Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D M Small.
Thermal analysis of human plasma low density lipoproteins reveals a broad reversible transition encompassing body temperature. The calorimetric and x-ray scattering data identify this transition as a cooperation, liquid-crystalline to liquid phase change involving the cholesterol esters in the lipoprotein. This behavior requires the presence of a region rich in cholesterol ester within the lipoprotein.
Temperature-dependent conformational changes of the principal apoprotein of human plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL), apoA-I, have been studied in the isolated apoprotein, in complexes of apoprotein with phospholipid, and in intact HDL. Differential scanning calorimetry shows that in solution apoA-I undergoes a reversible, two-state thermal denaturation (midpoint temperature 54 degrees). The enthalpy (2.4 cal/g)(10.0 J/g) and specific heat change (0.08 cal/degrees C per g)(0.33 J/degrees C per g) associated with the denaturation were used to calculate the free energy difference (deltaG) between native and unfolded apoA-I at 37 degrees. DeltaG (2.4 kcal/mol)(10.0 kJ/mol) is less than that of other globular proteins (typically 8-14 kcal/mol)(33-59 kJ/mol), indicating that at 37 degrees native apoA-I has a loosely folded conformation. Turbidity studies show that apoA-I is able to solubilize phospholipid in its native but not in its denatured form. Mixtures of apo-HDL (the total apoprotein of HDL) or apoA-I with dimyristoyl lecithin show a thermal transition at about 85 degrees not present in the lecithin or the apoprotein alone, which indicates that the native conformation of the apoprotein is stabilized by phospholipid. Scanning calorimetry of intact HDL shows a high-temperature endotherm associated with disruption of the HDL particle, suggesting that in HDL the conformation of apoA-I is also stabilized by interaction with lipid. The loosely folded conformation of native, uncomplexed apoA-I may be especially adapted to the binding of lipid, since this process may involve both hydrophobic sites on the surface of the protein and concealed apolar amino acid residues that are exposed by a cooperative, low energy unfolding process.
Bile salts play a major role in bile formation and biliary lipid secretion. Sodium taurodihydrofusidate (TDHF), a derivative of the antibiotic fusidic acid, closely resembles bile salts in terms of structure, micellar characteristics, and capacity ot solubilize otherwise insolbule lipids. We have therefore studied the biliary secretion of this bile salt analogue and its influence on bile formation and biliary lipid secretion in primates. Alert, unanesthetized female rhesus monkeys prepared with a total biliary fistula were allowed to reach a steady bile salt secretion rate before each study. In three animals (group I),[14C]TDHF was infused intravenously. Most of the compound was secreted rapidly in bile chemically unchanged. The biliary secretion of this drug produced a twofold increase in bile flow; however, the bile salt output was markedly reduced during the infusion. In spite of this reduction, the phospholipid output remained essentially unchanged whereas the cholesterol output increased almost twofold. In five other animals (group II), the effect of TDHF on the bile salt secretion was further investigated by an intravenous infusion of [14C]taurocholate followed by a combined infusion of [14C]taurocholate and TDHF. When TDHF was added to the infusate, a reduction in the [14C]taurocholate output and a progressive rise in the plasma [14C]taurocholate concentration were observed in each animal. An analysis of the data in both groups indicates that (a) the most likely explanation to account for the decreased bile salt output is that the bile salt analogue, TDHF, interfered with bile salt secretion into the biliary canaliculi; (b) TDHF induces a greater secretion of biliary water than was observed with bile salts, an effect consistent with a stimulation of the bile salt-independent canalicular flow; (c) at similar 3alpha-hydroxysteroid secretion rates TDHF caused a significant increase in cholesterol secretion compared to that induced by bile salt. This finding suggests that TDHF affects cholesterol metabolism or secretion in a way distinct from bile salts. Thus, the solubilization of biliary lipids in mixed micelles, although essential, is only one of the factors which determine their secretion into bile.
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The phase behavior of bovine brain sphingomyelin in water has been determined by polarizing light microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. Lamellar phases, in which water is intercalated between sheets of lipid molecules arranged in the classical bilayer fashion, are present over much of the phase diagram. An order-disorder transition separates the high temperature, liquid crystalline, lamellar phase from a more ordered lamellar phase at low temperatures. The hydration characteristics of sphingomyelin are similar to the structurally related lecithin in that only limited amounts of water are incorporated above and below the transition. Above the transition at 47 degrees C, a maximum of 35% by weight of water can be incorporated between the lipid bilayers, the total thickness at maximum hydration being 60.2 A, the lipid thickness 38 A, and the surface area per lipid molecule at the interface 60 A(2). Water in excess of 35% by weight is present as a separate phase. Below the phase transition, at 25 degrees C a maximum of 42% by weight of water may be incorporated between the lipid bilayers. On increasing the hydration, the lamellar repeat distance increases from 63.5 A to a limiting value of 76 A. Within this hydration range the calculated lipid thickness decreases from 63.5 to 42.5 A, and the surface area per lipid molecule increases from 36.1 to 53.6 A(2). Although these changes may be accounted for by a structure in which the hexagonally packed ordered hydrocarbon chains tilt progressively with respect to the normal to the bilayer plane on increasing hydration, it is possible that changes in other more complex lamellar structures may be responsible for these variations in lipid thickness and surface area.
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Phenobarbital, by inducing liver microsomal enzymes, may affect bile acid synthesis from cholesterol and thus alter the secretion of biliary lipids and the composition of bile. We, therefore, determined the effects of phenobarbital on bile flow, biliary lipid secretion, bile acid synthesis, and bile-acid pool size. Using an experimental preparation that allows controlled interruption of the enterohepatic circulation (1), we administered 5 mg/kg per day of phenobarbital to healthy Rhesus monkeys for 1-2 wk to achieve steady-state conditions. Three animals were studied with an intact enterohepatic circulation and three with a total bile fistula, each animal served as its own control. Total bile flow and secretion of bile salt, phospholipid, and cholesterol were measured every 24 h during steady-state conditions. Further, under conditions of an intact enterohepatic circulation bile-acid synthetic rate was measured in three animals and pool size estimated in two animals during both control and drug treatment periods. Phenobarbital at doses of 5 mg/kg per day increased bile flow 30-50% in all animals (P < 0.001). The increased bile flow resulted from both an increased "bile-salt independent fraction" and an increased bile-salt secretion rate. Phenobarbital significantly increased bile salt (P < 0.01) and phospholipid secretion (P < 0.05) by about 30% but cholesterol secretion was not significantly changed. Consequently, the concentration of cholesterol relative to bile salt and phospholipid was decreased (P < 0.001). Phenobarbital significantly enhanced the maximal rate of bile acid synthesis 25-30% in all three monkeys with total bile fistulas (P < 0.05) and also augmented bile acid synthesis and pool size in animals with intact enterohepatic circulations despite the fact that the rates of bile salt returning to the liver in these animals would have inhibited bile acid synthesis in control animals. Thus, phenobarbital not only increases the maximal rate of bile acid synthesis but also alters the normal control mechanisms by which bile salts returning to the liver inhibit bile salt synthesis. The fact that phenobarbital treatment results in increased synthesis of bile salt and unchanged secretion of cholesterol is consistant with the view that the drug augments conversion of hepatic cholesterol to bile salt. The resulting decrease in relative cholesterol content in bile may have therapeutic implications for cholesterol gallstone therapy.
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