Convulxin, An ADP And Thromboxane-Independent Platelet activating Glycoprotein From The Venom Of Crotalus Durissus Cascavella

1981 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Marlas ◽  
D Joseph ◽  
J P Franceschi ◽  
J Lefort ◽  
M Chignard ◽  
...  

Convulxin(Cx), a high molecular weight glycoprotein which was purified by Sephadex G75 and Sepharose 4B chromatography, aggregates platelets of guinea-pigs, rabbits and humans (thresholds of 20-100 pico M for 400,000 platelets/μl). Aggregation and release reaction are plasma-independent, and do not require DFP-fibrinogen (DFP-fib), which increases the platelet response. Cx is not lytic for platelets. Neither ADP scavengers nor aspirin inhibit 2-4 suprathreshold concentrations of Cx. Bivalent metal chelation and PGI2 antagonize Cx. “Thrombinized” platelets lose granular ADP, and still respond to Cx in absence of DFP- fib. Cx-treated platelets are aggregated by ADP, thrombin (T) and arachidonic acid (AA), but are refactory to Cx and to collagen. Cx triggers release of 14C-AA metabolites from rabbit and human platelets, which was inhibited by phospholipase A2 inhibitors. “T-ized” platelets took 14C-AA and failed to release it if stimulated with T, but did so with Cx. Cxi.v.induces thrombocytopenia in rabbits and guinea-pigs, and bronchoconstriction in the latter, which is not blocked by aspirin. Cx is a very effective platelet-stimulating agent, free from proteolytic, amidolytic, esterasic, phospholipase and clotting activities. It probably interacts with T, ADP and thromboxane-independent receptors, and may share a component or a route with the mechanism triggered by collagen.

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (12) ◽  
pp. 2987-2999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Šedivá ◽  
Ivan Votruba ◽  
Antonín Holý ◽  
Ivan Rosenberg

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) from mouse leukemia cells L1210 was purified to homogeneity by a combination of ion exchange and affinity chromatography using AE-Sepharose 4B and 9-(p-succinylaminobenzyl)hypoxanthine as the matrix and the ligand, respectively. The native enzyme has a molecular weight of 104 000 and consists of three subunits of equal molecular weight of 34 000. The results of isoelectric focusing showed that the enzyme is considerably microheterogeneous over the pI-range 4.0-5.8 and most likely consists of eight isozymes. The temperature and pH-optimum of phosphorolysis, purine nucleoside synthesis and also of transribosylation is identical, namely 55 °C and pH 7.4. The transribosylation reaction proceeds in the presence of phosphate only. The following Km-values (μmol l-1) were determined for phosphorolysis: inosine 40, 2'-deoxyinosine 47, guanosine 27, 2'-deoxyguanosine 32. The Km-values (μmol l-1) of purine riboside and deoxyriboside synthesis are lower than the values for phosphorolysis (hypoxanthine 18 and 34, resp., guanine 8 and 11, resp.). An affinity lower by one order shows PNP for (-D-ribose-1-phosphate, (-D-2-deoxyribose-1-phosphate (Km = 200 μmol l-1 in both cases) and phosphate (Km = 805 μmol l-1). The substrate specificity of the enzyme was also studied: positions N(1), C(2) and C(8) are decisive for the binding of the substrate (purine nucleoside).


1973 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Giorgini ◽  
F. L. De Lucca

Instability of 28S rRNA of Crotalus durissus terrificus liver was observed during hotphenol extraction: purified 28S rRNA is converted into an 18S RNA component by heat treatment. It was also found that ‘6S’ and ‘8S’ low-molecular-weight RNA species were released during the thermal conversion. This conversion and the release of the low-molecular-weight species were also induced by 8m-urea and 80% (v/v) dimethyl sulphoxide at 0°C. Evidence is presented that this phenomenon is an irreversible process and results from the rupture of hydrogen bonds. The 18S RNA product was shown to be homogeneous by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and by sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation. The base composition of the 18S RNA products obtained by heat, urea or dimethyl sulphoxide treatments was similar. The C+G content of the 18S RNA product was different from that of the native 18S rRNA, but similar to that of 28S rRNA.


Toxicon ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1165-1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice M.C Martins ◽  
Marcos H Toyama ◽  
Alexandre Havt ◽  
José Camillo Novello ◽  
Sergio Marangoni ◽  
...  

1979 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.T. Nurden ◽  
D. Dupuis ◽  
H. de la Baume ◽  
J.P. Caen

Addition of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) (50 ug/ml) to washed human platelets (3 x 108/ml) resulted in platelet activation and the release of l4C-5HT within the same time scale as 0.05 units/ml thrombin. In contrast, succinyl-WGA (100 ug/ml) induced no platelet response. The increased valency of WGA (4) compared with succinyl-WGA (2) suggests that the activation is induced through the cross-linking (immobilisation ?) of closely associated receptors in the membrane. This finding induced us to attempt to cross-link and thereby identify adjacent molecules in the membrane by “near-neighbour” analysis. Constituent -SH groups were oxidised employing Cu2+/phenanthroline or diamide as catalysts, and polymers formed as a result of intermolecular -S-S- formation between adjacent molecules were identified by SDS-PAGE. Although previous reports have shown that the major human platelet membrane glycoproteins contain -SH groups, no apparent cross-linking of the glycoproteins was located following the incubation of either washed platelets or isolated membranes with Cu2+/phenanthroline or diamide. However bidimensional SDS-PAGE (1st dimension non-reduced, 2nd dimension reduced) showed the presence of several protein polymers including complexes formed by the cross-linking of 3 large polypeptides of M. Wt. 250 000, 220 000 and 200 000. These components were easily eluted from membrane vesicles at pH 10 and may represent closely associated constituents at the cytoplasmic surface of the plasma membrane.


1974 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Galand ◽  
G G Forstner

The 100000g supernatants from 13-day-old suckling-rat intestinal homogenates contained 43.5% of the total intestinal maltase activity, compared with 7.1% in weaned adult rats aged 40 days. The soluble maltase activity was separated on Sepharose 4B into two quantitatively equal fractions at pH6.0, one containing a maltase with a neutral pH optimum and the other a maltase with an acid pH optimum. The neutral maltase was shown to be a maltase–glucoamylase identical with membrane-bound maltase–glucoamylase in molecular weight, heat-sensitivity, substrate specificity, Km for maltose and Ki for Tris. The soluble enzyme was induced by cortisol, but the ratio of the soluble to bound enzyme fell during induction. Solubility of the neutral maltase was not accounted for by the action of endogenous proteinases under the preparative conditions used. It is postulated that the soluble neutral maltase is a membrane-dissociated form of the bound enzyme and that the relationship between these two forms is modulated by cortisol. The acid maltase generally resembled acid maltase of liver, muscle and kidney. It was shown to be a maltase–glucoamylase with optimal activity at pH3.0, and molecular weight of 136000 by density-gradient centrifugation. At pH3.0 its Km for maltose was 1.5mm. It was inhibited by turanose (Ki=7.5mm) and Tris (Ki=5.5mm) but not by p-chloromercuribenzoate or EDTA. Some 55% of its activity was destroyed by heating at 50°C for 10min. The acid maltase closely resembled β-glucuronidase and acid β-galactosidase in its distribution in the intestine, response to tissue homogenization in various media, and decrease in activity with cortisol treatment and weaning, indicating that it was a typical lysosomal enzyme concentrated in the ileum.


1970 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 575-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Barnes ◽  
B. J. Constable ◽  
L. F. Morton ◽  
E. Kodicek

1. After the administration of l-[G-3H]proline to guinea pigs deprived of ascorbic acid for increasing periods of time, the specific radioactivities of proline and hydroxyproline in skin collagen and aortic elastin were determined at various time-intervals after administration of the labelled compound with a view to studying the formation and degradation of collagen and elastin both deficient in hydroxyproline. 2. As judged from the incorporation of radioactivity into elastin proline, elastin synthesis was not decreased in the ascorbic acid-deficient animals. There was however, a rapid decline in the specific radioactivity of elastin hydroxyproline. The proline/hydroxyproline specific-radioactivity ratio was approx. 1.5:1 after 6 days and 20:1 after 12 days of ascorbic acid deprivation, in contrast with the ratio of 1:1 in controls. The results suggested that the effect of ascorbic acid deficiency on elastin biosynthesis could be regarded as simply an elimination of hydroxylation of elastin proline with the formation and retention of a polymer increasingly deficient in hydroxyproline. 3. Collagen proline and hydroxyproline specific radioactivities were derived from material that was soluble in hot trichloroacetic acid, non-diffusible and collagenase-degradable. In contrast with elastin, there was a rapid decline in the specific radioactivity of proline as well as hydroxyproline in collagen from the ascorbic acid-deficient animals. However, the proline/hydroxyproline specific-radioactivity ratio in all samples from scorbutic animals was consistently slightly above 1:1. The results suggest the appearance in place of collagen, but in rapidly diminishing amounts, of a partially hydroxylated collagen in which the degree of hydroxylation may be decreased only by approx. 10%. 4. Incorporation of radioactivity into the diffusible hydroxyproline in skin remained relatively high despite the rapid decline in the incorporation of radioactivity into collagen. This observation is interpreted as indicative of an increasing degree of degradation of partially hydroxylated collagen to diffusible peptides. An alternative explanation might be that partially hydroxylated peptides are released to an increasing extent from ribosomes before they attain a length at least sufficient to render them non-diffusible. In either case it implies the accumulation in scurvy of low-molecular-weight peptides enriched in proline and deficient in hydroxyproline and could explain the failure to accumulate a high-molecular-weight collagen deficient in hydroxyproline. 5. It is thought, however, that, in addition, an inhibition of ribosomal amino acid incorporation leading to decreased synthesis of partially hydroxylated collagen may also occur, perhaps secondarily to impaired hydroxylation.


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