally stimulated at 3 nm by all three hormones. In the competitive binding studies, IGF I and II are 10-fold less potent than insulin in competing for [125I]insulin binding, but 100-fold more potent than insulin in competing for [125I]IGF I or II binding. These studies show that IGF I and II stimulate the same metabolic indices as insulin in the chick embryo liver. By comparing these biological effects with competitive binding data it appears that IGFs act on glucose metabolism in the chick embryo liver via the insulin receptor, whereas stimulation of growth indices by IGFs and insulin appears to be mediated by their own specific receptors.


1977 ◽  
Vol 166 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
A E Pegg

1. Polyamine concentrations were decreased in rats fed on a diet deficient in vitamin B-6. 2. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was decreased by vitamin B-6 deficiency when assayed in tissue extracts without addition of pyridoxal phosphate, but was greater than in control extracts when pyridoxal phosphate was present in saturating amounts. 3. In contrast, the activity of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase was not enhanced by pyridoxal phosphate addition even when dialysed extracts were prepared from tissues of young rats suckled by mothers fed on the vitamin B-6-deficient diet. 4. S-Adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activities were increased by administration of methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) (1,1′-[(methylethanediylidine)dinitrilo]diguanidine) to similar extents in both control and vitamin B-6-deficient animals. 5. The spectrum of highly purified liver S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase did not indicate the presence of pyridoxal phosphate. After inactivation of the enzyme by reaction with NaB3H4, radioactivity was incorporated into the enzyme, but was not present as a reduced derivative of pyridoxal phosphate. 6. It is concluded that the decreased concentrations of polyamines in rats fed on a diet containing vitamin B-6 may be due to decreased activity or ornithine decarboxylase or may be caused by an unknown mechanism responding to growth retardation produced by the vitamin deficiency. In either case, measurements of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase activity under optimum conditions in vitro do not correlate with the polyamine concentrations in vivo.


1977 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
E E K Takyi ◽  
D J M Fuller ◽  
L J Donaldson ◽  
G H Thomas

The relationship between polyamine synthesis, growth and secretion in vivo was examined in ventral prostates from: (a) intact rats aged 3-60 weeks; (b) animals castrated for 7 days before injection with 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (17 beta-hydroxy-5-alpha-androstan-3-one), testosterone and 5 alpha-androstane-3 beta, 17 beta-diol for up to 10 days; (c) rats injected with the 3 beta, 17 beta-diol immediately after castration. Ornithine decarboxylase activity and the concentrations of putrescine, spermidine and spermine were measured. DNA-synthetic activity was monitored by measuring [125I]iododoxyuridine incorporation. An enhanced spermidine/spermine molar ratio reflected increased activity of the prostate. The ratio was higher (greater than 2) in prostates from sexually immature animals, than in the intact adult (1.5), suggesting that the ratio was indicative of the proliferative activity of the tissue. However, in the androgen-stimulated castrated rat, enhanced spermidine/spermine ratios tended to correlate with hypertrophy and secretion. In both sets of experiments there was a linear relationship between protein and spermidine content. High spermidine/spermine molar ratios were the consequence of a relatively low rate of accumulation of spermine relative to spermidine and protein. The relationship between polyamine synthesis and DNA-synthetic activity was investigated in cultured prostate. A combination of insulin (3 mug/ml) and testosterone (0.1 muM caused a stimulatory response in the incorporation of [125I]iododeoxyuridine and in cell division, despite a depleted polyamine content and low ornithine decarboxylase activity in the cultured tissue.


1979 ◽  
Vol 177 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arja Kallio ◽  
Monica Löfman ◽  
Hannu Pösö ◽  
Juhani Jänne

Re!peated injections of 1,3-diaminopropane, a potent inhibitor of mammalian ornithine decarboxylase, induced protein-synthesis-dependent formation of macromolecular inhibitors or ‘antienzymes’ [Heller, Fong & Canellakis (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.73, 1858–1862] to ornithine decarboxylase in normal rat liver. Addition of the macromolecular inhibitors, produced in response to repeated injections of diaminopropane, to active ornithine decarboxylase in vitro resulted in a profound loss of the enzyme activity, which, however, could be partly recovered after passage of the enzyme–inhibitor mixture through a Sephadex G-75 columin in the presence of 0.4m-NaCl. This treatment also resulted in the appearance of free inhibitor. In contrast with the separation of the enzyme and inhibitory activity after combination in vitro, it was not possible to re-activate, by using identical conditions of molecular sieving, any inhibited ornithine decarboxylase from cytosol fractions obtained from animals injected with diaminopropane. However, the idea that injection of various diamines, also in vivo, induces acute formation of macromolecular inhibitors, which reversibly combine with the enzyme, was supported by the finding that the ornithine decarboxylase activity remaining after diaminopropane injection appeared to be more stable to increased ionic strength than the enzyme activity obtained from somatotropin-treated rats. Incubation of the inhibitory cytosol fractions with antiserum to ornithine decarboxylase did not completely abolish the inhibitory action of either the cytosolic inhibitor or the antibody. A single injection of diaminopropane produced an extremely rapid decay of liver ornithine decarboxylase activity (half-life about 12min), which was comparable with, or swifter than, that induced by cycloheximide. However, although after cycloheximide treatment the amount of immunotitrable ornithine decarboxylase decreased only slightly more slowly than the enzyme activity, diaminopropane injection did not decrease the amount of the immunoreactive protein, but, on the contrary, invariably caused a marked increase in the apparent amount of antigen, after some lag period. The diamine-induced increase in the amount of the immunoreactive enzyme protein could be totally prevented by a simultaneous injection of cycloheximide. These results are in accord with the hypothesis that various diamines may result in rapid formation of macromolecular inhibitors to ornithine decarboxylase in vivo, which, after combination with the enzyme, abolish the catalytic activity but at the same time prevent the intracellular degradation of the enzyme protein.


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