Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N Katunuma

Publications and source records attributed to N Katunuma.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Tumor-promoting phorbol ester amplifies the inductions of tyrosine aminotransferase and ornithine decarboxylase by glucocorticoid.

In adrenalectomized rats, the tumor-promoting phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) markedly enhanced the inductions of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) and ornithine decarboxylase by glucocorticoids, even with sufficient concentration of glucocorticoids to have a maximal effect, whereas it had no effect on TAT activity and increased ornithine decarboxylase activity only slightly in the absence of glucocorticoids. Phorbol derivatives and components of TPA such as 4 beta-phorbol, phorbol 12-tetradecanoate, phorbol 13-acetate, and 4-O-methylphorbol 12-tetradecanoate 13-acetate, which have no tumor-promoting activity or ability to activate protein kinase C, did not have any effect on TAT induction by glucocorticoid. TPA enhanced the induction of TAT by various glucocorticoids but had no effect on induction of TAT by glucagon or insulin and did not enhance the induction of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase by 17 beta-estradiol. These results suggest that TPA specifically enhances the induction of TAT and ornithine decarboxylase by glucocorticoids. Similar effects of TPA on TAT induction by glucocorticoid were observed in primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes. Another activator of protein kinase C, rac-1,2-dioctanoylglycerol, was also found to have similar effects on the cells.

Adrenalectomy↗
PubMed1987

Inhibition by 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, of enzyme induction by glucocorticoid and of nuclear translocation of glucocorticoid-receptor complexes.

Induction of tyrosine aminotransferase by glucocorticoid in rat hepatocytes was inhibited concentration-dependently by 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine dihydrochloride (H-7), an inhibitor of protein kinase C, but not by N- [2-(methyl-amino)-ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride, an inhibitor of cyclic nucleotide dependent protein kinases. H-7 also inhibited the accumulation of glucocorticoid-receptor complexes in the nuclear fraction with associated accumulation of these complexes in the cytoplasmic fraction, but did not affect incorporation of glucocorticoid into hepatocytes. These results indicate that protein kinase C may be essential in translocation of glucocorticoid-receptor complexes to the nuclei.

1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine↗
PubMed1987

Studies on biomodulators of glucocorticoid actions; the nature and the modes of actions of glucocorticoid potency amplifiers.

We have found many compounds that amplify the action of glucocorticoid without themselves having any glucocorticoid-like action and have proposed the concept of 'Glucocorticoid Action Biomodulators'. These biomodulators consist of 'Glucorticoid Sensitivity Amplifiers', which greatly amplify the action of glucocorticoid at doses of glucocorticoid that alone have minimal effects, and 'Glucocorticoid Potency Amplifiers', which markedly enhance the effect of glucocorticoid at doses that have maximal effects. Potent activators of protein kinase C, such as 1,2-racemic dioctanoylglycerol, 12-o-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate, and epidermal growth factor (EGF), markedly enhanced the induction of tyrosine aminotransferase and ornithine decarboxylase by dexamethasone in adrenalectomized rats in vivo and in primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes in vitro. They amplified enzyme induction by even a large amount of dexamethasone that had a maximal effect, but had no effect in the absence of glucocorticoid. These modes of amplification show that these compounds are 'Glucocorticoid Potency Amplifiers'. They amplified not only enzyme induction in liver but also growth inhibition by glucocorticoid of solid tumor L5178Y lymphoblasts. They specifically amplified the actions of glucocorticoids and did not amplify the actions of other steroids, such as 17-beta estradiol, glucagon and insulin. The induction of tyrosine aminotransferase by glucocorticoid and its amplification by EGF were both inhibited by 1-(5-iso-quinoline-sulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, and not by N-[2-(methylamino)-ethyl]-5-isoquinoline-sulfonamide, an inhibitor of cyclic nucleotide dependent protein kinases, suggesting that the induction and the amplification are mediated by protein kinase C.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Kinetic studies on the inhibitions of mast cell chymase by natural serine protease inhibitors: indications for potential biological functions of these inhibitors.

We have found that degranulation from mast cells is specifically inhibited by the inhibitors of chymase (10). Among the natural serine protease inhibitors tested, Bowman-Birk soybean protease inhibitor, Eglin C, and human alpha 1-antichymotrypsin inhibited chymase more strongly than did chymostatin, Kunitz soybean protease inhibitor, and phosphatidylserine. Of the inhibitors tested, Bowman-Birk soybean protease inhibitor was the strongest inhibitor of chymase, its Ki value being 13.2 X 10(-9) M. Kinetic studies showed that these inhibitors were all noncompetitive inhibitors of chymase. Bowman-Birk and Kunitz soybean protease inhibitors inhibited both chymotrypsin-type and trypsin-type serine proteases but Eglin C specifically inhibited chymotrypsin-type proteases.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Formation of mixed disulfide of cystatin-beta in cultured macrophages treated with various oxidants.

Macrophage cell cultures were treated with menadione, zymosan, or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), and changes in productions of superoxide anion and hydroperoxide, and in glutathione oxidation and S-thiolation of cystatin-beta (formation of a mixed disulfide of cystatin-beta and glutathione) were examined. All three compounds promoted production of superoxide anion and hydroperoxide, but only menadione caused extensive oxidation of glutathione. Menadione caused S-thiolation of cystatin-beta in a dose-dependent fashion, but the other two compounds did not. Removal of menadione promptly reduced the oxidation of glutathione and S-thiolation of cystatin-beta induced by menadione. Inhibition of catalase by aminotriazol caused slight increase in the GSSG content in both menadione- and zymosan-treated cells, but not in S-thiolation of cystatin-beta in zymosan-treated cells. None of the three compounds influenced appreciably the activity of glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, or superoxide dismutase in cultured cells. These results indicate that S-thiolation of cystatin-beta occurs in cells in response to oxidative challenge by menadione but not by zymosan or by the tumor promoter PMA. Dethiolation of cystatin-beta by purified thiol transferase and protein disulfide isomerase in the presence of different concentrations of GSH was examined in vitro. Both enzymes catalyzed dethiolation of cystatin-beta at a much lower level of GSH than that required for the non-enzymatic reaction, suggesting the importance of enzymatic catalysis of S-thiolation and dethiolation of cystatin-beta in cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Activation of the intramyofibral autophagic-lysosomal system in muscular dystrophy.

Skeletal muscles obtained from myopathies with myofiber necrosis, including mdx dystrophic mice, plasmocid-induced myopathy in rats, and patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, were examined immunohistochemically with anticathepsin-peroxidase conjugates. Strong reactions for lysosomal cysteine proteinases, which can degrade myofibrillar proteins, were demonstrated in macrophages invading and surrounding the necrotic areas and some degenerative myofibers and also in intramyofibral portions of atrophic fibers of dystrophic mice and humans. Apparently normal and regenerating myofibers did not stain for lysosomal cathepsins. Abnormal increases of cathepsins L and B were seen even in the early stage of plasmocid myopathy and in a 20-day-old young mdx mouse before infiltration of macrophages, suggesting that autodigestion by intramyofibral lysosomal proteinases is an important event before digestion of the necrotic fibers by macrophage proteinases. Activation of the intramyofibral lysosomal system, as in muscular dystrophy, was also observed in distal myopathy with rimmed vacuoles without macrophageal infiltration (Am J Pathol 1986, 122:193-198). Thus, this activation seems to be an important, early response to myocellular damage.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Diacylglycerol amplifies the induction in vivo of tyrosine aminotransferase and ornithine decarboxylase by glucocorticoid.

In adrenalectomized rats, diacylglycerol, a potent activator of protein kinase C, specifically enhanced the induction of tyrosine aminotransferase and ornithine decarboxylase by even maximally effective doses of dexamethasone phosphate, but itself had no effect on these enzyme inductions in the absence of glucocorticoid. The amplifications of enzyme induction by diacylglycerol was dose-dependent and the time courses of the amplified inductions were similar to those of the inductions by dexamethasone phosphate alone. Since diacylglycerol did not affect the induction of these enzymes by glucagon and insulin, its amplifying effect seemed to be specific for induction by glucocorticoids.

Adrenalectomy↗
PubMed1986

Involvement of thiol proteases in galactosialidosis.

The activities of Z-Phe-Arg-NMec(ZPA) hydrolase, cathepsin B and cathepsin H and the concentration of endogenous thiol protease inhibitor in fibroblasts from patients with galactosialidosis were found not to be significantly different from those in control fibroblasts. Culture for 5 days with thiol protease inhibitors such as leupeptin, E-64 or Z-Phe-Phe-CHN2 partially restored the beta-galactosidase activity of fibroblasts from patients, but did not affect the beta-galactosidase activity of fibroblasts from control subjects. However, culture with leupeptin, but not other protease inhibitors, increased the ZPA hydrolase and cathepsin B activities of fibroblasts from both patients and controls 2- to 4-fold. Sephadex G-75 chromatography showed that the activity of high molecular weight ZPA hydrolase, which was initially predominant in fibroblasts, decreased markedly during their culture with leupeptin, while the activities of lower molecular weight ZPA hydrolase and cathepsin B increased about 5-fold. These results suggest that high molecular weight ZPA hydrolase, which is presumably cathepsin J, degrades beta-galactosidase, and that the defect in galactosialidosis is impaired protection of beta-galactosidase from degradation.

Cathepsin B↗
PubMed1986

A chymotrypsin-type serine protease in rat basophilic leukemia cells: evidence for its immunologic identity with atypical mast cell protease.

Activity of a chymotrypsin-type serine protease was found in a subline of rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells. The protease was immunologically cross-reactive with anti-atypical mast cell protease immunoglobulin (Ig) G, and its activity was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by the antibody. The apparent m.w. of the protease that reacted with the antibody was 25,000, which was identical with that of atypical mast cell protease in rat mucosal mast cells. These results show that the chymotrypsin type serine protease in RBL-2H3 cells is immunologically identical with atypical mast cell protease, which was first purified from rat small intestine. Immunohistochemical studies showed that the protease was located not only in intracytoplasmic granules but also in organelles synthesizing protein, such as cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, perinuclear spaces, and the Golgi apparatus. However, no immunoreactivity was demonstrated in rat basophils. The activity of the protease increased in the exponential phase of growth of RBL-2H3 cells in which some activity was also detected in the medium, and it decreased in the late stationary phase.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Biological functions of serine proteases in the granules of rat mast cells.

The effects of specific low- and high-molecular weight inhibitors of chymase and tryptase and F(ab')2 of antichymase on histamine release from activated mast cells were examined. The release of histamine induced by anti-rat immunoglobulin E was markedly inhibited by F(ab')2 fragments of antichymase and the low-molecular weight inhibitor of chymase chymostatin, whereas release of histamine induced by calcium ionophore A23187 was inhibited only by chymostatin. Neither the inhibitor nor the antibody affected histamine release induced by compound 48/80. These results suggest that two main chymotrypsin-type proteases are involved in process of degranulation: one is chymase, which acts at a step before calcium entry, and the other is an unidentified protease, which acts at a step after calcium entry. These results are summarized in Figure 8. After degranulation, released chymase remains associated with the cell surface while released tryptase was found in the extracellular milieu. Tryptase converted bovine prothrombin to thrombin, as shown by increase in thrombin activity with a synthetic substrate, t-butyloxy-carbonyl-Val-Pro-Arg-4-methyl-coumaryl-7-amide. The apparent Km value toward prothrombin was relatively low (2.3 microM), suggesting that tryptase contributes to blood coagulation or the process of fibrosis in tissues. The proteolytic products of IgG1 produced by chymase had chemotactic activity for neutrophil leukocytes in vitro and in vivo. These findings indicate the possible functions of these proteases after degranulation.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Studies on turnover rates of rat gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase after chronic ethanol administration in vivo.

Chronic ethanol administration to rats was shown to result in a significant increase of hepatic and serum GGT activities, contrasting to the decreased levels observed in pancreas, intestine, brain, and kidney by the new alcock regimen method. The kinetics of rat GGT synthesis and degradation in vivo among the different sources after chronic ethanol administration has been studied by use of acivicin, which irreversibly inactivates GGT. The comparison of kinetics of GGT return after acivicin injection showed that the kidney and serum GGT exhibits biphasic half-lives in contrast to liver, pancreatic, intestinal, and brain GGT half-lives in chronic ethanol-administered rats. The present studies on kinetics of GGT synthesis (Ks) and degradation (Kd) in vivo would seem to indicate the existence of three types of systems. That is, Ks rather than Kd may be preferential in liver and serum whereas Kd is apparently increased in kidney and intestine without noticeable change in Ks. The reverse phenomenon is also observed for pancreas and brain. These findings suggest that the contributions of alterations in the rates of GGT synthesis and degradation to changing levels of GGT have been evaluated as a mechanism for enzyme adaptation in animal tissues as a change from the control diet to the ethanol diet.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Molecular cloning of human ornithine aminotransferase mRNA.

The isolation and characterization of a cDNA clone for the mRNA of human ornithine aminotransferase (OATase; ornithine-oxo-acid aminotransferase; L-ornithine:2-oxo-acid aminotransferase, EC 2.6.1.13), a nonabundant mitochondrial matrix enzyme that is severely deficient in a hereditary chorioretinal degenerative disease (gyrate atrophy), is described. Human liver, retina, and retinoblastoma (Y79) mRNAs were prepared and tested for the OATase mRNA content by in vitro translation, immunoprecipitation, and NaDodSO4/PAGE. The retinoblastoma cells were found to be expressing this enzyme at a relatively high level. The primary translation product of the OATase mRNA is larger than the pure OATase protein on NaDodSO4/PAGE by approximately equal to 4 kDa, suggesting a precursor protein. lambda gt11 cDNA libraries were prepared from the human mRNAs, and the recombinant clones were immunoscreened as plaques with two different preparations of rabbit anti-human OATase antibodies. A clone (lambda gtRB315) was isolated from the retinoblastoma library that reacts with both of the antibody preparations, and the DNA sequence of its 2.1-kilobase-pair cDNA insert was obtained. An open reading frame consisting of 1371 nucleotides is present in the sequence, and a putative translational initiation methionine codon is identified at position 55. A putative leader sequence consisting of 32 amino acid residues is identified, resulting in a precursor protein of 439 amino acid residues and a molecular mass of 48,534 Da and a mature protein of 407 residues and 45,136 Da. The amino acid sequences of seven tryptic peptides (115 amino acid residues) of the pure human OATase were obtained by microsequencing. When the tryptic peptide and cDNA-derived amino acid sequences were compared, homologies in 111 of 115 residues, including a match of 20 consecutive residues, were observed. An RNA blot hybridization of 32P-labeled OATase cDNA to normal human retina and retinoblastoma mRNAs demonstrated an OATase mRNA species of approximately equal to 2.2 kilobases. The level of OATase mRNA in the normal human retina is approximately equal to 1/100th the level of rhodopsin mRNA and 1/5th to 1/10th the level present in the retinoblastoma cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Purification and tissue distribution of rat cathepsin L.

Cathepsin L was purified to apparent homogeneity from rat kidney. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 30,000, but part of the enzyme was found to consist of two polypeptide chains of Mr 25,000 and 5,000. Antibody against rat kidney cathepsin L did not cross-react with rat cathepsin B or H and detected only cathepsin L in crude rat tissue preparations on immunoblotted sheets. The concentrations of cathepsin L in various rat tissues and peripheral blood cells of rats were determined by a sensitive immunoassay, in which the minimum detectable amount of cathepsin L was 20 pg/assay. The concentration of cathepsin L was found to be highest in the kidneys, where it was more than 3 times higher than in the liver, spleen, lungs, and brain. Nervous tissues, especially the cerebellar cortex, also contained fairly high concentrations of cathepsin L, but the heart, skeletal muscle, and gastrointestinal tract contained low concentrations, as did peripheral blood cells. The cathepsin L content of macrophages was 20% of that of cathepsin B. The concentrations of cathepsin L in lymphocytes, neutrophils, and erythrocytes were 10%, 20%, and less than 0.2%, respectively, of those in resident macrophages.

Animals↗