Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L S Jacobs

Publications and source records attributed to L S Jacobs.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Divalent cation inhibition of hormone release from isolated adenohypophysial secretory granules.

Divalent cations inhibited in vitro release of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) from bovine adenohypophysial secretory granules. Zinc, nickel, and cadmium were most potent, exerting 50% inhibition of protein release near 0.1 mM; relative potency was Ni2+ greater than or equal to Zn2+ greater than Cd2+ much greater than Mn2+ greater than Co2+ greater than Cu2+ much greater than Mg2+ greater than Ca2+. The pH optimum for inhibition, 8.0, was lower than that for stimulation of release by thiols. EDTA augmented release and reversed metal inhibition. Both immunoassay and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis results indicated that metals inhibited both PRL and GH release in a dose-related fashion, and that PRL was more sensitive to all cations tested. With zinc present, known stimulators of release (reduced glutathione, ATP, and bicarbonate) restored GH release, but only ATP restored PRL release. Bicarbonate potently stimulated GH release, but only affected PRL when Mg2+ and ATP were present. We suggest that divalent cations influence GH and PRL release in a reversible fashion and at multiple sites. Some loci may be common to both lactotrope and somatotrope granules; however, the different sensitivities to metals and differential reversal by stimulators of release indicate that metal-protein interactions may also be specific for either granule, or for the hormones themselves.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Detectability of pituitary PRL and GH by immunoassay is increased by thiols and suppressed by divalent cations.

The amount of pituitary PRL detected by RIA in extracts of tissue and of secretory granules was augmented by thiols or EDTA in the extractant, and diminished by divalent cations or cysteamine. GH was affected by thiols and cations similarly, but to a lesser extent, and was not influenced by EDTA or cysteamine. For full immunologic detection of tissue PRL and GH, thiol-dependent mechanisms appear to be required to unmask immunoreactive sites from the poorly immunoreactive oligomeric granule storage forms. Interpretation of studies which rely on measurement of tissue PRL and GH content by RIA, immunoprecipitation, or electrophoretic detection should be reassessed in light of these observations.

Animals↗

Negative feedback suppression of sleep-related growth hormone secretion.

Previous studies have demonstrated that injections of growth hormone (GH) can blunt subsequent GH secretory responses to daytime pharmacological stimulation. The current study was undertaken to determine whether GH administration to normal subjects would suppress sleep-related secretion. GH (2 U im) was given nine times over 5 days to each of six subjects, and sleep studies with blood sampling were performed 6 h after the last injection. Secretion during the first 2 h of sleep was decreased by 62.4%, indicating that sleep-related GH secretion may be responsive to a negative-feedback mechanism.

Adult↗

Ovarian lipoid cell tumor. Steroid hormones and ultrastructure.

A virilizing, ovarian lipoid cell tumor was removed from a 19-year-old woman with amenorrhea. Light- and electron-microscopic studies of tumor morphology were combined with biochemical measurements of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estrone, estradiol, and progesterone. Electron microscopy demonstrated cells with the typical ultrastructural features of steroidogenesis. Analysis of extracts from tumor tissue showed high concentrations of progesterone, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estrone, and estradiol. These extracts from the ovarian lipoid cell tumor contained the following quantities of steroids: testosterone 450 ng/g tissue; dihydrotestosterone 56 ng/g tissue; estrone 233 pg/g tissue; estradiol 10896 pg/g tissue; and progesterone 512 ng/g tissue. Ovarian vein blood of the ovary with the lipoid cell tumor showed these results: testosterone 3276 ng/dl; dihydrotestosterone 311 ng/dl; estrone 69 pg/ml; estradiol 258 pg/ml; and progesterone 8.1 ng/ml. Because of the ultrastructural and biochemical similarities of this tumor to granulosa lutein cells it is concluded that this ovarian lipoid cell tumor probably originated from ovarian stromal cells.

Adrenal Rest Tumor↗

Identification and characterization of an anion-sensitive Mg2+-ATPase in pituitary secretory granule membranes.

We have identified an anion-sensitive Mg2+-ATPase in adenohypophyseal secretory granule membranes. This enzyme is unaffected by sodium, ouabain, and calcium. By electron microscopic morphology, sedimentation properties, nucleotide substrate utilization, and marker enzyme studies, this activity is clearly shown to be intrinsic to the granule membranes. The kinetics for ATP saturation were complex, as curvilinear Lineweaver-Burk plots were obtained with 2 mM magnesium. However, an approach to linearity was obtained (Km for ATP, approximately 0.27 mM) with low concentrations of free magnesium. Many anions and anion-transport blockers significantly influenced enzyme activity. Stimulatory anions in decreasing order of potency were bisulfite greater than sulfite greater than isethionate greater than bicarbonate; Ka values were 2.5 mM for sulfite and 10.8 mM for bicarbonate. Acetate, borate, chloride, citrate, 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid, 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid, nitrite, oxalate, 1,3-piperazinediethanesulfonic acid, and sulfate were without major effect. Inhibitory anions in decreasing potency order were azide greater than thiocyanate greater than fluoride greater than nitrate. Anionic stimulation of the granule membrane Mg2+-ATPase linearized the Lineweaver-Burk plots by shifting the enzyme to its higher Km state. In addition, sulfite competitively reversed the produce inhibition exerted by ADP. Anion transport-blockers inhibited the enzyme; of those tested, the most potent was 4-acetamido-4-isothiocyano-stilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid, with a Ki of 0.17 mM; pyridoxal phosphate, sulfisoxazole, and ethacrynic acid also inhibited enzyme activity. The protein-binding dye p-sulfobenzene-azo-o-sulfobenzene-azo-beta-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid, structurally similar to transport blockers, was a potent inhibitor, with a Ki of 2.8 mM. These data on pituitary secretory granule ATPase raise the possibility that the granule membranes may function in anion or proton transport, perhaps in relation to exocytosis and hormone secretion.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Characterization and partial purification of a cytoplasmic glutathione: disulfide oxidoreductase (thioltransferase) from adenohypophysis.

A glutathione-dependent thioltransferase (thiol : disulfide oxidoreductase) has been partially purified (70-fold) from anterior pituitary cytosol, and characterized. Purification was effected by differential centrifugation, precipitation between 30 and 60% (NH4)2SO4, and sequential chromatography on Sepharose 6B, DEAE-cellulose, and CM-cellulose. Enzyme activity, monitored by the disappearance of NADPH, was associated with a protein of molecular weight 170 000 both by gel filtration and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in SDS. There was apparent charge heterogeneity after the gel filtration step, and only the major DEAE-cellulose peak was further purified on CM-cellulose. When SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was carried out in the presence of mercaptoethanol, the two predominant bands seen in its absence were converted to five major bands, all of different apparent molecular weights from the originals. Isoelectric focusing yielded two major peaks of enzyme activity, at pI 7.0 and pI 4.5-5.0. These peaks were shown to be interconvertible upon reelectrofocusing. Both low- and high-molecular weight disulfides could be reduced. The pH optimum was sharp, at pH 8.2. The Km values for glutathione and cystine (the standard assay disulfide) were 0.57 and 0.062 mM, respectively, each in the presence of saturating concentrations of the other substrate. N-Ethylmaleimide at 0.1 and 1.0 mM inhibited enzyme activity non-competitively, suggesting a non-catalytic role of enzyme thiol(s) for maintenance of optimal activity.

Animals↗

Piperidine enhances sleep-related and insulin-induced growth hormone secretion: further evidence for a cholinergic secretory mechanism.

Piperidine, a nicotinic cholinergic receptor stimulator, was used in paired design studies of sleep-related and insulin-induced GH and PRL secretion. For the sleep studies, 100 mg piperidine or an equal volume of saline were infused for 30 min starting at sleep onset in eight normal volunteers. The same dose of piperidine was infused for 30 min (beginning 15 min before insulin injection) in an additional eight volunteers undergoing insulin tolerance tests. After piperidine administration, there was a significant (P less than 0.01) enhancement of sleep-related GH secretion, abut no change in PRL. GH concentrations during the first 2 h of sleep were 7.2 +/- 1.2 ng/ml after saline and 15.2 +/-2.9 ng/ml after piperidine (P less than 0.01). No alteration in any measured sleep parameter was noted with the drug. Piperidine did not affect the daytime insulin-induced secretion of either GH or PRL, as assessed by an analysis of variance. However, paired analysis of increments and areas under the response curves indicated a statistically significant effect for GH but not PRL. The maximum GH increment with piperidine was 48.0 +/- 4.3 ng/ml, compared to 36.8 +/- 3.6 ng/ml with saline (P less than 0.01). Piperidine given alone did not influence daytime concentrations of GH. These data are consistent with the view proposed by us, on the bass of methoscopolamine inhibition of nocturnal GH secretion, that cholinergic pathways play a facilitatory role in sleep-related and insulin-induced GH secretion. Thus, cholinergic mechanisms stimulate GH secretion. Nicotinic as well as muscarinic pathways appear to be involved, although the quantitative nicotinic contribution seems to be smaller than the associated with muscarinic sites.

Adolescent↗

Rabbit mammary prolactin receptors. Demonstration of a late puerperal increase in affinity.

Crude receptor preparations of rabbit mammary gland were made by differential centrifugation and reacted with lactoperoxidase-iodinated ovine prolactin (oPRL) in order to determine their binding characteristics. Receptors prepared from the mammary glands of animals less than 4 days postpartum bound oPRL with high affinity (Ka = 3.50 X 10(9) M-1), in good agreement with previous results of other investigators. The binding capacity of these preparations was 107 +/- 16.3 fmol/mg of protein. In contrast, receptors prepared from the mammary glands of late lactating rabbits (Days 25 to 30 of lactation) showed a 2.5-fold increase in binding affinity (Ka = 8.63 X 10(9) M-1, p less than 0.001) without a significant increase in binding capacity (135 +/- 21.4 fmol/mg, p greater than 0.2). Kinetic experiments revealed that the rates of association of hormone and receptor were identical in early and late receptor preparations, and that the 2.5-fold decrease the dissociation rate observed in the late preparations was fully explanatory of the differences in equilibrium binding. The mechanism of this affinity increase is not known. Such a change in binding characteristics, which would tend to enhance tissue responsiveness, may underlie the well characterized maintenance of full lactation in women despite falling concentrations of prolactin.

Animals↗

Methoscopolamine inhibition of sleep-related growth hormone secretion. Evidence for a cholinergic secretory mechanism.

We have examined the effects of cholinergic blockade with 0.5 mg methscopolamine bromide, intramuscularly, on sleep-related and insulin-induced growth hormone (GH) secretion. 17 normal young men were studied; 8 had sleep studies, and 12 (including 3 who also had sleep studies) had insulin tolerance tests (ITT) with 0.1 U/kg of regular insulin. After an adjustment night in the sleep laboratory, saline control night and methscopolamine night studies were done in random sequence; study procedures included electroencephalographic, electromyographic, and electrooculographic recordings, and blood sampling every 20 min for hormone radioimmunoassays. Prolactin levels were also measured during sleep. For methscopolamine night studies, the mean overall control GH level of 2.89+/-0.44 ng/ml and the mean peak control GH level of 11.09+/-3.11 ng/ml were dramatically reduced to 0.75+/-0.01 and 1.04+/-0.25 ng/ml, respectively (P<0.0001 and <0.001). Despite virtual absence of GH secretion during the night in every study subject, no measured sleep characteristic was affected by methscopolamine, including total slow-wave sleep (12.1+/-2.6% control vs. 10.3+/-2.5% drug, P>0.2). Sleep prolactin levels were not changed by methscopolamine. In contrast to the abolition of sleep-related GH secretion, administration of methscopolamine had only a marginal effect on the GH response to insulin hypoglycemia. None of nine time points differed significantly, as was also the case with peak levels, mean increments, and areas under the curves (P>0.2). Analysis of variance did, however, indicate that the lower GH concentrations achieved during ITT after methscopolamine (average 31.7% below control) were significantly different than control concentrations. We conclude that the burst of GH secretion which normally occurs after sleep onset is primed by a cholinergic mechanism which does not influence slow-wave sleep. Cholinergic mechanisms do not appear to play an important role in sleep-related prolactin secretion. The contrast between the complete suppression of sleep-related GH release and the relatively small inhibitory effect on ITT-induced GH secretion suggests that the neurotransmitter mechanisms, and presumably the pathways, which subserve sleep-related GH secretion in man may be different from those which mediate the GH response to pharmacologic stimuli such as insulin.

Adult↗

Failure of nocturnal prolactin suppression by methysergide to entrain changes in testosterone in normal men.

In order to investigate further the postulated relationship between the secretion of PRL and testosterone, 10 normal young men were studied during polygraphically recorded sleep. Concentrations of LH and testosterone were measured in plasma every 20 min, and the results were analyzed in relation to sleep parameters and previously reported (J Clin Invest 56: 690, 1975) concentrations of PRL. All subjects were studied on a control night after placebo administration and on an experimental night after ingestion of the serotonin receptor blocker, methysergide. Analysis of variance revealed that concentrations of testosterone rose gradually during sleep on both nights, as has been noted in previous studies. Highest LH values occurred during stage 1 sleep, but were only 25% higher than the lowest values, which were seen in stage 4. As shown previously, PRL concentrations were markedly suppressed by methysergide treatment. However, no significant change in testosterone values were observed on the methysergide nights as compared to the control nights. When the data were analyzed by a correlational approach, again, no significant relation between concentrations of PRL and testosterone was found. Although these data do not support the concept that PRL-stimulated testosterone secretion occurs during the night in normal men, this study does not rule out the possibility that such a mechanism may be operative during daytime hours, or under conditions of PRL stimulation rather than PRL suppression.

Humans↗