scholarly journals Functional expression of the nitrobenzylthioinosine-sensitive nucleoside transporter of human choriocarcinoma (BeWo) cells in isolated oocytes of Xenopus laevis

1994 ◽  
Vol 299 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
C E Boumah ◽  
C M Harvey ◽  
A R P Paterson ◽  
S A Baldwin ◽  
J D Young ◽  
...  

Cultured human choriocarcinoma (BeWo) cells have previously been shown to exhibit, in comparison with other cultured cell types, elevated nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR)-sensitive transport activity and large numbers (> 10(7)/cell) of high-affinity NBMPR-binding sites [Boumah, Hogue and Cass (1992) Biochem. J. 288, 987-996]. The present study investigates whether NBMPR-sensitive nucleoside transport activity could be induced in Xenopus laevis oocytes by microinjection of poly(A)+ RNA isolated from proliferating cultures of BeWo cells. Expression of uridine transport activity was assayed by comparing rates of uptake (22 degrees C) of 100 microM [3H]uridine by RNA-injected oocytes with uptake by water-injected or uninjected oocytes. A 4-fold stimulation of uridine uptake (2.0 versus 0.5 pmol/90 min per oocyte) was seen when oocytes were injected with 50 ng of BeWo poly(A)+ RNA, and this stimulation was abolished when the RNA-injected oocytes were assayed in the presence of 10 microM NBMPR. The expressed uridine transport activity in oocytes was highly sensitive to NBMPR, with a 50% reduction seen at 1.1 nM NBMPR (IC50 value). The IC50 value for NBMPR inhibition of uptake of 100 microM [3H]uridine by intact BeWo cells was 1.4 nM. Inward fluxes of [3H]uridine in the RNA-injected oocytes were greatly reduced in the presence of high concentrations (2 mM) of non-radioactive nucleosides (adenosine, thymidine, inosine) that are known permeants of NBMPR-sensitive nucleoside transport processes. These results establish that the abundance of NBMPR-sensitive nucleoside transporter mRNA in poly(A)+ RNA preparations from BeWo cells is sufficient to achieve production of functionally active transporter protein in Xenopus oocytes and that, when expressed in Xenopus oocytes, the transporters exhibit NBMPR sensitivity and permeant selectively similar to that of the native transporters.

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 761-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol E Cass ◽  
James D Young ◽  
Stephen A Baldwin

Nucleosides are hydrophilic molecules and require specialized transport proteins for permeation of cell membranes. There are two types of nucleoside transport processes: equilibrative bidirectional processes driven by chemical gradients and inwardly directed concentrative processes driven by the sodium electrochemical gradient. The equilibrative nucleoside transport processes (es, ei) are found in most mammalian cell types, whereas the concentrative nucleoside transport processes (cit, cif, cib, csg, cs) are present primarily in specialized epithelia. Using a variety of cloning strategies and functional expression in oocytes of Xenopus laevis, we have isolated and characterized cDNAs encoding the rat and human nucleoside transporter proteins of the four major nucleoside transport processes of mammalian cells (es, ei, cit, cif). From the sequence relationships of these proteins with each other and with sequences in the public data bases, we have concluded that the equilibrative and concentrative nucleoside transport processes are mediated by members of two previously unrecognized groups of integral membrane proteins, which we have designated the equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT) and the concentrative nucleoside transporter (CNT) protein families. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge in the molecular biology of the ENT and CNT protein families, focusing on the characteristics of the four human (h) and rat (r) nucleoside transport proteins (r/hENT1, r/hENT2, r/hCNT1, r/hCNT2).Key words: nucleoside transporter, equilibrative, concentrative, ENT, CNT.


2021 ◽  
pp. 247255522110041
Author(s):  
Raffaella Cinquetti ◽  
Francesca Guia Imperiali ◽  
Salvatore Bozzaro ◽  
Daniele Zanella ◽  
Francesca Vacca ◽  
...  

Membrane proteins are involved in different physiological functions and are the target of pharmaceutical and abuse drugs. Xenopus laevis oocytes provide a powerful heterologous expression system for functional studies of these proteins. Typical experiments investigate transport using electrophysiology and radiolabeled uptake. A two-electrode voltage clamp is suitable only for electrogenic proteins, and uptake measurements require the existence of radiolabeled substrates and adequate laboratory facilities. Recently, Dictyostelium discoideum Nramp1 and NrampB were characterized using multidisciplinary approaches. NrampB showed no measurable electrogenic activity, and it was investigated in Xenopus oocytes by acquiring confocal images of the quenching of injected fluorophore calcein. This method is adequate to measure the variation in emitted fluorescence, and thus transporter activity indirectly, but requires long experimental procedures to collect statistically consistent data. Considering that optimal expression of heterologous proteins lasts for 48–72 h, a slow acquiring process requires the use of more than one batch of oocytes to complete the experiments. Here, a novel approach to measure substrate uptake is reported. Upon injection of a fluorophore, oocytes were incubated with the substrate and the transport activity measured, evaluating fluorescence quenching in a microplate reader. The technique permits the testing of tens of oocytes in different experimental conditions simultaneously, and thus the collection of significant statistical data for each batch, saving time and animals. The method was tested with different metal transporters (SLC11), DMT1, DdNramp1, and DdNrampB, and verified with the peptide transporter PepT1 (SLC15). Comparison with traditional methods (uptake, two-electrode voltage clamp) and with quenching images acquired by fluorescence microscopy confirmed its efficacy.


1990 ◽  
Vol 259 (3) ◽  
pp. C397-C401 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Said ◽  
L. Polenzani ◽  
S. Khorchid ◽  
D. Hollander ◽  
R. Miledi

The present study examined biotin uptake by Xenopus laevis oocytes in vitro. Uptake of low (0.03 microM) and high (10 microM) concentrations of biotin was linear with time for up to 4 h of incubation and occurred with little initial binding to oocytes. Uptake of biotin was dependent on extracellular Na+ concentration [Na+]o and was severely inhibited when Na+ was replaced by other monovalent cations [choline, tetraethylammonia, Li+, and tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane]. The initial rate of biotin uptake was saturable as a function of concentration with an apparent Michaelis constant of 3.9 +/- 0.5 microM and maximum velocity of 1,559 +/- 70 fmol.oocyte-1.h-1. Addition to the incubation medium of biotin structural analogues desthiobiotin and thioctic acid caused significant and concentration-dependent inhibition in the uptake of [3H]biotin. This inhibition was found to be competitive in nature with inhibition constant values of 9 and 17.5 microM. In contrast, neither the structural analogue biocytin nor biotin methyl ester (compounds in which the carboxyl group of the valeric acid moiety is blocked) showed any effect on the uptake of [3H]biotin. Biotin uptake was significantly blocked by the metabolic inhibitors dinitrophenol, cyanide, and azide and by incubation at 4 degrees C. Also, the sulfhydryl group blocker p-(chloromercuri)phenylsulfonate caused significant inhibition in biotin uptake. These results demonstrate that Xenopus oocytes possess an uptake system for biotin in its cell membrane that is Na+, energy, and temperature dependent. These characteristics of biotin uptake are similar to those reported in mammalian cells. It is suggested that Xenopus oocytes might be a useful in vitro model system to study the details of the mechanisms and regulation of biotin movement across biological membranes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


1991 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazushige Sugama ◽  
Masakatsu Yamashita ◽  
Hiroyuki Fukui ◽  
Seiji Ito ◽  
Hiroshi Wada

1991 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-290
Author(s):  
Kazushige Sugama ◽  
Masakatsu Yamashita ◽  
Hiroyuki Fukui ◽  
Seiji Ito ◽  
Hiroshi Wada

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 799-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth L Alper ◽  
Marina N Chernova ◽  
Jon Williams ◽  
Michael Zasloff ◽  
Foon-Yee Law ◽  
...  

Oxonol and polyaminosterol drugs were examined as inhibitors of recombinant mouse AE1 and AE2 anion exchangers expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and were compared as inhibitors of AE1-mediated anion flux in red cells and in HL-60 cells that express AE2. The oxonols WW-781, diBA(5)C4, and diBA(3)C4 inhibited HL-60 cell Cl-/Cl- exchange with IC50 values from 1 to 7 µM, 100-1000 times less potent than their IC50 values for red cell Cl-/anion exchange. In Xenopus oocytes, diBA(5)C4 inhibited AE1-mediated Cl- efflux several hundred times more potently than that mediated by AE2. Several novel squalamine-related polyaminosterols were also evaluated as anion exchange inhibitors. In contrast to diBA(5)C4, polyaminosterol 1361 inhibited oocyte-expressed AE2 8-fold more potently than AE1 (IC50 0.6 versus 5.2 µM). The 3-fold less potent desulfo-analog, 1360, showed similar preference for AE2. It was found that 1361 also partially inhibited Cl- efflux from red cells, whereas neither polyaminosterol inhibited Cl efflux from HL60 cells. Thus, the oxonol diBA(5)C4 is >100-fold more potent as an inhibitor of AE1 than of AE2, whereas the polyaminosterols 1360 and 1361 are 8-fold more potent as inhibitors of AE2 than of AE1. Assay conditions and cell type influenced IC50 values for both classes of compounds.Key words: band 3, oxonols, squalamine, Xenopus laevis oocytes, HL-60 cells.


1998 ◽  
Vol 330 (2) ◽  
pp. 997-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio FELIPE ◽  
Raquel VALDES ◽  
Belén del SANTO ◽  
Jorge LLOBERAS ◽  
Javier CASADO ◽  
...  

Hepatocytes show a Na+-dependent nucleoside transport activity that is kinetically heterogeneous and consistent with the expression of at least two independent concentrative Na+-coupled nucleoside transport systems (Mercader et al. Biochem. J. 317, 835-842, 1996). So far, only a single nucleoside carrier-related cDNA (SPNT) has been isolated from liver cells (Che et al. J. Biol. Chem. 270, 13596-13599, 1995). This cDNA presumably encodes a plasma membrane protein responsible for Na+-dependent purine nucleoside transport activity. Thus, the liver must express, at least, a second nucleoside transporter which should be pyrimidine-preferring. Homology cloning using RT-PCR revealed that a second isoform is indeed present in liver. This second isoform turned out to be identical to the ‘epithelial-specific isoform’ called cNT1, which shows in fact high specificity for pyrimidine nucleosides. Although cNT1 mRNA is present at lower amounts than SPNT mRNA, the amounts of cNT1 protein, when measured using isoform-specific polyclonal antibodies, were even higher than the SPNT protein levels. Moreover, partially purified basolateral plasma membrane vesicles from liver were enriched in the SPNT but not in the cNT1 protein, which suggests that the subcellular localization of these carrier proteins is different. SPNT and cNT1 protein amounts in crude membrane extracts from 6 h-regenerating rat livers are higher than in the preparations from sham-operated controls (3.5- and 2-fold, respectively). These results suggest that liver parenchymal cells express at least two different isoforms of concentrative nucleoside carriers, the cNT1 and SPNT proteins, which show differential regulation and subcellular localization.


1996 ◽  
Vol 317 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao FANG ◽  
Fiona E. PARKINSON ◽  
Delores A. MOWLES ◽  
James D. YOUNG ◽  
Carol E. CASS

We have demonstrated that monkey kidney (COS-1) cells have a single type of nucleoside transport process, which, because it was equilibrative, sodium-independent and could be inhibited by nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR), was identified as the ‘equilibrative sensitive’ or ‘es’ transporter. Using NBMPR or dilazep to inhibit the endogenous nucleoside transport activity, we have transiently expressed a cDNA that encodes an inhibitor-insensitive, concentrative nucleoside transporter protein (cNT1rat) of rat intestine in COS-1 cells. The production of recombinant cNT1rat was examined by immunoblotting using an epitope-tagged construct and by analysis of inward fluxes of 3H-labelled nucleosides. Recombinant cNT1rat was sodium-dependent and selective for pyrimidine nucleosides, with approximate Km values of 21 μM, 12.5 μM and 15 μM for uridine, thymidine and adenosine, respectively. Although adenosine exhibited high affinity for the recombinant transporter, its Vmax value was low. A variety of anti-viral and anti-cancer nucleoside drugs inhibited cNT1rat-mediated uptake of uridine by transfected COS-1 cells although to different extents (Floxidine > Idoxuridine > Zidovudine > Zalcitabine > Cytarabine > Gemcitabine), suggesting that the concentrative pyrimidine-selective nucleoside transporters, of which cNT1rat is a representative, may play a role in cellular uptake of these drugs. The cNT1rat/COS-1 expression system is a useful tool for analysis of cNT1rat-mediated transport processes.


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