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Biomedical subjects

G Palmer

Publications and source records attributed to G Palmer.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Comparison of the transport of chlorozotocin and CCNU in L1210 leukemia and murine bone marrow cells in vitro.

The uptake of radiolabeled CLZ and CCNU by L1210 leukemia and murine bone marrow cells was investigated to determine whether the preferential ratio of alkylation of L1210 DNA to murine bone marrow DNA of 1.3 by 0.1 mM CLZ, as against a ratio of 0.6 by equimolar CCNU, is secondary to differences in uptake. The concentration of intact CLZ was determined in the medium and the intracellular water space. The cell: medium ratio (intracellular concentration/medium concentration) of CLZ in bone marrow cells was greater than that seen for L1210 cells. However, the intracellular CLZ concentration generally remained constant in both cell types at 37 degrees C, between 7.0 and 10.0 pmole/microliters. The L1210: murine bone marrow cell ratio of intracellular CLZ concentrations was approximately 1.0 from 10 to 60 min. The intracellular CCNU concentration during the uptake of 0.1 mM (chloroethyl-U-14C) CCNU at 37 degrees C was constant at 85 pmol/microliters from 10 to 60 min in L1210 cells, but slowly decreased from 66 pmole/microliters at 20 min to 43 pmole/microliters at 60 min in bone marrow cells. The L1210: murine bone marrow cell ratio of intracellular CCNU concentrations ranged from 1.45 to 1.98 from 20 to 60 min. Thus, it appears that the preferential ratio of alkylation of L1210 DNA to murine bone marrow DNA by CLZ compared with equimolar CCNU cannot be explained by differences in uptake of the two agents by the two cell types. The uptake of 0.1 mM CLZ at 37 degrees C by L1210 cells in McCoy's 5A medium containing 300 mg% glucose was not affected by the addition of 5 mM cold drug, nor was it affected by the absence of glucose in the medium, with or without cold drug. This suggests that CLZ uptake into L1210 cells is via passive diffusion and that CLZ does not enter these cells via the glucose transport mechanism.

Animals↗

Charge transfer complexes between pteridine substrates and the active center molybdenum of xanthine oxidase.

Anaerobic addition of lumazine (2,4-dihydroxypteridine) to xanthine oxidase leads to a rapid bleaching of the enzyme with concomitant formation of a long wave-length species with maximum absorbance at 650 nm. At the conclusion of the reaction there is a net increase in absorbance at wavelengths greater than 550 nm. A spectrally similar species is obtained when violapterin is added to dithionite-reduced enzyme. This long wavelength absorbance is not accompanied by an EPR signal characteristic of flavin neutral radical and it is produced equally well in flavin-free xanthine oxidase. Its production is eliminated by the inhibitors, cyanide and allopurinol, which react at the molybdenum center. We conclude that this new species is a charge transfer complex between Mo(IV) and the product of the reaction, violapterin (2,4,7-trihydroxypteridine). A similar, though less intense, absorbance at 650 nm is also obtained when lumazine is bound to the reduced enzyme. These Mo(IV)-pteridine charge transfer compounds are optically active and exhibit intense circular dichroism centered at 630 nm.

Anaerobiosis↗

Models of the two heme centers in cytochrome oxidase. The optical properties of cytochrome a and a3.

High and low spin complexes of ferric and ferrous heme a have been prepared and characterized spectroscopically. Bis(1-methylimidazole) heme a provides a good model for cytochrome a in both oxidation states while several spectral properties of cytochrome a3 can be reproduced by 1,2-dimethylimidazole heme a3. The visible absorbance spectra of these analogs account well for the absorbance spectra of oxidized and reduced cytochrome oxidase and support the conclusion (Vanneste, W. (1966) Biochemistry 5, 838-848) that cytochrome a provides the major contribution to the spectral changes in the 600 nm band upon reduction. The 655 nm band present in cytochrome oxidase appears to be a characteristic of high spin heme a+3.

Animals↗

The room temperature potentiometry of xanthine oxidase. pH-dependent redox behavior of the flavin, molybdenum, and iron-sulfur centers.

A series of potentiometric titrations of xanthine oxidase have been performed at room temperature in the pH range 6.1-9.9. Reduction of the two Fe/S centers was monitored by CD, and that of the FAD and Mo center by EPR. The Fe/S centers behave as centers having a protonable group whose pKa changes with reduction state (E = -344 mV, pKo = 6.4, and pKr = 8.1 for Fe/S I; E = -249 mV, pKo = 6.4, and pKr = 8.0 for Fe/S II). The flavin and the two types of molybdenum centers show varying behavior, but, in all cases, electron addition is accompanied by protonation. The sequence for FAD is reduction, protonation, reduction, protonation with E1 = -398 mV, E2 = -240 mV, pK1 = 9.5, pK2 = 7.4. For "rapid" molybdenum, the sequence is protonation, reduction, protonation, reduction with E1 = -369 mV, E2 = -301 mV, pK1 = 7.9, pK2 = 8.4; and for slow molybdenum, protonation, reduction, protonation with E1 = 320 mV, E2 = -477 mV, pK1 = 7.5, pK2 = 9.5. Comparison to data obtained previously at cryogenic temperatures (Cammack, R., Barber, M. J., and Bray, R. C. (1976) Biochem. J. 157, 469-468 and Barber, M. J., and Seigel, L. M. (1982) in Flavins and Flavoproteins (Massey, V., and Williams, C. H., eds) pp. 796-804, Elsevier/North-Holland, New York) showed the centers to have significant temperature dependence, which calls for a re-evaluation of conclusions reached using cryogenic techniques (e.g. rapid-freeze). The optical absorbance characteristics of the enzyme were also investigated and a possible absorbance for molybdenum was suggested.

Animals↗

Purification and characterization of highly purified cytochrome b from complex III of baker's yeast.

A simple, high-yield purification procedure for cytochrome b from yeast Complex III has been developed. This procedure involves solubilization using chemical modification of the lysine residues with 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride followed by hydroxyapatite column chromatography. This purified cytochrome b has a heme content of 37.0 nmol cytochrome b/mg and a molecular weight on SDS gels of 25000-26000. Amino acid analysis indicates high hydrophobicity and is very comparable to the composition deduced from the gene sequence (Nobrega, F.G. and Tzagoloff, A. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 9828-9837). The latter data indicate a molecular weight of 42000 for the polypeptide; our heme analyses thus imply the presence of two hemes per polypeptide chain. Optical and MCD spectra are typical of a low-spin b-type cytochrome. MCD-potentiometric titration indicates a one-electron carrier with a single midpoint potential of -44 mV at pH 7.4 and 25 degrees C. The EPR spectrum of isolated cytochrome b has only one gz signal at 3.70, indicating that the 'strained' heme structure (Carter, K., T'sai, A. and Palmer, G. (1981) FEBS Lett. 132, 243--246) is still maintained. No indication of antimycin binding was demonstrated either by the direct-fluorescence method or binding-precipitation method although stoichiometric binding to the parent Complex III was readily demonstrated.

Amino Acids↗

Kinetic characterization of the interaction between cytochrome oxidase and cytochrome c.

The mechanism of electron transfer catalyzed by cytochrome oxidase was investigated by monitoring the reaction of cytochrome oxidase with cytochrome c under carefully controlled anaerobic conditions. The kinetics of the reaction were examined by varying conditions of ionic strength, inhibitor binding, and oxidation-reduction potential. An analogue of cytochrome c in which the iron atom was replaced with cobalt was used to probe the effect of redox potential on the reaction. Under conditions of low ionic strength, there is very rapid oxidation of cytochrome c and reduction of oxidase which occurs at a rate of 3 X 10(7) M-1 s-1. The number of electrons transferred exhibit a hyperbolic dependence on the concentration of cytochrome c reaching a maximum of 2 electrons transferred at the highest concentration of reduced cytochrome c employed. The total number of electrons transferred was always observed to be distributed equally between cytochrome a and a second acceptor which appears to be the associated copper center; electron transfer to cytochrome a3 did not occur in the absence of oxygen. Substitution of cytochrome c by the cobalt analogue (which represents a decrease in oxidation-reduction potential of about 400 mV) yielded identical results indicating that the origin of the lack of reactivity of cytochrome a3 is of a kinetic nature. The effect of increasing the ionic strength on the reaction was 2-fold: a marked decrease in reaction rate and the appearance of biphasic kinetics with the amplitude of the very fast absorbance changes at 605 nm decreasing from 80% to 40% of the total anticipated from static absorbance measurements. Each of the two phases accounted for a maximum of 1 electron at the highest ionic strength employed. These results are simulated in terms of a sample kinetic reaction scheme involving a two-step electron transfer at one binding site.

Anaerobiosis↗

The reaction of reduced xanthine oxidase with oxygen. Kinetics of peroxide and superoxide formation.

Product formation during the oxidation of xanthine oxidase has been examined directly by using cytochrome c peroxidase as a trapping agent for hydrogen peroxide and the reduction of cytochrome c as a measure of superoxide formation. When fully reduced enzyme is mixed with high concentrations of oxygen, 2 molecules of H2O2/flavin are produced rapidly, while 1 molecule of O2-/flavin is produced rapidly and another produced much more slowly. Time courses for superoxide formation and those for the absorbance changes due to enzyme oxidation were fitted successfully to the mechanism proposed earlier (Olson, J. S., Ballou, D. P., Palmer, G., and Massey, V. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249, 4363-4382). In this scheme, each oxidative step is initiated by the very rapid and reversible formation of an oxygen.FADH2 complex (the apparent KD = 2.2 X 10(-4) M at 20 degrees C, pH 8.3). In the cases of 6- and 4-electron-reduced enzyme, 2 electrons are transferred rapidly (ke = 60 s-1) to generate hydrogen peroxide and partially oxidized xanthine oxidase. In the case of the 2-electron-reduced enzyme, only 1 electron is transferred rapidly and superoxide is produced. The remaining electron remains in the iron-sulfur centers and is removed slowly by a second order process (ks = 1 X 10(4) M-1 s-1). When the pH is decreased from 9.9 to 6.2, both the apparent KD for oxygen binding and the rapid rate of electron transfer are decreased about 20-fold. This result is suggestive of uncompetitive inhibition and implies that proton binding to the enzyme-flavin active site affects primarily the rate of electron transfer, not the formation of the initial oxygen complex.

Animals↗

Characterization of the potentiometric behavior of soluble cytochrome oxidase by magnetic circular dichroism. Evidence in support of heme-heme interaction.

Magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy has been used to characterize the oxidation-reduction behavior of cytochromes a and a3 during potentiometric experiments. The experiments were complicated by the presence of slow, time-dependent changes during reduction, and it appears that reliable results can only be obtained during reoxidation or with enzyme that has been subjected to a cycle of reduction and oxidation. Under all experimental conditions the reduction levels of cytochrome a and a3 are comparable. This result cannot be reconciled with a model in which the two heme centers have defined and well resolved potentials. The most straightforward explanation of the data requires an oxidation-reduction coupling of the potentials of the two hemes, i.e. an allosteric or heme-heme interaction, which is about 2 K cal/mol in magnitude. There is a good correlation between magnetic circular dichroism and EPR measurements obtained on parallel samples. The kinetics of the slow, time-dependent processes have been characterized by measurement of a variety of spectral properties and enzyme activity. All parameters measured change at comparable rates, implying a common rate-controlling event. A new copper EPR signal has been observed at high pH. This signal appears to rise from the "EPR-undetectable" copper center.

Animals↗

Resonance Raman spectroscopy of cytochrome oxidase using Soret excitation: selective enhancement, indicator bands, and structural significance for cytochromes a and a3.

Resonance Raman studies of oxidized and reduced cytochrome oxidase and liganded derivatives of the oxidized enzyme have been performed by using direct-Soret excitation at 413.1 and 406.7 nm, as well as near-Soret excitation (457.9 nm) and alpha-band excitation (604.6 nm). The Soret results clearly show selective enhancement of Raman modes of the hemes of cytochromes a and a3, depending upon the excitation wavelength chosen. For the preparations employed in this study, photoreduction of cytochrome oxidase in the laser beam was not a significant problem. Resonance Raman frequencies sensitive to oxidation state and spin state or core expansion of the a and a3 hemes are identified and correlated with those previously identified for other heme proteins. An unusual low-frequency (less than 500 cm(-1)) spectrum is observed for oxidized high-spin cytochrome a3, which may be due to axial nonheme structures in this cytochrome.

Animals↗

The partially reduced species present in purified cytochrome oxidase from baker's yeast is cytochrome a.

Cytochrome oxidase purified from baker's yeast submitochondrial particles is found to exist in a partially reduced state in the resting enzyme. Studies utilizing optical and EPR spectroscopy indicate that the "inactive" fraction contains a reduced low-spin heme, cytochrome a possibly indicating a block of electron transfer from cytochrome a to cytochrome a 3. There is no apparent reduction of either the EPR-detectable copper or the species associated with the 830 nm band. Oxidative titrations of the resting-state yeast cytochrome oxidase indicate that the reduction potential of the species titrating is higher than that of ferricyanide. This "inactive" cytochrome oxidase is not the result of the isolation procedure, but seems to represent a species which is present in the intact yeast.

Cytochrome a Group↗

Aggressive treatment of acquired phrenic nerve paralysis in infants and small children.

Transthoracic diaphragmatic plication is a simple and effective means of treatment for phrenic nerve injury and resultant diaphragmatic paralysis, and should be undertaken as soon as the diagnosis of diaphragmatic paralysis is established in a child with substantial respiratory difficulty. Seven of more than 1,500 patients sustained phrenic nerve injury during operation for congenital heart disease at our institution over the past five years. All but 1 patient were less than 5 months old, and the average weight was 3.8 kg. Five of the 7 could not be weaned from the ventilator, and the other 2 had persistent postoperative tachypnea and stridor. Before 1980, 3 patients were intubated for an average of 16 days prior to diagnosis by fluoroscopy. Since then, 4 patients have been intubated for an average of 7.8 days before diagnosis. All 7 underwent transthoracic diaphragmatic plication and were extubated by 6 days after operation (mean, 3.7 days). Six patients survived and are doing well. The 1 death occurred in 1976 in a premature infant with multiple congenital cardiac lesions; diagnosis was delayed until the twenty-eighth day after intubation and transthoracic diaphragmatic plication, until the sixty-second day. This infant died of pneumonia one month after extubation. These data support our policy of establishing an early diagnosis of phrenic nerve injury and early treatment utilizing transthoracic diaphragmatic plication in symptomatic children.

Cardiac Surgical Procedures↗

Electron transfer reactions of cytochrome c confined within erythrocyte ghosts.

We have prepared and characterized resealed erythrocyte ghosts in which the only discernible pigment is cytochrome c. The resealed ghosts have the normal orientation and are free of 'leaky' species; they are stable and can be maintained at 4 degrees C for many days without lysis. The internal cytochrome c participates in redox reactions with both soluble and insolubilized cytochrome c present externally, and with external cytochrome b5. No reaction was observed with plastocyanin, cytochrome c oxidase or NADPH-cytochrome c reductase. A study has been made of the reaction of the internal cytochrome c with the low molecular weight reductants, ascorbate and glutathione. Complex kinetics are observed with both reagents: with ascorbate the results are best explained by assuming the existence, in the membrane, of a redox-active species able to undergo dedimerization. A protein bound disulfide bond would satisfy the requirement.

Ascorbic Acid↗

Electron transport systems of Candida utilis: purification and properties of the respiratory chain-linked external NADH dehydrogenase.

The respiratory chain-linked external NADH dehydrogenase has been isolated from Candida utilis in highly purified form. The enzyme is soluble and has a molecular weight of approx. 1.5 x 10(6). The enzyme contains two moles of FMN per mole of enzyme and is composed of two large subunits of mol. wt. 270 000 and eight smaller subunits of mol. wt. 135 000. Iron and copper are present in the preparations, but appear to be contaminants. The enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of NADH and NADPH at nearly equal rates and reacts readily with 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol, CoQ6 and CoQ1 derivatives as acceptors. Rotenone (10(-5) M) and seconal (10(-3) M) do not inhibit enzymatic activity.

Candida↗