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J Robinson

Publications and source records attributed to J Robinson.

At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources

The effects of dietary conditions and glycerol concentration on glycerol uptake by rat liver and kidney-cortex slices.

1. Glycerol utilization by rat liver and kidney-cortex slices was studied in an attempt to define factors that might be important in the regulation of glycerol utilization by these tissues in vivo; the formation of glucose from glycerol by kidney-cortex slices was also studied. 2. The rate of glycerol uptake by liver slices was not changed (in comparison with the normal fed control) by starvation (48hr.), feeding with a low-carbohydrate diet (4-8 days) or feeding with a diet containing 25% glycerol (up to 18 days). Similarly, starvation or a low-carbohydrate diet had no effect on uptake by kidney-cortex slices; however, feeding with the glycerol diet increased glycerol uptake by kidney-cortex slices. 3. The rates of glycerol uptake by slices from both tissues were increased on raising the glycerol concentration from 0.2mm to 2.5 or 5.0mm. 4. Starvation increased the conversion of glycerol into glucose by kidney-cortex slices, but there was no effect of the low-carbohydrate diet; the rate of glucose formation was increased by feeding with the 25%-glycerol diet and was proportional to the increase in glycerol uptake. The rate of glucose production by these slices was increased by raising the glycerol concentration in the incubation medium from 0.2mm to 1.0mm, but, except for the slices from animals receiving the 25%-glycerol diet, there was no effect above 1.0mm-glycerol. 5. The significance of plasma glycerol concentration in regulating glycerol uptake by these tissues is discussed.

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Some properties of hepatic glycerol kinase and their relation to the control of glycerol utilization.

1. Glycerol kinase (EC 2.7.1.30) is shown to catalyse a non-equilibrium reaction in rat liver; and, as it is the first enzyme in the pathway metabolizing glycerol, its properties may be pertinent to the metabolic regulation of glycerol uptake and utilization by this tissue. 2. The properties of hepatic glycerol kinase were studied by using a radiochemical technique to measure the enzyme activity. When the concentration of ATP is low the activity of glycerol kinase is inhibited by high concentrations of glycerol; but when the concentration of ATP is high there is no inhibition and the double-reciprocal plot is linear, providing a K(m) for glycerol of 3.16x10(-6)m. Glycerol kinase is activated by high ATP concentrations provided that the concentration of the second substrate (glycerol) is high; at low concentrations of glycerol ATP does not activate the enzyme so that the double-reciprocal plot is linear, providing a K(m) for ATP of 5.8x10(-5)m. It is suggested that these kinetics may be explained by a model similar to that described by Ferdinand (1966) for phosphofructokinase. 3. Hepatic glycerol kinase is inhibited by ADP and AMP, and raising the Mg(2+) concentration increases the inhibition by these two compounds; this suggests that ADP-Mg(2+) and AMP-Mg(2+) complexes are the inhibitory species. The physiological significance of these inhibitions may be to prevent phosphorylation of glycerol when the hepatic ATP concentration is low. It is suggested that this inhibition may provide an approach to the problem of measurement of rates of lipolysis by glycerol release in tissues that contain glycerol kinase (e.g. liver, kidney, muscle, adipose tissue). 4. Hepatic glycerol kinase is inhibited by l-3-glycerophosphate competitively with respect to glycerol. The physiological significance of this inhibition may be that factors that change the intracellular concentration of l-3-glycerophosphate could change glycerol uptake by the tissue. Thus it is suggested that thyroxine treatment or feeding rats on a diet high in glycerol, which increase the activity of glycerophosphate oxidase in liver and kidney cortex respectively, lead to an increased glycerol uptake through a decrease in the concentration of glycerophosphate in these tissues. It is known that ethanol administration decreases glycerol uptake by liver, and this can be explained by the increased concentration of l-3-glycerophosphate causing inhibition of glycerol kinase.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Properties of purified staphylococcal beta-hemolysin.

Purification of beta-hemolysin was achieved by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration, carboxymethyl cellulose column chromatography, and density gradient electrophoresis. Active fractions eluted from carboxymethyl cellulose contained at least one nonhemolytic protein, and omission of this step was not detrimental to the purification process. Density gradient electrophoresis yielded approximately 1.6 mg of highly active purified beta-hemolysin per liter of culture supernatant liquid. Purified beta-hemolysin gave a single line on gel double diffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. A single symmetrical peak formed in the analytical ultracentrifuge, and the sedimentation coefficient was calculated to be 1.7S. The purified beta-hemolysin was stable at 4 C and could be lyophilized. Magnesium cations were required for full expression of beta-hemolytic activity. beta-Hemolysin was lethal for rabbits when injected intravenously in amounts between 40 and 160 mug. Crude beta-hemolysin was more stable than purified beta-hemolysin when heated at 60 C for 30 min. Purified beta-hemolysin lost almost all of its activity on subsequent heating at 100 C for 10 min.

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