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Biomedical subjects

E Schoffeniels

Publications and source records attributed to E Schoffeniels.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Thiamine triphosphatase from Electrophorus electric organ is anion-dependent and irreversibly inhibited by 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'disulfonic acid.

Thiamine triphosphatase (TTPase) from membranes isolated from the main electric organ of E. electricus is activated about 8 fold by NO3-, I- and SCN- while SO42- is inhibitory. Activating anions shift the pH optimum of the enzyme from 5.0 to 8.0. The enzyme is irreversibly inactivated by low concentrations of 4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2' disulfonic acid (DIDS), an inhibitor of anion transport. Anions protect from DIDS inactivation. These and other results suggest that the membrane-bound TTPase activity is tightly controlled, possibly through mechanisms involving anion transport.

4,4'-Diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-Disulfonic Acid↗
PubMed1988

Synthesis of [gamma-32P]thiamine triphosphate.

We developed a novel chemical synthesis of thiamine triphosphate which allows us to incorporate 32P in the gamma position. The reaction is based on the condensation of [32P]orthophosphoric acid and thiamine diphosphate in the presence of ethyl chloroformate. After purification by two ion-exchange purification steps, the thiamine derivative has a specific radioactivity of 10 Ci/mmol. The average final yield synthesis is about 10%.

Chromatography, Ion Exchange↗
PubMed1987

Thiamine triphosphate and membrane-associated thiamine phosphatases in the electric organ of Electrophorus electricus.

The main electric organ of Electrophorus electricus is particularly rich in thiamine triphosphate, which represents 87% of the total thiamine content in this tissue. The thiamine pyrophosphate concentration, however, is very low in the eel electric organ and skeletal muscle as compared with other eel or rat tissues. Furthermore, electroplax membranes contain a whole set of enzymes responsible for the dephosphorylation of thiamine tri-, pyro- and monophosphate. Thiamine triphosphatase has a pH optimum of 6.8 and is dependent on Mg2+. The real substrate of the enzyme is probably a 1:1 complex of Mg2+ and thiamine triphosphate. Thiamine pyrophosphatase is activated by Ca2+. The apparent Km for thiamine triphosphate and Vmax are found to be, respectively, 1.76 mM and 5.95 nmol/mg of protein/min. Thiamine triphosphatase activity is inhibited at physiological K+ concentrations (up to 90 mM) and increasing Na+ concentrations (50% inhibition at 300 mM). ZnCl2 (10 mM) inhibits 90% of the enzyme activity. ATP and ITP are also strongly inhibitory. No significant effect of neurotoxins is seen. Membrane-associated thiamine triphosphatase is affected differently by proteolytic enzymes and is partially inactivated by pretreatment with phospholipase C and neuraminidase. The physiological significance of thiamine triphosphatase is discussed in relation to a specific role of thiamine in the nervous system.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Conducting sites in excitable membranes.

Electrical activity of conducting membranes is produced by transient changes in membrane conductance to Na and K ions. These time- and voltage-dependent conductance changes are controlled by intrinsic proteins that span the membrane and provide a pathway for ion movement. Several lines of evidence indicate that the membrane conducting sites are indeed largely or entirely protein structures. Proteolytic enzymes, when applied on unmyelinated axonal membrane such as the gar olfactory nerve or on eel electroplax, completely destroyed tetrodotoxin (TTX) binding. Treatment of the internal face of the giant axon of the squid with proteases resulted in the loss of the inactivation mechanism of the increased sodium conductance. The binding site of the TTX component in membrane isolated from eel electroplax, estimated by the method of irradiation inactivation, revealed MWs in the range of 230-240 kd. Moreover, this membrane component undergoes a cycle of phosphorylation-dephosphorylation that is affected by electrical activity and various neurotropic compounds and has also been shown to be a protein by the use of proteolytic enzymes. The membrane conducting sites through which ions are flowing are generally called "channels," and the activated "channels" are thought to form "pores" through which ions diffuse according to their electrochemical potential. The channel behaves as though it exists in open or closed permeability or "gating" states. The gating is generally assumed to be solely controlled by the voltage gradient across the membrane. Hence, the denominations of "gating proteins" are often attributed to the specific protein forming the membrane conducting sites. These proteins are intrinsic membrane proteins whose conformational changes, driven by the electric field in the membrane, are responsible for the ion fluxes generating the electrical activity in excitable cells. Electrical excitation of conducting cells involves transient permeability increases to Na+, K+, and Ca+ ions. In some specific cases, Cl-ions may also be involved. These ionic permeabilities are voltage-dependent and can be modified selectively and independently by a variety of compounds, thus leading to the idea that specific entities are spatially separated in the membrane and are acting independently. However, some data of patch-clamp analysis are best interpreted if one assumes that the activation of a specific entity may control the activation of another entity, thereby suggesting a kind of cooperation among some specific ionic sites.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1986

[Biological order].

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Adaptation, Biological↗
PubMed1984

High-yield synthesis of a [3H]ethylenediamine ditetrodotoxin derivative.

[3H]Tetrodotoxin [( 3H]TTX) and a [3H]ethylenediamine derivative of TTX are the most widely used ligands for the study of the Na channel. The former ligand presents a low specific radioactivity (1 Ci/mmol) while the latter is highly labeled (30 Ci/mmol). However, its two-step synthesis, i.e., mild oxidation followed by coupling of [3H]ethylenediamine, has been described with a low overall yield of 1.7%. In this work, more favorable experimental conditions are defined for the limiting reaction, i.e., the oxidation step, using [14C]testosterone as a model molecule. Applied to the oxidation of tetrodotoxin, this procedure produces yield values of 30-50%, as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Moreover, two oxidized TTX molecules appear to be covalently linked to [3H]ethylenediamine, yielding a new labeled tetrodotoxin derivative with a specific radioactivity of 45 Ci/mmol and a dissociation constant of 0.6 nM for electroplax membranes.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Determination of thiamine and thiamine phosphates in excitable tissues as thiochrome derivatives by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on octadecyl silica.

The analysis of thiamine and thiamine phosphates by high-performance liquid chromatography owes its high sensitivity to the fluorescent derivatives or thiochromes obtained by chemical oxidation in alkaline medium. The possibility of performing precolumn oxidation with potassium ferricyanide instead of using the hazardous cyanogen bromide has been investigated. The derivatization step has been optimized with respect to the following parameters: concentration of alkali and oxidant, presence of methanol and stability of the thiochromes . A gradient separation with 25 mM phosphate buffer (pH 8.4) and methanol as mobile phase components and an octadecyl silica column as stationary phase has been set up. The analytical run takes 14 min with the following elution order: thiochrome triphosphate, thiochrome pyrophosphate, thiochrome monophosphate and thiochrome. The minimum detectable amount is 0.05 pmol. The method was found suitable for the determination of thiamine compounds in excitable tissues such as nerves and electric organs as well as in proteins extracted from membranes of these organs. It may be useful to study the role of thiamine in the electrical activity of these tissues at the molecular level.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Acetylcholine receptor (from Electrophorus electricus): a comparison of single-channel current recordings and chemical kinetic measurements.

We report a direct comparison between two types of measurements of the dynamic properties of the acetylcholine receptor: single-channel currents recorded using the patch-clamp technique and chemical kinetic measurements. Electrophorus electricus electroplax cells, and membrane vesicles prepared from these cells, were used. Such a comparison, and single-channel currents recorded from these cells, have not previously been reported. We first give the theoretical basis for the comparison and define the conditions under which the comparisons are elegantly simple. We relate (i) measurements of currents through receptor channels in the cell membranes to measurements of the rates of ion translocation through the receptor channels in vesicles and (ii) measurements of the lifetimes of receptor states (for instance, the lifetime of the active state of the receptor--i.e., the state in which it can form open channels) to rate coefficients obtained in chemical kinetic measurements (for instance, those for the interconversions between different states of the receptor). In eel Ringer's solution we have found the single-channel conductance (gamma) of the receptor in E. electricus electroplax cells to be 53 pS. From this value, a specific reaction rate for ion translocation, J, of 5 X 10(7) M-1 X sec-1 was calculated. When membrane vesicles prepared from the electroplax cells and the same solution compositions were used, chemical kinetic measurements gave a J value of 3 X 10(7) M-1 X sec-1. The agreement between the two measurements is important because (i) they reflect different experimental conditions, which require different assumptions in interpreting the results, and (ii) it indicates that the two techniques can be used to obtain complementary information: the methods have different time resolutions and can be used in different ranges of acetylcholine concentrations.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1984

Phosphate derivatives of thiamine and Na+ channel in conducting membranes.

The results show that thiamine derivatives are copurified with the specific proteins forming the Na+ channel in conducting membranes. Therefore, thiamine derivatives could well play a specific role in the molecular aspects of bioelectrogenesis , an interpretation that could help explain the neurological symptoms observed in human pathology as well as in animals experimentally rendered deficient in vitamin B1.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Binding of [3H]ethylenediamine di-tetrodotoxin to its solubilized receptor from excitable tissues. Binding measurements by rapid gel-filtration and receptor stabilization by phosphatidylcholine.

The molecular study of bioelectrogenesis requires the purification of the membrane proteins involved in the Na-channel electrical activity. This complex biological structure contains various binding sites for different classes of neurotoxins. Labelled forms of the blocking agent, tetrodotoxin, are used to identified and quantified the solubilized membrane proteins during the purification. Such a specific probe was synthetized in our laboratory and this work reports the experimental set-up of the binding technique. A fast-gel-filtration method has been optimized with respect to column design, centrifugation time and speed and, delay between sample application and column centrifugation.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Thiamine phosphorylated derivatives and bioelectrogenesis.

Kinetic as well as thermodynamic considerations favour the idea that the change in sodium conductance explaining the action potential, must result from a bimolecular reaction system. The fact that thiamine phosphorylated derivatives are associated with the specific protein forming the sodium channel could well mean that these thiamine derivatives and more specifically thiamine triphosphate are directly involved in the conductance change.

Animals↗