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Biomedical subjects

J N Loeb

Publications and source records attributed to J N Loeb.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

The influence of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism on alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptor systems and adrenergic responsiveness.

A detailed review has been conducted of studies addressing dressing the subject of the influence of thyroid hormone on alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors and adrenergic responsiveness in a wide range of experimental animals and tissues. The studies summarized in the present article have been restricted to those in which explicit measurements of receptor number were made by the use of appropriate radioligands. Particular emphasis is given to an examination of the relationship between thyroid hormone-induced changes in alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptor number and accompanying changes in adenylate cyclase activity and more distal adrenergic responses. Although in many instances thyroid hormone-induced changes in receptor number are reflected in coordinate changes in adrenergic sensitivity, this is shown to be by no means uniformly the case. In contrasting instances, modifications at other more distal sites in the sequence of events mediating catecholamine hormone action are responsible for biochemical and physiological changes in catecholamine responsiveness induced by thyroid hormone.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗
PubMed1981

Potassium fluxes in the rat reticulocyte. Ouabain sensitivity and changes during maturation.

K+ turnover is markedly enhanced in the rat reticulocyte, both influx and efflux rates being increased by factors of approximately 3 over the corresponding rates in adult cells. These accelerated fluxes are observed despite the absence of any appreciable change in intracellular K+ concentration during the course of maturation. Qualitative characteristics of the active transport process for K+ influx appear to be identical in reticulocytes and mature erythrocytes with regard both to K+ sensitivity, and to ouabain sensitivity as a function of external K+ concentration. The number of ouabain binding sites per unit volume of cells, however, is increased by a factor of approximately three in the reticulocyte and thus correlates well with the observed degree of enhancement of active K+ influx in these cells. Half-maximal rates of ouabain-sensitive K+ influx are observed at external K+ concentrations well below 1 mM for both reticulocytes and mature erythrocytes. It is concluded that the enhanced rate of K+ accumulation in the reticulocyte can be quantitatively attributed to an increased number of pump units which are qualitatively identical to those in the mature cell, and which function at a near-maximal rate at the ambient K+ concentration present in normal rat plasma.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Obligatory separation of hormone binding and biological response curves in systems dependent upon secondary mediators of hormone action.

A mathematical model is presented that describes the effects of hormone concentration on receptor saturation and biological response in systems dependent upon the generation of a secondary mediator such as cyclic AMP. The analysis makes the following assumptions: (i) the binding of hormone to its receptor is a reversible, second-order reaction; (ii) the concentration of mediator that is generated is directly proportional to the number of membrane binding sites occupied by hormone; and (iii) the binding of the mediator with its intracellular receptor to generate an effector complex is also second-order and results in a proportionate biological response. It follows from this treatment that the hormone concentration required for half-maximal biological response is formally lower than that required for half-maximal receptor saturation and that the difference between these two concentrations will depend upon the ratio of total mediator generated at full receptor occupancy to the dissociation constant of the mediator with its receptor. Without invoking concepts of negative cooperativity, this model offers a simple explanation for discrepancies between receptor occupancy and biological response curves that are often observed. Moreover, the mathematical form of the predicted biological response curves conforms to the shape of the response curves observed experimentally in a wide variety of systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Effects of ouabain and isoproterenol on potassium influx in the turkey erythrocyte. Quantitative relation to ligand binding and cyclic AMP generation.

Studies have been carried out in the turkey erythrocyte to examine: (1) the influence of external K+ concentration on both [3H]ouabain binding and the sensitivity of potassium influx to inhibition by ouabain and (2) the quantitative relation between beta-adrenergic receptor site occupancy, agonist-directed cyclic AMP generation and potassium influx rate. Both [3H]ouabain binding and the ability of ouabain to inhibit potassium influx are markedly reduced at increasing external K+ concentrations, and at each K+ concentration the concentrations of ouabain required for half-maximal binding to the erythrocyte membrane and for half-maximal inhibition of potassium influx are identical. Both basal and isoproterenol-stimulated potassium influx rise with increasing external K+ concentrations. In contrast to basal potassium influx, which is 50-70% inhibitable by ouabain, the isoproterenol-stimulated component of potassium influx is entirely insensitive to ouabain. At all concentrations of K+, inhibition of basal potassium influx by ouabain is linear with ouabain binding, indicating that the rate of transport per unoccupied ouabain binding site is unaffected by simultaneous occupancy of other sites by ouabain. Similarly, the rate of isoproterenol-stimulated cyclic AMP synthesis is directly proportional to beta-adrenergic receptor occupany over the entire concentration-response relationship for isoproterenol, showing that at all levels of occupancy beta-adrenergic receptor sites function independently of each other. Analysis of the relation of catecholamine-dependent potassium transport to the number of beta-adrenergic receptor sites occupied indicates an extremely sensitive physiological system, in which 50%-maximal stimulation of potassium transport is achieved at less than 3% receptor occupancy, corresponding to fewer than ten occupied receptors per cell.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Kinetics and thermodynamics of ouabain binding by intact turkey erythrocytes: effects of external sodium ion, potassium ion, and temperature.

The kinetics of association and dissociation for the ouabain-Na+,K+-dependent ATPase complex have been studied in intact turkey erythrocytes as a function of external Na+ concentration, K+ concentration, and temperature. At free ligand concentrations substantially exceeding the concentration of available binding sites, the association reaction exhibits pseudo-first-order kinetics with an association rate constant (k1) that is conveniently determined over a wide range of temperatures (5-37 degrees C). The dissociation reaction exhibits strict first-order kinetics with a dissociation rate constant (k-1) that has the unusual property, in the turkey cell, of being sufficiently great to permit its direct determination even at temperatures as low as 5 degrees C. Values for the equilibrium binding constant for the ouabain-ATPase complex (KA) predicted from the ratio of the association and dissociation rate constants agree closely with independently measured values of KA determined directly under conditions of equilibrium binding. KA is a sensitive function of the composition of the external ionic environment, rising with increasing Na+ concentration and falling with increasing K+ concentration. These changes in KA are shown to be quantitatively attributable to changes in the rate constant k1, k-1 in contrast being unaffected at any given temperature by even very large changes in Na+ or K+ concentration. Arrhenius plots of k1 and k-1 both yield straight lines over the entire temperature range corresponding to activation energies for association and dissociation of 29.5 and 24.2 kcal/mol, respectively. These observations have made it possible to calculate the following standard values for the ouabain binding reaction in the presence of 150 mM Na+: delta G degree = -9.8 kcal/mol; delta H degree = +5.3 kcal/mol; delta S degree = +48.7 cal/degree/mol. The large positive value of delta S degree presumably reflects a highly ordered configuration of the ouabain-free ATPase molecule that is lost upon ouabain binding and that "drives" the reaction despite the positive value of delta H degree.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Beta-adrenergic receptors and isoproterenol-stimulated potassium transport in erythrocytes from normal and hypothyroid turkeys. Quantitative relation between receptor occupancy and physiologic responsiveness.

We have previously reported that in hypothyroid turkeys the number of beta-adrenergic receptors in intact erythrocytes is reduced by approximately 50% without any changes in the affinity of the receptor for the agonist, isoproterenol. In view of the physiological action of the catecholamines to stimulate bidirectional ion fluxes in these cells, we have now examined the possibility that the decrease in beta receptor number might be associated with concomitant changes in catecholamine-dependent potassium ion transport. Hypothyroid turkey erythrocytes display decreased sensitivity to isoproterenol-stimulated potassium influx. Half-maximal stimulation of potassium influx occurs at 9.2+/-1.7 nM in hypothyroid cells as opposed to only 3.8+/-0.4 nM in normal cells (P < 0.005). A maximal stimulatory concentration of isoproterenol (100 nM) leads to the same increment in ion flux in erythrocytes from hypothyroid and normal turkeys. Analysis of the quantitative relationship between isoproterenol concentration, receptor occupancy, and associated effects upon potassium influx shows that at low levels of isoproterenol, where occupancy is linear with agonist concentration, occupation of a given number of beta receptors leads to a stimulation of potassium transport that is identical in erythrocytes from normal and hypothyroid turkeys. Thus, decreased sensitivity to catecholamine-stimulated potassium transport in hypothyroidism can be attributed to the decrease in receptor number and the resulting two- to threefold higher isoproterenol concentration required for occupancy of the same number of beta receptors. Once a single receptor is occupied, however, the more distal components of the sequence of events mediating the physiological response to beta-adrenergic agonists in the hypothyroid cell function as they do under normal circumstances. It would appear, therefore, that the decrease in sensitivity to isoproterenol-dependent ion flux in the hypothyroid turkey erythrocyte can be accounted for solely by the decrease in receptor number. These changes are shown to occur in the absence of any modifications in the number of Na(+)-K(+) ATPase effector units per cell.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

The influence of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism on the beta-adrenergic responsiveness of the turkey erythrocyte.

The mechanisms responsible for altered adrenergic tone in hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism are not fully understood. To investigate these mechanisms, the beta-adrenergic receptor-cyclic AMP complex of the turkey erythrocyte was studied among groups of normal, hyperthyroid, and hypothyroid turkeys. In erythrocytes obtained from hypothyroid turkeys, there were fewer beta-adrenergic receptors than in normal cells as determined by the specific binding of [(125)I]iodohydroxybenzylpindolol, as well as associated decreases both in catecholamine-responsive adenylate cyclase activity and in cellular cyclic AMP content. In contrast, erythrocytes obtained from hyperthyroid turkeys contained the same number of beta-receptors and had the same catecholamine-responsive adenylate cyclase activity as cells from normal birds. Other characteristics of the beta-receptors in cells from hyperthyroid birds were indistinguishable from those present in normal erythrocytes. However, within the range of circulating catecholamine concentrations, 5-50 nM, the erythrocytes of the hyperthyroid turkeys generated substantially more cyclic AMP after exposure to isoproterenol than did normal cells. These results suggest that thyroid hormone affects beta-receptor-cyclic AMP interrelationships in the turkey erythrocyte by two distinct mechanisms: (a) In hypothyroidism, both beta-receptors and catecholamine-dependent cyclic AMP formation are coordinately decreased; (b) in hyperthyroidism, beta-receptors are unchanged but there is an amplification of the hormonal signal so that occupation of a given number of receptors at physiological concentrations of catecholamines leads to increased levels of cyclic AMP.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗
PubMed1978

Suppression of liver cell proliferation by glucocorticoid hormone: a comparison of normally growing and regenerating tissue in the immature rat.

The influence of glucocorticoid hormone on the time-course of liver regeneration in the immature rat has been studied by direct measurement of the rate of DNA accretion after the stimulus of partial hepatectomy. In contrast to hepatocyte proliferation associated with normal growth, which almost completely abolished by small doses of glucocorticoid, it is shown that even enormous amounts of hormone produce, at most, about a halving of the intrinsic cell proliferation rate in regenerating liver. Although deceptively magnified by the exponential growth pattern of the hepatic remnant, the inhibition of cell proliferation is thus considerably less complete than that induced in normally growing liver by much lower doses of hormone, a finding at distinct variance with the conclusions of earlier studies based entirely upon observations of radioactive precursor incorporation rather than direct measurement of DNA accretion. The mechanism by which a regenerative stimulus causes hepatocyte proliferation to lose its normal sensitivity to suppression by glucocorticoid, and thereby to exhibit a steroid insensitivity characteristic of other tissues in which cell proliferation reflects cell replenishment rather than normal growth, remains unknown.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Synthesis and degradation of ribosomal RNA in regenerating liver.

A simple double-isotope method is described which permits precise determination of both synthetic and degradative rates of liver cell constituents during the course of regeneration after partial hepatectomy. By employing animals which have previously received both tritiated thymidine and an appropriate 14C-labeled precursor it is possible to obtain precise turnover data in individual animals by comparing the concentration and the total isotope content of the 14C-labeled component in the initially excised and regenerating portions of liver. The presence of a 3H marker in the liver DNA makes it possible in addition to calculate the exact size of the initial liver remnant and hence to interpret the observed 14C turnover data in terms of specific rates of synthesis and degradation. As an illustration of its usefulness this method has been employed to study changes in cell proliferation rate after partial hepatectomy, and to determine the day-to-day rates of synthesis and degradation of ribosomal RNA, the major component of rat liver RNA. It is shown that during the first 24 h after a 70% hepatectomy ribosomal RNA synthesis undergoes a nearly fourfold stimulation to a rate of approximately 53% per unit mass per day. This accelerated rate of synthesis is sustained for an additional 2 days and is accompanied by exponential DNA synthesis until the hepatic remnant has more than tripled its initial DNA and ribosomal RNA content to attain values identical to those in the initial intact liver; the rates of DNA and RNA synthesis then fall abruptly. In striking contrast to the marked fluctuations in its rate of synthesis, ribosomal RNA continues to be degraded throughout the course of regeneration at a constant rate of 12% per day, a rate virtually identical to that observed in normal liver. The approach described here permits the accurate determination of turnover rates over intervals considerably shorter than even one half-life, and should be applicable to the study of the specific rates of synthesis and degradation of other cell components as well.

Animals↗