Integrins and cell adhesion molecules: neuronal receptors that regulate axon growth on extracellular matrices and cell surfaces.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D E Hall.
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A major laminin-binding protein (LBP), distinct from previously described LBPs, has been isolated from chick and rat skeletal muscle (Mr 56,000 and 66,000, respectively). The purified LBPs from the two species were shown to be related antigenically and to have similar NH2-terminal amino acid sequences and total amino acid compositions. Protein blots using laminin and laminin fragments provided evidence that this LBP interacts with the major heparin-binding domain, E3, of laminin. Studies on the association of this LBP with muscle membrane fractions and reconstituted lipid vesicles indicate that this protein can interact with lipid bilayers and has properties of a peripheral, not an integral membrane protein. These properties are consistent with its amino acid sequence, determined from cDNAs (Clegg et al., 1988). Examination by light and electron microscopy of the LBP antigen distribution in skeletal muscle indicated that the protein is localized primarily extracellularly, near the extracellular matrix and myotube plasmalemma. While a form of this LBP has been identified in heart muscle, it is present at low or undetectable levels in other tissues examined by immunocytochemistry indicating that it is probably a muscle-specific protein. As this protein is localized extracellularly and can bind to both membranes and laminin, it may mediate myotube interactions with the extracellular matrix.
Two cDNAs encoding an abundant chicken muscle extracellular matrix (ECM)-associated laminin-binding protein (LBP) have been isolated and sequenced. The predicted primary amino acid sequence includes a probable signal peptide and a site for N-linked glycosylation, but lacks a hydrophobic segment long enough to span the membrane. The COOH terminus consists of an unusual repeat of 33 consecutive aspartate residues. Comparison with other sequences indicates that this protein is different from previously described LBPs and ECM receptors. RNA blot analysis of LBP gene expression showed that LBP mRNA was abundant in skeletal and heart muscle, but barely detectable in other tissues. Blots of chicken genomic DNA suggest that a single gene encodes this LBP. The amino acid sequence and mRNA distribution are consistent with the biochemical characterization described by Hall and co-workers (Hall, D. E., K. A. Frazer, B. C. Hahn, and L. F. Reichardt. 1988. J. Cell Biol. 107:687-697). These analyses indicate that LBP is an abundant ECM-associated muscle protein with an unusually high negative charge that interacts with both membranes and laminin, and has properties of a peripheral, not integral membrane protein. Taken together, our studies show that muscle LBP is a secreted, peripheral membrane protein with an unusual polyaspartate domain. Its laminin and membrane binding properties suggest that it may help mediate muscle cell interactions with the extracellular matrix. We propose the name "aspartactin" for this LBP.
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The short-term effects of citral on the liver have been studied in two strains of rat. Hepatomegaly was accompanied in citral-treated rats by an altered distribution of lipid and glycogen in the liver and peroxisome proliferation occurred in a manner reminiscent of that associated with some hypolipidaemic compounds. Specific biochemical markers supported the morphological changes in the peroxisomes. Cyanide-insensitive palmitoyl CoA oxidation showed, at the maximum, fourfold and threefold inductions in Wistar albino and Long Evans hooded rats, respectively. In addition, induction of cytochrome P-450 levels was greater in the Long Evans than in the Wistar rats, the maximal increases recorded being 81 and 27% respectively. A peroxisome-associated polypeptide of molecular weight 80,000 daltons (PPA-80) was induced, especially in Long Evans rats. No alterations in plasma triglycerides or total cholesterol were detected. The differential induction of the mixed-function oxidase system and the differential proliferation of peroxisomes in these two strains of rat suggest that citral may be metabolized differently in the two strains. The study indicates that peroxisomal and possibly also mitochondrial changes are involved in the action of citral on lipid metabolism.
Cell attachment and neurite outgrowth by embryonic neural retinal cells were measured in separate quantitative assays to define differences in substrate preference and to demonstrate developmentally regulated changes in cellular response to different extracellular matrix glycoproteins. Cells attached to laminin, fibronectin, and collagen IV in a concentration-dependent fashion, though fibronectin was less effective for attachment than the other two substrates. Neurite outgrowth was much more extensive on laminin than on fibronectin or collagen IV. These results suggest that different substrates have distinct effects on neuronal differentiation. Neural retinal cell attachment and neurite outgrowth were inhibited on all three substrates by two antibodies, cell substratum attachment antibody (CSAT) and JG22, which recognize a cell surface glycoprotein complex required for cell interactions with several extracellular matrix constituents. In addition, retinal cells grew neurites on substrates coated with the CSAT antibodies. These results suggest that cell surface molecules recognized by this antibody are directly involved in cell attachment and neurite extension. Neural retinal cells from embryos of different ages varied in their capacity to interact with extracellular matrix substrates. Cells of all ages, embryonic day 6 (E6) to E12, attached to collagen IV and CSAT antibody substrates. In contrast, cell attachment to laminin and fibronectin diminished with increasing embryonic age. Age-dependent differences were found in the profile of proteins precipitated by the CSAT antibody, raising the possibility that modifications of these proteins are responsible for the dramatic changes in substrate preference of retinal cells between E6 and E12.
The pathway of serine synthesis by the rat kidney has been investigated in vivo by measuring the net flux in the presence and absence of specific inhibitors of the glycine cleavage system, phosphoenol-pyruvate carboxykinase and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase. In normal animals serine release was 705 +/- 187 nmol X min-1 X animal-1, whereas glycine uptake was only 28% of this value. Inhibition of the glycine cleavage system (cysteamine infusion) resulted in a reversal of glycine flux with no change in serine production. In similar experiments with mercaptopicolinate serine release was decreased by 55% with no change in glycine removal. AT-125, a potent inhibitor of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, had no effect on renal serine and glycine fluxes. In chronically acidotic rats serine synthesis was unchanged, but there were significant increases in the uptake of glutamine (fourfold) and glycine (2.5-fold). Infusion of cysteamine into these animals caused a 50% decrease in serine release with a significant reversal of the glycine flux. Infusion of mercaptopicolinate had effects similar to those observed in normal animals. These results show that renal serine synthesis can occur by both the phosphorylated-intermediate pathway and serine hydroxymethyltransferase in vivo. Furthermore, they demonstrate that glycine can contribute significantly to ammoniagenesis during acidosis.
Effects were examined of inanition, dietary aflatoxin (2.5 mg/kg), and dietary supplements of threonine, lysine, and arginine on the activities of renal arginase and hepatic ornithine decarboxylase and on the accumulation of polyamines in liver and brain of 24 or 26-day-old broiler cockerels. Aflatoxicosis and inanition lowered the activity of renal arginase by 58 and 37%, respectively. Supplemental dietary threonine (.4%) did not suppress the activity of renal arginase, while fortification of diets of controls with lysine (.53%), but not diets containing aflatoxin, elevated the activity of renal arginase. Supplements of dietary lysine and/or arginine did not influence the hepatic content of putrescine but lowered the concentrations of spermidine and spermine. Aflatoxicosis, but not inanition, increased the activity of hepatic ornithine decarboxylase (ODC; 22-fold), increased hepatic concentrations of putrescine and spermidine, but decreased spermine concentrations. The elevation of hepatic ODC, putrescine, and the ratio of spermidine to spermine parallels the enlargement of the liver caused by aflatoxicosis. Cadaverine and putrescine were not detected in avian brain, while cerebral concentrations of spermidine and spermine were not altered by aflatoxin, inanition, or by supplements of dietary lysine, arginine, or both lysine and arginine.
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Groups of male Wistar albino rats were administered diets containing sufficient fenofibrate to ensure intakes of either 200, 60 or 13 mg/kg/day or sufficient clofibrate to ensure an intake of 400 mg/kg/day. Four rats from each experimental group and 6 control rats were killed, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days, 8, 12 and 20 weeks and 6, 9, 12 and 18 months after commencement of treatment. At all time points livers were subjected to histological, electron microscopic and biochemical examination, the other major abdominal organs were removed for histological examination. A more extensive necropsy was carried out on rats killed after 12 and 18 months. The major alterations were observed in the liver, although there were also morphological changes in the thyroid, pancreas and kidney after prolonged treatment. The hepatic changes followed a distinct time course. Within 24 h of offering diets containing the compounds to the rats there was accumulation of small droplets of lipid, induction of peroxisomal enzymes and of the specific cytochrome P-450 catalysing omega-hydroxylation of fatty acids and an increase in the number of mitotic figures. More slowly developing changes were loss from the centrilobular zone of fat, glycogen and of glucose 6-phosphatase activity. Here maximal changes were observed after 14 days of treatment. A still more slowly developing change was accumulation of enlarged lipid-loaded lysosomes, which was maximal at 26 weeks, accompanied by the development of lipofuscin bodies. Finally, in animals treated for 12 months or more there was evidence for increasing cell turnover as indicated by an increased number of mitotic figures, more dark cells and induction of serum alanine transaminase. The last 2 groups of changes were not observed in rats treated with 13 mg/kg/day of fenofibrate. In general the degree of change in rats treated with 400 mg/kg/day of clofibrate was similar to those found in rats treated with 60 mg/kg/day of fenofibrate.
Renal serine synthesis was studied in the isolated perfused kidney and in isolated cortical tubules. Serine was produced by the perfused kidney from both glycine and aspartate, indicating flux through at least two separate pathways: serine hydroxymethyltransferase and either the nonphosphorylated or phosphorylated intermediate pathways. The precise nephron site of serine production was determined by measuring serine synthesis from various precursors and the activities of enzymes of both pathways in isolated tubules fractionated on a Percoll gradient into proximal tubule and distal tubule fractions. Both pathways of serine synthesis were located in proximal tubules. Detailed studies of serine synthesis from glycine demonstrated extremely tight coupling between the glycine cleavage enzyme and serine hydroxymethyltransferase, since the rate of 14CO2 production from [2-14C]glycine was less than 5% of that of [1-14C]glycine, whereas the rate of incorporation of 14C into serine from [2-14C]glycine was double that from [1-14C]glycine. These studies demonstrate that the kidney can synthesize serine by two separate pathways, both located in the cells of the proximal tubule.
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Glycine is metabolized in isolated renal cortical tubules to stochiometric qualities of ammonia, CO2 and serine by the combined actions of the glycine-cleavage-enzyme complex and serine hydroxymethyltransferase. The rate of renal glycine metabolism by this route is increased in tubules from acidotic rats, but is not affected in vitro by decreasing the incubation pH from 7.4 to 7.1. Metabolic acidosis caused an increase in the renal activity of the glycine-cleavage-enzyme complex, but there were no changes in the activity of serine hydroxymethyltransferase or of methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase. This enzymic adaptation permits increased ammoniagenesis from glycine during acidosis. The physiological implications are discussed.
Isolated perfused rat kidneys removed considerable quantities of glycyltyrosine, glycylhydroxyproline, tetraglycine and prolylhydroxyproline from the perfusate. The component amino acids are released into the perfusate and, in the case of the glycine-containing peptides, there is increased synthesis of serine. Removal of peptides was more than could be accounted for on the basis of filtration, so antiluminal metabolism is indicated. Metabolism of such peptides by the kidney may contribute to renal serine synthesis in vivo.
The metabolism of hydroxyproline by the rat kidney leads to the production of significant quantities of both glycine and serine. This process was observed in both the isolated perfused kidney and in isolated cortical tubule suspensions. The rate of hydroxyproline metabolism was increased in both preparations by the addition of alanine. The distribution of hydroxyproline oxidase, hydroxyoxoglutarate aldolase and alanine-glyoxalate transaminase were determined in detail. All three enzymes were found exclusively in the renal cortex where they were restricted to the mitochondria. Cortical tubule fractionation studies indicated that the enzymes are located in the proximal convoluted and proximal straight segments at the nephron. The results suggest that hydroxyproline degradation could contribute significantly to the renal synthesis of serine.
Treatment of rats with 25 mg/kg/day of the neuroleptic drug chlorpromazine for periods of 7, 28 or 90 days causes a slow accumulation of lipid in large droplets in centrilobular hepatocytes. There is little or no damage to hepatocytes as assessed by changes in glucose-6-phosphatase activity and by electron microscopy. Furthermore there is no indication of a change in peroxisomal beta-oxidation of fatty acids or in microsomal omega-oxidation of fatty acids. It is, therefore, clear that lipid accumulation in the liver does not automatically induce peroxisomal and microsomal fatty acid oxidising enzymes.
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Treatment of rats with hypolipidaemic drugs or with the plasticizer di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate caused significant alterations in the concentration of certain plasma proteins. Certain proteins showed dose-dependent increases, in other cases the plasma concentrations fell in treated animals. The changes were quite distinct from the changes in plasma proteins which occur during the acute-phase response to inflammatory agents. Some changes appeared specific to agents which produce peroxisome proliferation in liver, other alterations appeared associated with mild, but sustained, liver injury.