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Biomedical subjects

K Sandhoff

Publications and source records attributed to K Sandhoff.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Evidence for two different active sites on human beta-hexosaminidase A. Interaction of GM2 activator protein with beta-hexosaminidase A.

Competition experiments were carried out on the hydrolysis of different substrates by beta-hexosaminidase A isolated from human liver. The results show that ganglioside GM2 in the presence of the GM2 activator protein and a new synthetic substrate, 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-N-acetylglucosaminide 6-sulfate, are hydrolyzed at the same active site on the alpha subunit of beta-hexosaminidase A, whereas 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-N-acetylglucosaminide is degraded predominantly by a different active site on the beta-subunit. This finding provides for the first time a possible molecular basis for the observation that, in variant B1 of the GM2 gangliosidoses, beta-hexosaminidase A has lost its activity toward GM2 ganglioside and the sulfated artificial substrate while being still able to hydrolyze the unsulfated artificial substrate at a normal rate. Furthermore, the finding that the GM2 activator protein inhibits the degradation of the sulfated substrate by beta-hexosaminidases A and S indicates that the alpha subunit common to both isoenzymes might provide a binding site for the activator protein.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1985

Incorporation and metabolism of ganglioside GM2 in skin fibroblasts from normal and GM2 gangliosidosis subjects.

Ganglioside GM2, 3H-labeled in the sphingoid base, was added to the culture medium of normal and GM2 gangliosidosis fibroblasts. Ganglioside was found to adsorb rapidly to the cell surface, most of it could however be removed by trypsination. The trypsin-resistant incorporation was about 10 nmol/mg cell protein, after 48 h. The rates of adsorption and incorporation depended strongly on the concentration of fetal calf serum in the medium, higher serum concentrations being inhibitory. After various incubation times, the lipids were extracted, separated by thin-layer chromatography and visualized by fluorography. In normal cells a variety of degradation products as well as sphingomyelin was found whereas in GM2 gangliosidosis cells, only trace amounts of such products (mainly GA2) were found. In contrast, the higher gangliosides GM1 and GD1a were formed in comparable amounts (2.2-3.6% of total radioactivity after 92 h) in normal and pathologic cell lines. Supplementation of cells from GM2 gangliosidosis, variant AB, with purified GM2-activator protein restored ganglioside GM2 degradation to almost normal rates but had no effect on its glycosylation to gangliosides GM1 and GD1a. From these results we conclude that the synthesis of higher gangliosides from incorporated GM2 can occur by direct glycosylation and not only via lysosomal degradation and resynthesis from [3H]sphinganine-containing degradation products. Preliminary studies with subcellular fractionation after various times of [3H]ganglioside incorporation indicated biphasic kinetics for the net transport of membrane-inserted ganglioside to lysosomes, compatible with the notion that a portion of the glycolipids can also escape from secondary lysosomes and migrate to Golgi compartment or cell surface.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Soluble sphingomyelinase from human urine as antigen for obtaining anti-sphingomyelinase antibodies.

A soluble form of lysosomal sphingomyelinase was partially purified from human urine using concanavalin A-Sepharose 4B, Sephadex G-100 and octyl-Sepharose 4B chromatography. The octyl-Sepharose 4B eluate was used to immunise a rabbit. The antiserum obtained was able to precipitate about 70% of the sphingomyelinase activity present in urine from control subjects. Both the immunoprecipitable and non-precipitable activities were found to be deficient in urine from patients with Niemann-Pick disease Type A and Type B. In contrast, both activities were present in urine from patients with Niemann-Pick disease Type C. The antiserum was able to precipitate about 80% of the sphingomyelinase activity present in an aqueous extract of placenta.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Synthesis of lysogangliosides.

The synthesis of gangliosides GM3, GM2, GM1, and GD1a solely lacking the fatty acid moiety, and thus called lysogangliosides in analogy to lysophospholipids, is described. Since a selective elimination of the fatty acid residue has not been achieved as yet, the gangliosides were first subjected to alkaline hydrolysis. By this procedure the fatty acyl as well as the acetyl groups of the sialic acid residue(s) were completely removed. The acetamido group of the N-acetylgalactosamine moiety of the gangliosides GM2, GM1, and GD1a was very little (congruent to 10%) hydrolyzed. In a two-phase system composed of water and ether, the selective protection of the sphingoid amino group was accomplished with a hydrophobic protective group (9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl). Lysogangliosides were obtained after re-N-acetylation of the sialooligosaccharide amino group(s) followed by removal of the protecting group. The overall yield was about 30%. The structures of the lysogangliosides were confirmed by chemical analysis as well as negative ion FAB mass spectrometry and 1H NMR spectroscopy. By simple re-N-acylation of lysogangliosides with any labeled fatty acid, labeled gangliosides are now obtainable that are identical with their parent gangliosides except for their labeled fatty acid residue. This has been demonstrated by the synthesis of GM1 with a [1-13C]palmitic acid moiety in its ceramide portion. If desired, double-labeled gangliosides may be obtained by use of labeled acetic anhydride in the synthesis of the lysogangliosides.

Acetylation↗
PubMed1985

Direct evidence by carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy for the erythro configuration of the sphingoid moiety in Gaucher cerebroside and other natural sphingolipids.

By comparison of carbon-13 NMR data from Gaucher cerebroside and from other natural sphingolipids with those from synthetic L-threo-ceramide, D-glucosyl-L-threo-ceramide, D-erythro-ceramide and D-glucosyl-D-erythro-ceramide, we have been able to obtain directly, for the first time, unequivocal evidence for the erythro configuration of the sphingosine moiety in natural sphingolipids. Gaucher cerebroside gave the same data as D-glucosyl-D-erythro-ceramide. In contrast, significant shift differences have been observed for sphingosine C-3 (1.9 ppm) and C-4 (1.2 ppm) when comparing the spectral data of Gaucher cerebroside with those of D-glucosyl-L-threo-ceramide. Similar differences have also been found between the carbon-13 NMR data of synthetic D-erythro-ceramide and those of L-threo-ceramide. In addition, we have observed that threo-sphingosine C-5 and C-4 of ceramide and D-glucosyl-ceramide resonate near 129.5 ppm and 133.5 ppm, respectively, with a signal separation of about 4 ppm. On the other hand, these signals from the spectra of synthetic D-erythro-ceramide and D-glucosyl-D-erythro-ceramide as well as from those of gangliosides, lactosyl-ceramide, galactosyl-ceramide and sphingomyelin are found near 130 ppm and 135 ppm, respectively, thus being apart by about 5 ppm, irrespective of the degree of glycosylation of the ceramide portion. Thus, by carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy the erythro configuration of the sphingoid base in natural sphingolipids is directly demonstrated.

Carbohydrate Conformation↗
PubMed1985

Genetic complementation in somatic cell hybrids of four variants of infantile GM2 gangliosidosis.

Cell hybridizations between fibroblasts of four variants (B, O, AB, and B1) of infantile GM2 gangliosidosis were performed. Cocultivated as well as hybrid cells were analyzed for their capability to degrade exogenously added [3H]-GM2. Hybridization of variant AB fibroblasts with fibroblasts of variant O, variant B, or variant B1 resulted in an enhanced rate of GM2 hydrolysis, showing intergenic complementation. Similar restoration of GM2 catabolism was observed after hybridization of variant B1 cells with variant O, but not with variant B cells. These results indicate that B1 cells carry a mutation in the gene locus for the alpha-subunit of beta-hexosaminidase. Studies of the processing of immature enzyme in variant B1 cells showed the presence of alpha-precursors and mature alpha-chains, but at a lower level as compared to normal cells.

Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel↗
PubMed1985

Prenatal diagnosis of GM2 gangliosidosis with high residual hexosaminidase A activity (variant B1; pseudo AB variant).

A case of infantile GM2 gangliosidosis with high residual beta-hexosaminidase A activity toward the synthetic substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside was diagnosed prenatally. Extracts from cultured amniotic fluid cells of the fetus had a hexosaminidase A activity of 27% of total hexosaminidase but were almost completely unable to degrade [3H]ganglioside GM2 (less than 0.5% of control values) when assayed in the presence of the natural activator protein. These results were confirmed by analyses of fetal muscle fibroblasts, liver, and brain. All tissues examined showed a profound deficiency of ganglioside GM2 galactosaminidase despite hexosaminidase A levels in the heterozygote range. In brain tissue, ganglioside GM2 content was elevated more than 4-fold. Hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl glucosaminide-6-sulfate, a substrate specific for hexosaminidases A and S, by tissue extracts was also markedly reduced but the residual activities found (5% in liver, 12% in fibroblasts, and 16% in brain) were much higher than those with the physiological lipid substrate, ganglioside GM2.

Amniocentesis↗
PubMed1985

Molecular forms of GM2-activator protein. A study on its biosynthesis in human skin fibroblasts.

The biosynthesis and secretion of lysosomal GM2-activator was studied in fibroblasts from controls and patients of GM2 gangliosidosis metabolically labelled with [3H]-leucine. Immunoprecipitation was performed with affinity-purified antibodies to human kidney GM2-activator protein. Normal fibroblasts and fibroblasts of variant B and O of GM2 gangliosidosis secrete GM2-activator protein as a 24-kDa polypeptide, which is able to stimulate degradation of ganglioside GM2 by beta-hexosaminidase A in the in vitro assay. In the presence of 10mM NH4Cl the rate of secretion is twice as high as in normal fibroblasts. Intracellularly, GM2-activator protein is represented in these cell lines by polypeptides with apparent molecular masses ranging from 21 kDa-22.5 kDa. Under the same labelling conditions, in two cell lines of patients with variant AB of infantile GM2 gangliosidosis intracellularly only traces of GM2-activator were detectable, whereas significant amounts of polypeptides with molecular masses between 25 and 26.5 kDa could be precipitated from the media of these fibroblasts.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1985

Hereditary heat-labile hexosaminidase B: a variant whose homozygotes synthesize a functional HEX A.

Homozygosity for a mutant allele at the beta-chain locus of hexosaminidase (HEX), resulting in a variant of heat-labile HEX B, is reported for the first time in two healthy children. HEX activity in their sera, leukocytes, and cultured skin fibroblasts is severely deficient when measured on the synthetic substrate 4-MU-GLcNAc. However, their cultured skin fibroblasts synthesize and process both alpha and beta chains of HEX, and their lymphoid cells hydrolyze normally the natural ganglioside GM2. This mutation is, therefore, different from at least one of the beta-chain mutations found in previously published families with heat-labile HEX B.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1984

Ganglioside biosynthesis in Golgi apparatus: new perspectives on its mechanism.

The synthesis of gangliosides GM1 and GM2 in intact rat liver Golgi vesicles is stimulated by phosphatidylglycerol as much as or even more than by detergents (Triton X-100 and octyglucoside, respectively). The antibiotic tunicamycin, known as an inhibitor of the N-glycosylation of proteins, strongly inhibits the synthesis of the above gangliosides, in the presence as well as in the absence of the phospholipid. Both phosphatidylglycerol dependence and tunicamycin inhibition disappear when the Golgi vesicles are solubilized by addition of detergents or disrupted by ultrasonication or pretreated with pronase. Transport studies with UDP-[3H]Gal show that tunicamycin blocks the penetration of the sugar nucleotide into the Golgi vesicles in a concentration-dependent manner up to 80%. The results show that tunicamycin inhibits ganglioside biosynthesis by blocking the transport of the nucleotide sugar and not by inhibiting the transferase directly. Studies on glycoprotein-galactosyltransferase with ovalbumin as exogenous acceptor showed that phosphatidylglycerol does not destroy the integrity of the Golgi vesicles. So this phospholipid is an excellent tool for studying ganglioside biosynthesis at optimal transferase activities without solubilizing the Golgi membranes.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Ganglioside biosynthesis in rat liver golgi apparatus: stimulation by phosphatidylglycerol and inhibition by tunicamycin.

Golgi vesicles were isolated and purified from rat liver, in which the specific activities of glycosyltransferases (e.g. GM3: CMP-NeuAc sialyltransferase, GD3-synthase; GM3: UDP-GalNAc galactosaminyltransferase, GM2-synthase) were 50-60 times enriched relative to microsomes or total homogenate. Synthesis of gangliosides GM2 and GM1 in such Golgi vesicles is, in the absence of any detergents, stimulated 6- and 20-fold, respectively, by phosphatidylglycerol. Other phospholipids like dolichyl phosphate, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine are also significantly stimulatory. Tunicamycin inhibits the synthesis of gangliosides GM2 and GM1 in isolated Golgi vesicles, but only in the absence of detergents. The dependence on phosphatidylglycerol and the degree of inhibition by tunicamycin of the synthetic activities are strictly dependent on the intactness of the Golgi vesicles: both phenomena become increasingly less evident when the vesicles are pelleted, and frozen and thawed several times, and completely disappear when the vesicles are solubilized by the detergents or disrupted by ultrasonication. Furthermore, tunicamycin inhibition is reversible by increased concentration of phosphatidylglycerol. In pronase-treated Golgi vesicles, which retain full enzyme activity, both phospholipid-dependence and tunicamycin inhibition of the synthetic activity disappear completely. When freshly prepared Golgi vesicles are incubated with 125 microM UDP [3H]Gal for 10 min at 30 degrees C, the nucleotide sugar is found to be transported into the vesicles at the rate of about 85 pmoles/mg protein/min, 92% of radiolabel remaining firmly bound with membrane. Tunicamycin inhibits this transport in a concentration-dependent manner. The results show that, while the mechanism of phosphatidylglycerol induced stimulation of the synthetic activity remains unclear, tunicamycin inhibits ganglioside biosynthesis by blocking the transport of the nucleotide sugar across Golgi vesicles and not inhibiting the transferase enzyme directly.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Diagnosis of infantile and juvenile forms of GM2 gangliosidosis variant 0. Residual activities toward natural and different synthetic substrates.

p-Nitrophenyl-6-sulfo-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside, which is known to be a specific substrate for human hexosaminidase A, has recently been used successfully for diagnosis of variants B and B1 of GM2-gangliosidosis (Fuchs et al. 1983; Kytzia et al. 1983; Li et al. 1983). However, it is hydrolyzed by hexosaminidase S as well and is therefore not suitable for detection of patients with variant 0, who reach the normal range of activity toward this substrate. Assay of ganglioside GM2 cleaving activity in fibroblast extracts in the presence of the natural GM2 activator protein reveals residual hexosaminidase A activities of less than 2% of normal controls in two infantile and up to 7.5% in two juvenile patients with variant 0.

Acetylglucosamine↗
PubMed1984

Immunological studies on lysosomal sphingomyelinase: identification of a 28 000-Da component deficient in urine from patients with Niemann-Pick disease types A and B.

The immunoblotting technique was used to identify sphingomyelinase protein in samples of tissue and urine after subjection to polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate. In a sphingomyelinase preparation purified from control urine a prominent band was seen with an Mr of 28 000 Da. Glycoprotein fractions from urine and placenta, a membrane extract from spleen, and a partially purified sphingomyelinase preparation from placenta contained the 28 000-Da band plus additional, higher-Mr bands. The 28 000-Da band was detectable in urine from a patient with Niemann-Pick disease type C, but not in urine from patients with Niemann-Pick disease types A and B. It is concluded that sphingomyelinase is composed of at least one polypeptide with an Mr of 28 000 Da and that this polypeptide is deficient in the urine of patients with Niemann-Pick disease types A and B.

Humans↗
PubMed1984

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the ganglioside GM2-activator protein. Screening of normal human tissues and body fluids, of tissues of GM2 gangliosidosis, and for its subcellular localization.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for the quantitation of the human activator protein for ganglioside GM2 degradation by beta-N-acetyl-D-hexosaminidase A. With this assay, various tissues and body fluids of normal subjects and of patients with variant forms of GM2 gangliosidosis were screened for their GM2-activator content. The highest content of this protein was found in kidney. Tissues from patients with variant AB of infantile GM2 gangliosidosis contained only low levels (up to 5% of that of normal controls) of cross-reacting material. On subcellular fractionation of normal human skin fibroblasts, the activator was found to co-distribute with the lysosomal marker enzyme beta-hexosaminidase.

Body Fluids↗
PubMed1983

Activator protein for the degradation of globotriaosylceramide by human alpha-galactosidase.

An activator protein which stimulates the degradation of globotriaosylceramide by human hepatic alpha-galactosidase (alpha-D-galactoside galactohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.22) was isolated from human liver and purified some 1300-fold. The purified activator was heat stable up to 95 degrees C, its molecular weight was estimated at 20,000 by gel filtration. Ampholyte displacement chromatography resolved the activating factor into two fractions with isoelectric points at pH 4.6 and pH 4.8, respectively, with otherwise identical properties. The protein did not stimulate the hydrolysis of the water-soluble 4-methylumbelliferyl-alpha-galactoside.

Chymotrypsin↗