Biomedical subjects

M Whitaker

Publications and source records attributed to M Whitaker.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Okadaic acid produces changes in phosphorylation and translocation of proteins and in intracellular calcium in human neutrophils. Relationship with the activation of the NADPH oxidase by different stimuli.

Okadaic acid, a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A, profoundly influenced the activity of the NADPH oxidase of human neutrophils. It strongly inhibited stimulation of superoxide generation by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and impaired translocation of protein kinase activity and of the two cytosolic components p47-phox and p67-phox to the plasma membrane. The increase in the phosphorylation of the cytochrome b-245 subunits p22-phox and gp91-phox after stimulation was also blocked. Inhibition of activity was associated with a decrease in cytosolic free Ca2+ and was reversed by the Ca2+ ionophore A23187, which also restored protein translocation and phosphorylation of the cytochrome. This effect of A23187 was itself blocked by preincubation with cyclosporin A, suggesting that calcineurin might be involved in the re-activation process. In contrast with PMA, the response to the bacterial peptide fMet-Leu-Phe was greatly prolonged after an initial decrease in the rate of onset of NADPH oxidase activity.

Blotting, Western↗

PubMed1992

Intracellular ion imaging using fluorescent dyes: artefacts and limits to resolution.

Development of highly efficient fluorescent ratio indicators has made imaging of ion concentrations within individual cells possible (Grynkiewicz et al. 1985; Tsien and Poenie 1986). Ion imaging is a complex technique and is therefore prone to artefacts. In this paper we investigate the limits of the technique and its potential pitfalls. The spatial resolution of an imaging system is determined for different cell geometries. We describe a technique to increase the time resolution of existing systems by using a single excitation wavelength to measure changes in ion concentration. We demonstrate examples of potential artefacts arising from hardware limitations, image processing and fundamental optics. Methods for recognition and minimization of these problems are discussed.

Calcium↗

PubMed1992

Sperm-induced currents at fertilization in sea urchin eggs injected with EGTA and neomycin.

Membrane currents were measured in single voltage-clamped sea urchin eggs (Lytechinus pictus and Lytechinus variegatus) that were injected with either EGTA or neomycin and inseminated. Although egg activation and the fertilization calcium wave were prevented by injection of either of these compounds, sperm attached and still elicited inward currents. Sperm-induced currents in EGTA-injected eggs had an abrupt onset, quickly reached a maximum, and then slowly declined in amplitude. Sperm incorporation occurred readily in EGTA-injected eggs. Similar results were obtained with another calcium chelator, BAPTA. In neomycin-injected eggs, sperm-induced currents generally had an abrupt onset and, in contrast to EGTA-injected eggs, the currents usually cut off rapidly. Sperm failed to enter the neomycin-injected eggs and the duration of sperm-induced currents in neomycin-injected eggs was markedly dependent upon the voltage-clamp holding potential, with shorter duration currents occurring at -70 than at -20 mV. The lability of the initial interaction between sperm and egg at negative holding potentials may explain why activation often fails when the egg membrane is voltage clamped at these potentials (Lynn et al., Dev. Biol. 128, 305-323, 1988).

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Internal calcium release and activation of sea urchin eggs by cGMP are independent of the phosphoinositide signaling pathway.

We show that microinjecting cyclic GMP (cGMP) into unfertilized sea urchin eggs activates them by stimulating a rise in the intracellular free calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i). The increase in [Ca2+]i is similar in both magnitude and duration to the transient that activates the egg at fertilization. It is due to mobilization of calcium from intracellular stores but is not prevented by the inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) antagonist heparin. Furthermore, cGMP does not stimulate the eggs Na+/H+ antiport when the [Ca2+]i transient is blocked by the calcium chelator bis-(O-aminophenoxy)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA), suggesting that cGMP does not activate eggs by interacting with the their phosphoinositide signaling pathway. However, the [Ca2+]i increase and activation are prevented in eggs in which the InsP3-sensitive calcium stores have been emptied by the prior microinjection of the InsP3 analogue inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphorothioate. These data indicate that cGMP activates eggs by stimulating the release of calcium from an InsP3-sensitive calcium store via a novel, though unidentified, route independent of the InsP3 receptor.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Polyphosphoinositide metabolism during the fertilization wave in sea urchin eggs.

A transient increase in intracellular free calcium is believed to be the signal responsible for the stimulation of the egg metabolism at fertilization and the resumption of the cell cycle. We have studied how the polyphosphoinositides (PPI) turn over at fertilization in sea urchin eggs, in order to determine the relationship between the metabolism of these lipids and the calcium signal. We compare the patterns of PPI turnover that occur during the first minute following fertilization in eggs in which PPI are labelled to steady state with [3H]inositol or [3H]arachidonate with that in which PPI are labelled for a shorter period with [3H]inositol. When eggs are labelled to apparent isotopic equilibrium with either [3H]inositol or [3H]arachidonate, no early increase in [3H]PtdInsP2 occurs while PtdIns decreases slightly. On the contrary, when not labelled to isotopic equilibrium, all [3H]PPI increase during the first 15 seconds following fertilization. We find that, within seconds, fertilization triggers a 600-fold increase in the turnover of PPI, producing an amount of InsP3 apparently sufficient to trigger calcium release. We suggest that phosphoinositidase C and PtdInsP kinase, responsible respectively for the hydrolysis and synthesis of PtdInsP2, are both stimulated to a comparable degree in the first 30 seconds following fertilization and that net changes in the amount of PtdInsP2 at fertilization are very sensitive to the relative levels of activation of the two enzymes. Activating the eggs with the calcium ionophore A23187 showed that both these enzymes are sensitive to calcium, suggesting that calcium-dependent InsP3 production might play a role in the initiation and/or the propagation of the fertilization calcium wave.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

1-Phosphatidylinositol 4-Kinase↗

PubMed1991

A cyclin-abundance cycle-independent p34cdc2 tyrosine phosphorylation cycle in early sea urchin embryos.

The activity of the cell cycle control protein p34cdc2 is post-translationally regulated in a variety of cell types. Using anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies, we find that p34cdc2-directed tyrosine kinase activity increases at fertilization in sea urchin eggs, leading to a gradual accumulation of phosphotyrosine on p34 during the early part of the cell cycle. Loss of phosphotyrosine from p34 accompanies entry into mitosis and phosphotyrosine reaccumulates as the embryo enters the next cell cycle. A similar pattern is seen when eggs are parthenogenetically activated with ammonium chloride. Tyrosine phosphorylation and phosphorylation/dephosphorylation cycles are suppressed when embryos are treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein. On the other hand, a cycle persists when protein synthesis is inhibited with emetine, indicating that it is independent of the synthesis of another class of cell cycle control proteins, the cyclins. Additional experiments with the phorbol ester, phorbol myristate acetate, demonstrate that activating protein synthesis alone in unfertilized eggs does not result in stimulation of p34cdc2 tyrosine kinase activity. Our results indicate that p34 tyrosine phosphorylation cycles are triggered by the fertilization Cai transient. The first cycle is independent of the fertilization pHi signal, confirming that, in sea urchin embryos, the cycle is not tightly coupled to the cycle of cyclin abundance that is a prominent feature of the eukaryotic cell division cycle.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Guanosine 5'-thiotriphosphate may stimulate phosphoinositide messenger production in sea urchin eggs by a different route than the fertilizing sperm.

We show that microinjecting guanosine-5'-thiotriphosphate (GTP gamma S) into unfertilized sea urchin eggs generates an intracellular free calcium concentration [( Ca]i) transient apparently identical in magnitude and duration to the calcium transient that activates the egg at fertilization. The GTP gamma S-induced transient is blocked by prior microinjection of the inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) antagonist heparin. GTP gamma S injection also causes stimulation of the egg's Na+/H+ antiporter via protein kinase C, even in the absence of a [Ca]i increase. These data suggest that GTP gamma S acts by stimulating the calcium-independent production of the phosphoinositide messengers InsP3 and diacylglycerol (DAG). However, the fertilization [Ca]i transient is not affected by heparin, nor can the sperm cause calcium-independent stimulation of protein kinase C. It seems that the bulk of InsP3 and DAG production at fertilization is triggered by the [Ca]i transient, not by the sperm itself. GDP beta S, a G-protein antagonist, does not affect the fertilization [Ca]i transient. Our findings do not support the idea that signal transduction at fertilization operates via a G-protein linked directly to a plasma membrane sperm receptor.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Okadaic acid suppresses calcium regulation of mitosis onset in sea urchin embryos.

We show that a phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid, induces premature and persistent mitosis during the first cell cycle in sea urchin embryos. Okadaic acid-induced mitosis requires protein synthesis, suggesting that it activates the protein synthesis-requiring mitotic H1 kinase. By microinjecting the calcium chelators BAPTA and EGTA and by measuring Cai using fura-2, an indicator dye, we show that okadaic acid-induced mitosis is independent of the calcium signal that usually triggers mitosis onset in sea urchin embryos. Disabling the calmodulin kinase II that is thought to respond to the mitotic Cai signal using a peptide inhibitor fails to prevent mitosis in response to okadaic acid. These data suggest that okadaic acid bypasses calcium regulation of mitosis by inducing constitutive phosphorylation of a site on the H1 kinase that is normally under the control of the calmodulin-regulated kinase.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Mitogens induce calcium transients in both dividing and terminally differentiating keratinocytes.

During terminal differentiation, keratinocytes lose the ability to divide. One indicator of responsiveness to certain growth factors is a transient rise in the intracellular concentration of free calcium ions ([Ca2+]i). The aim of our experiments was to discover whether or not terminally differentiating keratinocytes have lost the ability to exhibit an increase in [Ca2+]i in response to factors that stimulate [3H]thymidine incorporation and increase [Ca2+]i in undifferentiated keratinocytes. [Ca2+]i was measured with the calcium indicator dye FURA-2 and by a ratio imaging method. Expression of involucrin, a precursor of the keratinocyte cornified envelope, was used as a marker of terminal differentiation. Measurements were made on stratified colonies of cells grown in standard medium (containing 1.8 mM calcium ions) and on cell monolayers in low calcium medium (0.1 mM). Treatment of serum-starved monolayers with substance P, bombesin or complete growth medium containing 10% fetal calf serum resulted in increased [3H]thymidine incorporation. A switch from low calcium to standard medium also stimulated [3H]thymidine incorporation whether or not the cells had been serum-starved. In each experiment some cells showed an increase in [Ca2+]i while others did not. However, the heterogeneity in the [Ca2+]i response did not reflect the terminal differentiation status of individual cells: both involucrin-positive and -negative cells were found in the responding and nonresponding populations. Involucrin-positive and -negative areas of stratified cultures also underwent a transient increase in [Ca2+]i in response to serum-containing medium. Our data therefore indicate that both proliferating (involucrin-negative) and post-mitotic, terminally differentiating (involucrin-positive) keratinocytes can respond to mitogenic stimuli by an increase in [Ca2+]i.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Blood↗

PubMed1979