Effects of cholecystokinin, gastrin, and related peptides on coho salmon gallbladder contraction in vitro.

1977 ◽  
Vol 232 (5) ◽  
pp. E485
Author(s):  
S R Vigna ◽  
A Gorbman

Isometric contractions of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) gallbladder longitudinal muscle strips were recorded in response to porcine cholecystokinin (CCK), octapeptide of CCK (OP-CCK), desulfated octapeptide of CCK (ds-OP-CCK), porcine heptadecapeptide gastrins I and II, and pentagastrin. Peak tonic contraction amplitude and peak rhythmic contraction frequency were used to construct concentration-response curves for each peptide. Observed maximal responses to each peptide were not significantly different; therefore, all peptides tested were equal in efficacy. CCK, OP-CCK, and gastrin II were equipotent, and ds-OP-CCK and gastrin I were equipotent. Conclusions: 1) porcine CCK can stimulate contraction of the coho salmon gallbladder; 2) tonic and rhythmic contractile responses are elicited in coho salmon gallbladder by agonists; 3) coho salmon gallbladder muscle cannot distinguish between agonists that differ in the location of a sulfated tyrosyl residue at position 6 versus position 7 from the C-terminus; and 4) the results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that coho salmon gallbladder muscle contains a relatively primitive CCK receptor.

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 1336-1341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Harrington ◽  
Arieh Bomzon ◽  
Keith A. Sharkey ◽  
Joseph S. Davison ◽  
Eldon A. Shaffer

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is considered to simply contract the gallbladder and relax the sphincter of Oddi with meals. In this study, we examined this hypothesis by investigating the action of CCK on the sphincter of Oddi and gallbladder of the guinea pig. The experimental design used an in vitro preparation of the sphincter of Oddi to measure contraction of the circular muscle. CCK increased tone in both the gallbladder and the sphincter of Oddi in a concentration-dependent manner. The normalized concentration–response curves for CCK, however, revealed that the gallbladder had a greater sensitivity to CCK (ED50 7 nM) than the sphincter of Oddi (ED50 22 nM; p < 0.01). Conversely, the sphincter was more sensitive to bethanechol than was the gallbladder. When the sphincter of Oddi was stimulated maximally with CCK in the presence of atropine (10−6 M) or tetrodotoxin (10−6 M), the contractile response was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) although not abolished. Conversely, atropine completely abolished the responses to bethanechol (10−3 M) and transmural field stimulation (70 V, 10 Hz, 1 ms, for 20 s). Transmural field stimulation of the sphincter that had been precontracted with CCK (26 nM) caused a transient, initial relaxation followed by contraction. Pretreatment with atropine augmented the duration of this relaxation, which could be completely abolished by tetrodotoxin. Thus, CCK contracts the sphincter of Oddi in the guinea pig by a direct (myogenic) and a neural (likely cholinergic) mechanism. Relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi also occurs in the guinea pig via noncholinergic inhibitory nerves. Duodenal delivery of bile is expedited by CCK, which induces gallbladder contraction at low, near-physiological levels without stimulating the sphincter. Under other conditions, sphincter of Oddi relaxation may facilitate transsphincteric flow. In contrast, increased cholinergic tone may help prevent duodenal reflux into the biliary system.Key words: cholecystokinin, bethanechol, enteric nervous system, gallbladder function, sphincter of Oddi.


1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (6) ◽  
pp. G787-G793
Author(s):  
A. Merlo ◽  
S. Cohen

Mechanical properties and responses to neuropeptides were compared for proximal and distal feline colonic muscle. Proximal longitudinal (PL), proximal circular (PC), distal longitudinal (DL), and distal circular (DC) muscles were studied in vitro under isometric conditions. Total tension in DL [1.636 +/- 0.009 (SE) kg/cm2] was greater than in DC (0.699 +/- 0.004 kg/cm2) or PC (0.710 +/- 0.005 kg/cm2, P less than 0.05). Longitudinal muscle developed proportionately more active tension than circular muscle at each region (80.9% in DL vs. 54.1% in DC and 77.1% in PL vs. 52.3% in PC, P less than 0.01). Neuropeptides varied in potency and efficacy. Cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) was the most potent and efficacious in PL and substance P was the most efficacious in PC muscle (P less than 0.05). Substance P was more efficacious whereas CCK-8 and neurotensin were less efficacious in PC than PL muscle (P less than 0.01). DL muscle did not respond to CCK-8. DC muscle did not respond to CCK-8 or neurotensin. Isometric contractions to each neuropeptide were insensitive to tetrodotoxin. We conclude that 1) mechanical properties of circular and longitudinal colonic muscle differ and 2) responses to neuropeptides depend on anatomic region and intrinsic properties.


1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (1) ◽  
pp. G247-G252 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Hirano ◽  
R. Kakkar ◽  
J. K. Saha ◽  
P. T. Szymanski ◽  
R. K. Goyal

Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) has been shown to elicit a guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP)-mediated, indomethacin-sensitive contraction of the opossum esophageal longitudinal muscle. We examined the role of tyrosine phosphorylation in the signal transduction pathway of contractions induced by SNP and cGMP in longitudinal muscle strips in vitro. Force of isometric contractions was expressed as the percentage of responses to KCl (73 mM). SNP (100 microM)-induced contractions were 75 +/- 5% before and 3 +/- 2% after 50 microM genistein (P < 0.005) and 86 +/- 16% before and 0 +/- 0% after 50 microM tyrphostin B46. Contractions in response to 8-bromo-cGMP (8-BrcGMP; 1 mM) were 74 +/- 15% before and 3 +/- 2% after genistein (P < 0.01) and 63 +/- 15% before and 18 +/- 4% after tyrphostin B46 (P < 0.05). In contrast, KCl-induced contractions were 82 +/- 8% and 96 +/- 9% of the control value after genistein and tyrphostin B46 treatments, respectively (P > 0.05 for both). Carbachol contractions were partially suppressed by genistein (106 +/- 8% vs. 79 +/- 8%; P < 0.05) but unaffected by tyrphostin B46 (114 +/- 10% vs. 107 +/- 12%; P > 0.05). Western blot analysis revealed a 116-kDa phosphotyrosine protein in the control muscle strips. The level of this protein was increased to 206 +/- 15% of control after SNP treatment. Both genistein and tyrphostin B46 blocked this increase. These studies show that contractions of the esophageal longitudinal muscle induced by SNP and cGMP utilize a signal transduction pathway different from that used by the depolarizing agent KCl and the muscarinic agonist carbachol. Contractions induced by SNP and cGMP involve tyrosine phosphorylation of a protein, possibly identified as a 116-kDa protein, as a key step in the signaling pathway.


1999 ◽  
Vol 81 (04) ◽  
pp. 605-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Sakharov ◽  
Marrie Barrett-Bergshoeff ◽  
Rob T. Hekkenberg ◽  
Dingeman C. Rijken

SummaryIn a number of cases, thrombolytic therapy fails to re-open occluded blood vessels, possibly due to the occurrence of thrombi resistant to lysis. We investigated in vitro how the lysis of hardly lysable model thrombi depends on the choice of the plasminogen activator (PA) and is accelerated by ultrasonic irradiation. Lysis of compacted crosslinked human plasma clots was measured after addition of nine different PAs to the surrounding plasma and the effect of 3 MHz ultrasound on the speed of lysis was assessed.Fibrin-specific PAs showed bell-shaped dose-response curves of varying width and height. PAs with improved fibrin-specificity (staphylokinase, the TNK variant of tissue-type PA [tPA], and the PA from the saliva of the Desmodus rotundus bat) induced rapid lysis in concentration ranges (80-, 260-, and 3,500-fold ranges, respectively) much wider than that for tPA (a 35-fold range). However, in terms of speed of lysis, these three PAs exceeded tPA only slightly. Reteplase and single-chain urokinase were comparable to tPA, whereas two-chain urokinase, anistreplase, and streptokinase were inferior to tPA. In the case of fibrin-specific PAs, ultrasonic treatment accelerated lysis about 1.5-fold. For streptokinase no acceleration was observed. The effect of ultrasound correlated with the presence of plasminogen in the outer plasma, suggesting that it was mediated by facilitating the transport of plasminogen to the surface of the clot.In conclusion, PAs with improved fibrin-specificity induce rapid lysis of plasminogen-poor compacted plasma clots in much wider concentration ranges than tPA. This offers a possibility of using single-or double-bolus administration regimens for such PAs. However, it is not likely that administration of these PAs will directly cause a dramatic increase in the rate of re-opening of the occluded arteries since they are only moderately superior to tPA in terms of maximal speed of lysis. Application of high-frequency ultrasound as an adjunct to thrombolytic therapy may increase the treatment efficiency, particularly in conjunction with fibrin-specific PAs.


1965 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürg Müller

ABSTRACT An extract of human urine, which was previously shown to stimulate aldosterone production by rat adrenal sections, was further purified. Evidence was obtained that its aldosterone-stimulating effect was due to the presence of ammonium ions. Addition of ammonium chloride and of urine extract to the incubation medium caused identical increases in aldosterone production in vitro. In addition to ammonium ions, rubidium and caesium ions also stimulated aldosterone production up to 250% that of control values without a significant effect on corticosterone production. Similar dose-response curves were obtained when increasing concentrations of potassium, ammonium, rubidium and caesium ions were tested. Aldosterone production was maximal at concentrations of 7 mval/1 and was significantly lower at higher concentrations. When ammonium chloride and ACTH were simultaneously added to the incubation medium, the production of aldosterone and of corticosterone was lower than with ACTH alone. On the other hand, the stimulating activity on aldosterone and corticosterone production by »TPN« (NADP) and glucose-6-phosphate was enhanced by the simultaneous addition of ammonium chloride.


Author(s):  
Sumei Li ◽  
Jifeng Zhang ◽  
Jiaqi Zhang ◽  
Jiong Li ◽  
Longfei Cheng ◽  
...  

Aims: Our work aims to revealing the underlying microtubule mechanism of neurites outgrowth during neuronal development, and also proposes a feasible intervention pathway for reconstructing neural network connections after nerve injury. Background: Microtubule polymerization and severing are the basis for the neurite outgrowth and branch formation. Collapsin response mediator protein 2 (CRMP2) regulates axonal growth and branching as a binding partner of the tubulin heterodimer to promote microtubule assembly. And spastin participates in the growth and regeneration of neurites by severing microtubules into small segments. However, how CRMP2 and spastin cooperate to regulate neurite outgrowth by controlling the microtubule dynamics needs to be elucidated. Objective: To explore whether neurite outgrowth was mediated by coordination of CRMP2 and spastin. Method: Hippocampal neurons were cultured in vitro in 24-well culture plates for 4 days before being used to perform the transfection. Calcium phosphate was used to transfect the CRMP2 and spastin constructs and their control into the neurons. An interaction between CRMP2 and spastin was examined by using pull down, CoIP and immunofluorescence colocalization assays. And immunostaining was also performed to determine the morphology of neurites. Result: We first demonstrated that CRMP2 interacted with spastin to promote the neurite outgrowth and branch formation. Furthermore, our results identified that phosphorylation modification failed to alter the binding affinities of CRMP2 for spastin, but inhibited their binding to microtubules. CRMP2 interacted with the MTBD domain of spastin via its C-terminus, and blocking the binding sites of them inhibited the outgrowth and branch formation of neurites. In addition, we confirmed one phosphorylation site S210 at spastin in hippocampal neurons and phosphorylation spastin at site S210 promoted the neurite outgrowth but not branch formation by remodeling microtubules. Conclusion: Taken together, our data demonstrated that the interaction of CRMP2 and spastin is required for neurite outgrowth and branch formation and their interaction is not regulated by their phosphorylation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1627
Author(s):  
Tecla Ciociola ◽  
Pier Paolo Zanello ◽  
Tiziana D’Adda ◽  
Serena Galati ◽  
Stefania Conti ◽  
...  

The growing problem of antimicrobial resistance highlights the need for alternative strategies to combat infections. From this perspective, there is a considerable interest in natural molecules obtained from different sources, which are shown to be active against microorganisms, either alone or in association with conventional drugs. In this paper, peptides with the same sequence of fragments, found in human serum, derived from physiological proteins, were evaluated for their antifungal activity. A 13-residue peptide, representing the 597–609 fragment within the albumin C-terminus, was proved to exert a fungicidal activity in vitro against pathogenic yeasts and a therapeutic effect in vivo in the experimental model of candidal infection in Galleria mellonella. Studies by confocal microscopy and transmission and scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that the peptide penetrates and accumulates in Candida albicans cells, causing gross morphological alterations in cellular structure. These findings add albumin to the group of proteins, which already includes hemoglobin and antibodies, that could give rise to cryptic antimicrobial fragments, and could suggest their role in anti-infective homeostasis. The study of bioactive fragments from serum proteins could open interesting perspectives for the development of new antimicrobial molecules derived by natural sources.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodi L Vogel ◽  
Vincent Geuskens ◽  
Lucie Desmet ◽  
N Patrick Higgins ◽  
Ariane Toussaint

Abstract Mutations in an N-terminal 70-amino acid domain of bacteriophage Mu's repressor cause temperature-sensitive DNA-binding activity. Surprisingly, amber mutations can conditionally correct the heat-sensitive defect in three mutant forms of the repressor gene, cts25 (D43-G), cts62 (R47-Q and cts71 (M28-I), and in the appropriate bacterial host produce a heat-stable Sts phenotype (for survival of temperature shifts). Sts repressor mutants are heat sensitive when in supE or supF hosts and heat resistant when in Sup° hosts. Mutants with an Sts phenotype have amber mutations at one of three codons, Q179, Q187, or Q190. The Sts phenotype relates to the repressor size: in Sup° hosts sts repressors are shorter by seven, 10, or 18 amino acids compared to repressors in supE or supF hosts. The truncated form of the sts62-1 repressor, which lacks 18 residues (Q179–V196), binds Mu operator DNA more stably at 42° in vitro compared to its full-length counterpart (cts62 repressor). In addition to influencing temperature sensitivity, the C-terminus appears to control the susceptibility to in vivo Clp proteolysis by influencing the multimeric structure of repressor.


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