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Biomedical subjects

D A Harris

Publications and source records attributed to D A Harris.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Treatment of true precocious puberty with a potent luteinizing hormone-releasing factor agonist: effect on growth, sexual maturation, pelvic sonography, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.

We used the LHRH agonist D-Trp6-Pro6-N-ethylamide LHRH (LHRH-A) to treat 19 children (12 girls and 7 boys) with true precocious puberty. Fourteen patients had idiopathic true precocious puberty, 4 had a hamartoma of the tuber cinereum, and 1 had a hypothalamic astrocytoma. Basal gonadotropin secretion and responses to native LHRH decreased within 1 week of initiation LHRH-A therapy, and sex steroid secretion decreased within 2 weeks to or within the prepubertal range. Ultrasonographic evaluation of the uterus indicated a postmenarchal size and shape in all 11 girls studied before treatment, which reverted to prepubertal size and configuration in 5 girls during LHRH-A therapy. The enlarged ovaries decreased in size and the multiple ovarian follicular cysts regressed. Sexual characteristics ceased advancing or reverted toward the prepubertal state in all patients receiving therapy for 6-36 months. All 5 girls with menarche before therapy had no further menses. Three girls had hot flashes after LHRH-A-induced reduction of the plasma estradiol concentration. Height velocity, SDs above the mean height velocity for age, and SDs above the mean height for age decreased during LHRH-A therapy; the velocity of skeletal maturation decreased after 12 months of LHRH-A therapy and was sustained during continued therapy over 18-36 months. In 4 patients, a subnormal growth rate (less than 4.5 cm/yr) occurred during LHRH-A therapy. Six patients had cutaneous reactions of LHRH-A, but no demonstrable circulating antibodies to LHRH-A. In 2 patients in whom LHRH-A therapy was discontinued because of skin reactions, precocious sexual maturation resumed at the previous rate for the ensuing 6-12 months; subsequently, they were desensitized to LHRH-A, and during a second course of therapy, their secondary sexual development and sex steroid levels again quickly decreased. LHRH-A proved an effective and safe treatment for true precocious puberty in boys as well as girls with central precocious puberty whether of the idiopathic type or secondary to a hamartoma of the tuber cinereum or a hypothalamic neoplasm.

Age Determination by Skeleton↗
PubMed1985

Somatomedin-C in normal puberty and in true precocious puberty before and after treatment with a potent luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist.

To explore further the relationship of gonadal sex steroids to the rise in somatomedin-C (Sm-C) during puberty, we studied a group of children with true precocious puberty before and after treatment which suppressed sex steroid output. Plasma estradiol and testosterone and serum acid-ethanol-extractable Sm-C were determined by specific RIAs in 7 boys and 12 girls with true precocious puberty before and at regular intervals during treatment with a potent LHRH-agonist (LHRH-A), D-Trp6-Pro9-NEt-LHRH. For comparison, Sm-C and sex steroid concentrations were determined in 266 normal adolescents and 37 normal prepubertal children, 1-9 yr of age. The mean +/- SEM Sm-C levels in normal male individuals peaked at 15 yr (2.46 +/- 0.23 U/ml) and at pubertal (genital) stage III (2.29 +/- 0.19 U/ml), and those in normal females reached their highest concentration at 12-15 yr of age and at pubertal (breast) stage III (2.47 +/- 0.15 U/ml). Sm-C concentrations correlated better with pubertal (genital or breast) stage than with chronological age for both sexes and better with testosterone levels in males than with estradiol levels in females. The mean +/- SEM Sm-C concentrations in both males and females with true precocious puberty were 2.07 +/- 0.16 U/ml before therapy and decreased significantly to 1.52 +/- 0.13 U/ml after 6 months of therapy. The mean Sm-C level of the patients remained significantly elevated for chronological age, but decreased into the normal range for bone age after 6-12 months of therapy. Sm-C correlated significantly with testosterone and estradiol levels, but not with growth rate. Mean nighttime GH secretion decreased significantly after 6 months of LHRH-A therapy. In summary, children with true precocious puberty have Sm-C elevations typical of normal puberty. The decrease in Sm-C levels after suppression of gonadal sex steroid output with LHRH-A is evidence that sex steroids are necessary to induce this elevation in Sm-C concentration. The decrease in GH secretion during LHRH-A therapy suggests that the effect of sex steroids on Sm-C levels during normal puberty is mediated, at least in part, through stimulation of GH secretion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

ATP synthesis and hydrolysis in submitochondrial particles subjected to an acid-base transition. Effects of the ATPase inhibitor protein.

ATP hydrolysis or succinate oxidation by inhibitor-rich submitochondrial particles leads to a 3-fold increase in ATPase activity, with concomitant loss of about 30% of bound inhibitor protein. An acid-base transition causes similar, but smaller, effects (a 30% ATPase increase, and a loss of 8% of the inhibitor). Omitting the electrical component of the gradient completely abolished these effects. The inhibitor protein inhibits ADP phosphorylation induced by an acid-base transition but not by NADH oxidation. This is suggested to reflect the slow movement of the inhibitor protein and the brief period of acid-base jump phosphorylation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1983

Interaction of F1-ATPase, from ox heart mitochondria with its naturally occurring inhibitor protein. Studies using radio-iodinated inhibitor protein.

The ox heart mitochondrial inhibitor protein may be iodinated with up to 0.8 mol 125I per mol inhibitor with no loss of inhibitory activity, with no change in binding affinity to submitochondrial particles, and without alteration in the response of membrane-bound inhibitor to energisation. Tryptic peptide maps reveal a single labelled peptide, consistent with modification of the single tyrosine residue of the protein. A single type of high-affinity binding site (Kd=96 . 10 (-9)M) for the inhibitor protein has been measured in submitochondrial particles. The concentration of this site is proportional to the amount of membrane-bound F1, and there appears to be one such site per F1 molecule. The ATp hydrolytic activity of submitochondrial particles is inversely proportional to the occupancy of the high-affinity binding site for the inhibitor protein. No evidence is found for a non-inhibitory binding site on the membrane or on other mitochondrial proteins. In intact mitochondria from bovine heart, the inhibitor protein is present in an approx. 1:1 ratio with F1. Submitochondrial particles prepared by sonication of these mitochondria with MgATP contain about 0.75 mol inhibitor protein per mol F1, and show about 25% of the ATPase activity of inhibitor-free submitochondrial particles. Additional inhibitor protein can be bound to these particles to a level of 0.2 mol/mol F1, with consequent loss of ATPase activity. If MgATP is omitted from the medium, or inhibitors of ATP hydrolysis are present, the rate of combination between F1 and its inhibitor protein is very much reduced. The equilibrium level of binding is, however, unaltered. These results suggest the presence of a single, high-affinity, inhibitory binding site for inhibitor protein on membrane-bound F1. The energisation of coupled submitochondrial particles by succinate oxidation or by ATP hydrolysis results in both the dissociation of inhibitor protein into solution, and the activation of ATP hydrolysis. At least 80% of the membrane-bound F1-inhibitor complex responds to this energisation by participating in a new equilibrium between bound and free inhibitor protein. This finding suggests that a delocalised energy pool is important in promoting inhibitor protein release from F1. Dissipation of the electrochemical gradient by uncouplers, or the binding of oligomycin or efrapetin effectively blocks energised release of the inhibitor protein. Conversely, the addition of aurovertin or adenosine 5'--[beta, lambda--imido]triphosphate enhances energy-driven release. The mode of action of various inhibitors on binding and energised release of the protein inhibitor is discussed.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1983

Binding of mitochondrial ATPase from ox heart to its naturally occurring inhibitor protein: localization by antibody binding.

The naturally occurring ATPase inhibitor protein from ox heart mitochondria was cross-linked to its binding site on the mitochondrial ATPase using 1-ethyl-3-(dimethylamino)propyl carbodiimide. The cross-linked product, when transferred electrophoretically to a nitrocellulose sheet, reacted with antibodies directed against the inhibitor protein and the beta-subunit of the ATPase. It was concluded that the binding site for the inhibitor protein lies on the beta-subunit.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Brevin, a serum protein that acts on the barbed end of actin filaments.

It has previously been shown that brevin, a relatively abundant serum protein, inhibits salt-induced polymerization of actin and reduces the length of actin filaments in vitro. In this study, we find that in the presence of calcium, brevin inhibits actin polymerization that has been nucleated by spectrin-band 4.1-actin complex from erythrocytes. Brevin also blocks elongation of actin filaments from reconstituted inside-out erythrocyte ghosts. Thus, brevin resembles the cytochalasins in inhibiting actin filament elongation by binding to the rapidly growing end of actin filaments (the barbed end after heavy meromyosin decoration). Brevin, like gelsolin from macrophages and villin from intestinal brush border, also appears capable of severing preformed actin filaments and disrupting filament networks as measured with a low-shear falling ball viscometer.

Actins↗
PubMed1982

Short-time low-temperature pasteurisation of human milk.

Using the Oxford Human Milk Pasteuriser human milk was exposed to lower temperature and shorter time periods than employed in classical holder pasteurisation. Heating human milk at 62.5 degrees C for 5 min completely destroyed Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and group B beta-haemolytic streptococci inoculated into the samples. Heating at 56.0 degrees C for 15 min destroyed over 99% of the inoculated organisms. The mean percentage remaining activity of certain antimicrobial proteins after heat treatment at 62.5 degrees C for 30 min, 62.5 degrees C for 5 min and 56 degrees C for 15 min were as follows: IgA 67, and 90%; lactoferrin 27, 59 and 91%; and lysozyme 67, 96 and 106%, respectively. These results suggest that human milk can be effectively pasteurised using less heat treatment than in classical holder pasteurisation. Lower temperature and shorter heat treatment also preserves substantially more of the activity of the antimicrobial proteins present in human milk.

Escherichia coli↗
PubMed1981

Studies of the kinetics of the isolated mitochondrial ATPase using dinitrophenol as a probe.

1. Dinitrophenol and maleate anions increase VATP on the 'washed', isolated, mitochondrial ATPase. Hydrolyses of iso-GTP and 2'-deoxy ATP are also stimulated, while hydrolyses of other nucleoside triphosphates (ITP, GTP etc.) are not. 2. Preincubation with ATP, iso-GTP or 2'-deoxy ATP results in a metastable enzyme form with a raised V and a reduced Km. Dinitrophenol stimulates both ATP and ITP hydrolyses by this form. 3. The Arrhenius plot of ATP (but not ITP) hydrolysis by the isolated ATPase shows a break at about 18 degrees C, apparently because the rate limiting step of hydrolysis changes as the temperature rises. 4. Adenylyl beta, gamma-imidodiphosphate (AdoPP[NH]P) inhibits ITP hydrolysis in a pseudofirst order reaction. Its binding is competitive with ITP. If the enzyme is preincubated with ATP, the rate of AdoPP[NH]P binding increases. It is concluded that AdoPP[NH]P inhibits by binding to the hydrolytic site of the enzyme. 5. We conclude that ATP hydrolysis is limited by diphosphate release and ITP hydrolysis by bond splitting. Energy release during ATP hydrolysis is maximal at the ATP binding step, and during ITP hydrolysis at bond splitting.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1981

The coupling ATPase complex: an evolutionary view.

Phospholipid micelles and vesicles, present in the primordial soup, formed both primitive (surface) catalyst and primitive replicative life forms. With the adoption of a common energy source, ATP, integrated biochemical systems within these vesicles became possible - cells. Fermentation within these primitive cells was favoured by the evolution, first of ion channels allowing protons to leak out, and then of an active ATP-driven pump. In the prokaryotic/mitochondria/chloroplast line, the proton channel was such as to be blocked by dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and the adenosine 5' triphosphate phosphohydrolase (ATPase) by 4-chloro 7-nitrobenzofurazan (Nbf-C1). The ATPase was initially simple (4 subunits) but later, possibly concomitant with its evolution to an ATP synthetase, became more complex (8 subunits). One of the steps in evolution probably involved gene duplication and divergence of 2 subunits (alpha and beta) from the largest of the ATPase subunits. From this stage, the general form of the ATPase was fixed, although sensitivity to, for example, oligomycin involved later, after divergence of the mitochondrial and chloroplast lines. A regulatory protein, the ATPase inhibitor, is found associated with a wide spectrum of coupling ATPases.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1981

Characterization of brevin, a serum protein that shortens actin filaments.

We have purified a protein from rabbit serum with a molecular weight of 90,000 that inhibits the polymerization of actin measured viscometrically and that we have named "brevin" (from the Latin breviare, to shorten). From the extent of purification, we estimate that this inhibitor constitutes 0.3% of the total protein in plasma and serum. Brevin is also present in sera from humans and rats. Almost all of the activity in blood is extracellular; only 1% is present in platelets or other cellular elements. Several lines of evidence indicate that brevin is the same protein as the factor described by Fagraeus and Norberg [Fagraeus, A. & Norberg, R. (1978) Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 82, 1-13] as an actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF). If ADF and brevin are identical, then "ADF" is an inappropriate name because we find that the protein shortens actin filaments without depolymerizing them. Thus, brevin causes little change in the critical concentration of monomeric actin, even though the inhibitor binds to monomeric actin complexed to DNase I-agarose. Binding of brevin to filaments was demonstrated by sedimenting the inhibitor with F-actin. From the amounts of actin and brevin sedimented, and from the lengths of filaments measured by electron microscopy, we calculated that the stoichiometry of binding is one brevin molecule per filament over a wide range of inhibitor concentrations. This stoichiometry suggests that brevin inhibits polymerization by binding at the end of elongating actin filaments, a mechanism similar to that proposed for several intracellular actin-binding proteins and for the cytochalasins. Its abundance suggests that brevin plays an important physiological role in serum, but one not directly concerned with intracellular motility. Therefore its relationship to cytoplasmic actin-binding proteins remains to be determined.

Actins↗
PubMed1981

Alpha-thalassaemic hydrops fetalis.

Concentrations of total protein, albumin, colloid osmotic pressure, and immunoglobulins G and M were measured in the umbilical venous plasma of 4 infants with alpha-thalassaemic hydrops fetalis. Total protein, albumin, and colloid osmotic pressure concentrations were low, and these are likely to contributory factors in the formation of fetal oedema. Immunoglobulin G levels were low suggesting a reduction in placental transfer probably due to placental oedema.

Blood Proteins↗
PubMed1980

Analysis of the mechanism of fast axonal transport by intracellular injection of potentially inhibitory macromolecules: evidence for a possible role of actin filaments.

Although actin is thought to participate in several types of cell motility other than muscle contraction, no direct evidence has linked it to the force-generating mechanism for fast axonal transport. We have obtained evidence for the involvement of actin by microinjecting, into the serotonergic giant cerebral neuron of Aplysia, two preparations that have been shown to depolymerize actin filaments. One is a fraction of rabbit serum containing a heat-labile gamma globulin that affects actin polymerization in a manner similar to that of cytochalasin and several proteins that are thought to regulate the length of actin filaments. The other is bovine pancreatic DNase I which binds to actin stoichiometrically. Both preparations substantially decreased the transport of storage vesicles containing [3H]serotonin. Phalloidin, a toxic fungal peptide that binds to actin filaments but stabilizes rather than depolymerizes them, did not inhibit transport. We have not yet determined whether the inhibition od transport occurs during export of [3H]serotonin from the cell body into the axon or during translocation along the axon. Nevertheless, these observations provide a promising experimental indication that actin is involved in fast axonal transport.

Actins↗
PubMed1979

The ATPase inhibitor protein in oxidative phosphorylation. The rate-limiting factor to phosphorylation in submitochondrial particles.

1. Purified luciferase and luciferin were used to study the time course of phosphorylation in submitochondrial particles. The light emitted was detected by a single-photon counter, using a multichannel analyser, and the results were analysed by an 'on-line' digital computer. 2. Using NADH as substrate, phosphorylation showed, in general, four phases. These were (i) a period of increasing rate ('lag'); (ii) a period of constant (positive) rate; (iii) a period of zero net rate (plateau), when the phosphorylation potential was maintained at its equilibrium value, and (iv) a period of negative rate (atp hydrolysis) after all the oxygen has been consumed. 3. The lag phase, several seconds in length, was a function of the inhibitor protein content of the particles. It was decreased in particles treated to remove the inhibitor protein, either by prior energisation of the particles with NADH, or by addition of aurovertin, which competes with the inhibitor protein for the ATPase. It was concluded that the ATPase inhibitor inhibits both ATP synthesis and hydrolysis by the ATPase. 4. The rate constant for the release of the inhibitor protein from the energised membrane was determined from the time course of ATP production during the lag phase. The activation energy of this process was measured from the temperature dependence of the lag, and was shown to be 13.3 kcal/mol, lower than the activation energy of ATP synthesis or NADH oxidation. 5. The rate constant for inhibitor release was dependent on 'energisation' of the membrane, being lower in the presence of uncouplers. However, it was possible to decrease the rate constant considerably with agents that collapsed the membrane potential without uncoupling the membrane. It was concluded that the inhibitor protein responded to the membrane potential component of the energisation. 6. A kinetic model for energy-dependent dissociation of the ATPase-inhibitor complex is proposed.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗