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Biomedical subjects

H Wada

Publications and source records attributed to H Wada.

At least 1,135 records · Page 63Linked to original sources

Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-cytochrome b5 reductase: location of the hydrophobic, membrane-binding region at the carboxyl-terminal end and the masked amino terminus.

Microsomal NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase is an amphiphilic protein consisting of a hydrophilic (catalytic) region and a hydrophobic (membrane-binding) segment. Digestion of the reductase purified from rabbit liver microsomes with carboxypeptidase Y (CPY), but not with aminopeptidases, resulted in the abolishment of the capacities of the reductase to bind to phosphatidylcholine liposomes and to reconstitute an active NADH-cytochrome c reductase system upon mixing with cytochrome b5. The NADH-ferricyanide reductase activity of the flavoprotein was, however, inactivated only slightly by the CPY digestion. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and amino acid analyses indicated that the CPY treatment removed about 30 amino acid residues from the tcooh terminus of the reductase and that about 70% of the amino acids released were hydrophobic. It is concluded that the hydrophobic region of the reductase, responsible for both membrane binding and effective reconstitution of NADH-cytochrome c reductase activity, is located at the COOH-terminal portion of the molecule. No NH2-terminal residue could be detected in the intact and CPY-modified reductase preparations. The location of the hydrophobic, membrane-binding segment at the COOH-terminal end and the masked NH2 terminus have also been reported for cytochrome b5, another microsomal membrane protein.

Amino Acids↗

Immunological determination of serum m-AST activity in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Serum m-AST (mitochondrial isoenzyme of AST) activity in patients with acute myocardial infarction was determined quantitatively by a new immunological technique which is sensitive and easily available. All 31 patients with acute myocardial infarction showed abnormally high levels of serum m-AST (more than 5 KU/ml); the mean serum m-AST activity attained its peak (42.0 +/- 4.9 KU/ml) on the first day after the onset of infarction 5 hours later than that of serum t-AST (total AST) activity in 15 patients whose peak m- and t-AST activities were identified clearly. The individual peak m-AST activity correlated with the total CK released (r = 0.83, n = 15), indicating that the release of m-AST also reflects the infarct size. The ratio of serum m-AST/t-AST increased following myocardial infarction and showed the maximal value (average 25.7%) on the third to seventh day after onset. This ratio in the patients with acute myocardial ifarction was also greater than that in patients with liver disease or with heart failure from causes other than acute myocardial infarction. In the patients who had the additional complication of heart failure and/or cardiogenic shock the ratio was also greater than that is the patients without these hazards. These results indicate that the ratio of serum m-AST/t-AST reflects the severity of the myocardial cellular damage in acute myocardial infarction.

Acute Disease↗

Subunit structure of biodegradative threonine deaminase.

The molecule weight of the biodegradative threonine deaminase from Escherichia coli was determined to be approximately 147,000 by sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation. Similar experiments using 5 M guanidinium chloride gave a value of 39,000 for the molecular weight of the enzyme subunit. On sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis the enzyme also dissociated into a single subunit with an estimated molecular weight of 38,000. The NH2 terminus of the enzyme was determined to be methionine by the dinitrophenylation procedure. Quantitative analysis revealed that 3.6 mol of methionine were detected per 147,000 g of enzyme. The selective tritium labeling method established alanine as the COOH-terminal residue. The sequence of residues at the NH2 terminus, determined using an automated sequence analyzer, was: (formula: see text). The fact that a single amino acid was released at each degradation step in the above experiment strongly suggests that the subunits in the enzyme contain the same amino acid sequence. Therefore, the native enzyme with a molecular weight of 147,000 appears to be composed of four identical polypeptide subunits.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The complete amino acid seqeunce of mitochondrial asparatate aminotransferase from pig heart.

The complete amino acid sequence of the mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase from pig heart was determined by analyses of the fragments obtained from tryptic digestion and cyanogen bromide treatment of the protein. The sequence analyzer was useful for establishing the primary structure of the N-terminal portion of the whole protein. There are 401 amino acid residues in the molecule. The sequence was compared with that of the cytoplasmic isozyme, showing 48% homology.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Large-scale preparation of cytosolic and mitochondrial asparatate aminotransferases from pig heart.

A procedure is described for the large-scale preparation of the cytosolic and mitochondrial isoenzymes of aspartate aminotransferase from pig heart. The procedure consists of: 1. extraction of both isoenzymes by heat treatment of homogenates prepared from minced and frozen heat muscle; 2. separation of each isoenzyme on a hydroxyapatite column; 3. purification of each isoenzyme by combinations of heat treatment, ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatography on ion-exchange cellulose columns. Purified preparations of each isoenzyme thus obtained were homogeneous proteins as judged from their spectral properties and behavior on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Using the present procedure, 1.2 g of the cytosolic isoenzyme and 1.7 g of the mitochondrial isoenzyme were obtained from 20 kg of minced heart muscle.

Ammonium Sulfate↗