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P Nicolas

Publications and source records attributed to P Nicolas.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Solid phase synthesis of somatostatin-28 II. A new biologically active octacosapeptide from anglerfish pancreatic islets.

Somatostatin-28 II, an octacosapeptide recently isolated from anglerfish pancreatic islets, was synthetized by the solid phase method along with its somatostatin-14 II and somatostatin-28 II-(1-12) corresponding domains. Homogeneity of the synthetic peptides was demonstrated by analytical RP-HPLC, thin layer chromatography and electrophoresis. The peptides were further characterized by amino acids analysis, fast atomic bombarding mass spectrometry and/or 252Cf plasma desorption mass spectrometry. Synthetic somatostatin-28 II and somatostatin-14 II displace equally well the potent agonist (Tyr0,D-Trp8)-somatostatin-14 from its specific binding sites on anterior pituitary cells membranes. Both peptides activate adenylate cyclase from dispersed rat anterior pituitary cells.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1986

Precursors for peptide hormones share common secondary structures forming features at the proteolytic processing sites.

We have analyzed the amino acid sequences situated around the putative proteolytic cleavage sites in twenty different biosynthetic precursors of peptide hormones by processing enzymes. The prediction of the probability for forming secondary structures around the basic amino acids, constituting the cleavage sites, was made using the modified method of Chou and Fasman. The results indicate that the processing sequences which are cleaved in vivo, are in all cases located inside regions with high beta-turn formation probability or else immediately adjacent to these structures. The beta-turn forming region at the cleavage locus, is flanked on both sides by amino acid sequences with a high probability for forming highly ordered structures, either beta-sheet or alpha-helix. These conformational features are not found in precursors around dibasic pairs, i.e. putative cleavage loci, but which are not cleaved in vivo and appear to be conserved. We hypothesize that beta-turns including the basic amino acids doublets, flanked by highly ordered secondary structures (either beta-sheet or alpha-helix) may constitute a minimal requirement for the recognition by the endoproteases involved in the processing of these precursors.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Improved determination of sulpiride in plasma by ion-pair liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A specific and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the measurement of sulpiride in plasma is described. The internal standard used was veralipride, a structurally related substituted benzamide. A fluorescence detector with maximum excitation at 300 nm and maximum emission at 365 nm was used for quantitation. After an alkaline extraction procedure, the benzamides were separated on a 5-micron ODS column using a large organic counter ion in the mobile phase. The detector response was linear from 10 to 1000 ng/ml and the detection limit was 10 ng/ml, which is sensitive enough for pharmacokinetic studies. The suitability of the method for the analysis of biological samples was tested by studying the variation with time of plasma concentrations of sulpiride in normal human volunteers after a single therapeutic 200-mg oral dose of three different formulations of sulpiride.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗
PubMed1986

An endopeptidase associated with bovine neurohypophysis secretory granules cleaves pro-ocytocin/neurophysin peptide at paired basic residues.

The octacosapeptide sequence [Tyr18] pro-ocytocin/neurophysin (1-18)NH2 [pro-OT/Np(1-18)NH2] was synthesized and used as substrate to detect endoprotease(s) possibly involved in the processing of this precursor in bovine hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal tract. An endopeptidase (58 Kda) was detected in Lysates made from highly purified neurosecretory granules. This protease which cleaves the peptide bond on the carboxyl side of the Lys-Arg doublet, and no single basic residue, generates both OT-Gly10-Lys11-Arg12+Ala13-Val-Leu-Asp-Leu-Tyr18 (NH2) from the octacosapeptide substrate. In addition, a carboxypeptidase B-like activity converting OT-Gly10-Lys11-Arg12 into OT-Gly10 was detected in the same granule Lysates. It is hypothesized that a combination of these endoprotease and carboxypeptidase B-like activities together with the amidating enzyme of secretory granules might participate in the cleavage and processing of pro-OT/Np in vivo.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Determinative factors in human tonotopy: tentative analysis.

Two main parameters of stimulation were checked as an attempt to investigate the limits of the tonotopic organization in the human auditory cortex. Auditory Evoked magnetic Field (AEF) experiments from a dozen normal subjects are reported. Five of them clearly showed tonotopic AEF responses to long tone bursts stimuli, which disappeared when equivalent white noise was superimposed to the tone. Discrepancies from previous reports and high inter-individual variability are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Extrachromosomal circular nuclear rDNA in Euglena gracilis.

The presence of extrachromosomal nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) in the unicellular alga Euglena gracilis has been established. This rDNA is circular. Each circle is 3.8 micron long and contains one rDNA unit. Oligomers are rare. Extrachromosomal rDNA is present in large amounts during the exponential phase of growth and appears less abundant during the stationary phase. It was found in all wild-type and mutant strains of Euglena examined. Our estimations suggest that rDNA in Euglena is mainly extrachromosomal. Research of extrachromosomal rDNA in spinach and Petunia was negative.

Cell Nucleus↗
PubMed1985

Streptomycin-resistance of Euglena gracilis chloroplasts: identification of a point mutation in the 16S rRNA gene in an invariant position.

We sequenced the chloroplast 16S rRNA gene of two Euglena gracilis mutants which contain streptomycin-resistant chloroplasts (Smr 139.12/4 and Smr 139.20/2). These mutants are known to contain a single intact rrn operon per circular chloroplast genome. Nucleotide sequence comparison between a 16S rRNA gene of wild type Euglena gracilis, strain Z, with streptomycin-sensitive chloroplasts, and the 16S rRNA gene of both Smr-strains reveals a single base change (C to T) at position 876. This position is equivalent to the invariant position 912 of the E. coli 16S rRNA gene. The analogous position is also conserved in all chloroplast small subunit RNA genes from lower and higher plants sequenced so far. Light dependent protein synthesis with purified chloroplasts from streptomycin-resistant cells is not inhibited by streptomycin. Based on the results reported here we postulate linkage between the observed point mutation on the 16S rRNA gene and streptomycin-resistance of chloroplast 70S ribosomes.

Base Composition↗
PubMed1985

Salt-dependent structural changes of neurohormones: lithium ions induce conformational rearrangements of ocytocin to a vasopressin-like structure.

The preferred average conformation and structural subdomain interactions of the nonapeptide hormones vasopressin and ocytocin have been analyzed through the determination of their hydrodynamic volume and the thermal coefficient of the frictional resistance to rotation of their tyrosine residue. A spherical gross shape and an ellipsoidal gross shape were assessed respectively for ocytocin and vasopressin by fluorescence polarization analysis. Investigation of the thermal coefficient of viscosity and the critical temperature of both hormones and analogues indicated that strong interactions hold together the two structural subdomains of ocytocin (the flexible six-membered ring and the COOH-terminal tripeptide tail). An opposite situation was found in the case of vasopressin where such interactions could not be detected between the rigid ring and the flexible COOH-terminal tail. Lithium ions were shown to promote ocytocin binding to specific neurophysin sites restricted, under standard conditions, to vasopressin. In the presence of lithium, the gross conformational shape of ocytocin becomes similar to that of vasopressin but in the absence of salt. In addition, the ocytocin ring becomes more rigid in the presence of lithium while decreasing interactions between the ring and the COOH-terminal tail were detected. It is proposed that lithium ions induce specific conformational rearrangements of ocytocin toward a vasopressin-like structure, allowing recognition of this hormonal ligand by a specific vasopressin binding domain of neurophysins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1985

Conformational flexibility of neurophysin as investigated by local motions of fluorophores. Relationships with neurohypophyseal hormone binding.

Flexibility of various structural domains of neurophysin and neurophysin-neurohypophyseal hormone complexes has been investigated through the fast rotational motion of fluorophores in highly viscous medium. Despite seven intrachain disulfide links, it is shown that some domains of neurophysin remain highly flexible. Dimerization of neurophysin does not affect the structural integrity of the individual subunits, each subdomain being conformationally equivalent within each protomer of the unliganded dimer. The absence of heterogeneous fluorescence anisotropy precludes the existence of a dimer tautomerization equilibrium. Binding of the hormonal ligands to neurophysin dimer promotes a large conformational change over the whole protein structure as assessed by differential alterations of the flexibility-rigidity and intrasegmental interaction properties of domains that do not participate directly to the dimerization/binding areas. The order of free-energy coupling between ligand binding and protein subunit association has been evaluated. Data are consistent with a model in which the first mole of bound ligand stabilizes the dimer by increasing the intersubunit contacts while the second mole of ligand induces most of the described conformational change. Accordingly, the positive cooperativity between the two dimeric binding sites is linked mainly to the binding of the second ligand. The induced structural change is perceived differently by each subunit as assessed by opposite local motions of Tyr49 in each liganded protomer and leads to the formation of a dimeric complex with a global pseudospherical symmetry although containing domains of local asymmetry.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Inhibition of analgesia by C-terminal deletion analogs of human beta-endorphin.

Human beta-endorphin (beta h-EP) analogs of variable chain lengths have been investigated for their potency in inhibiting analgesia induced by beta h-EP or by the potent opiate etorphine. It was found that beta h-EP-(1-28) inhibits the analgesic effect of beta h-EP and etorphine when co-injected intracerebroventricularly into mice. Antagonism by competition at same opioid receptor subtypes is suggested from parallel shifts of the dose-response curve of etorphine or beta h-EP in the presence of increasing doses of beta h-EP-(1-28). On a molar basis, beta h-EP-(1-28) is nearly 10 times more potent than naloxone. The reduction of the chain length from residues 1-28 to 1-27 lowered the antagonist potency while further reduction of the peptide chain led to a complete loss of inhibitory activity. From comparison of the opioid-receptor binding affinity, analgesic activity and antagonist potency, it is concluded that the C-terminus of beta-EP is critical to the biological efficacy of the molecule and that the antagonist activity of C-terminal deletion analogs is probably mediated through residues 27 and 28.

Analgesics↗
PubMed1985

Proteolytic events in the post-translational processing of somatostatin precursors from rat brain cortex and anglerfish pancreatic islets.

An Arg-Lys esteropeptidase which converts somatostatin-28 (S-28) into somatostatin-14 (S-14) was detected in rat brain cortical extracts using a synthetic undecapeptide substrate mimicking the octacosapeptide sequence at the restriction site. This enzyme system was unable to release either the octacosapeptide or S-14 from the 15,000 mol wt (15K) rat hypothalamic precursor. This argues in favor of sequential degradation of the precursor into S-14 via S-28 as an obligatory intermediate. Another in vivo processing system was analyzed in the anglerfish pancreatic Brockmann organs. Here, cloning of two cDNA corresponding to two mRNA species predicts two distinct somatostatins precursors, called prosomatostatins I and II (Hobart et al., Nature 288:137, 1980). While a single S-14 can be detected in extracts made from this pancreatic tissue, indistinguishable from the mammalian species, two S-28 species could be separated by HPLC. Immunochemical and biochemical evidence indicates that the second species should correspond to anglerfish S-28 (AF S-28), the product of prosomatostatin-II processing in vivo. Amino acid analysis, together with the determined complete amino acid sequence of this peptide, demonstrates that this is indeed the case and that AF S-28 contains in its C-terminal half the [Tyr7, Gly10] derivative of S-14. These observations give an example of a AF S-28 being a terminal active product of prosomatostatin processing. They suggest that this octacosapeptide, which is potent on the inhibition of growth hormone release by anterior pituitary cells, may play such a role in the gastrointestinal tract of the anglerfish. These results, while not excluding alternative routes, give support to a sequential processing of the 15 K precursor----S-28----S-14.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Beta-endorphin-(1-27) is a naturally occurring antagonist to etorphine-induced analgesia.

The potent opioid peptide beta-endorphin is found in the brain and pituitary with two related fragments, beta-endorphin-(1-27) and beta-endorphin-(1-26). The fragments retain substantial opioid-receptor binding activity but are virtually inactive analgesically. beta-Endorphin-(1-27) inhibits beta-endorphin-induced and etorphine-induced analgesia when coinjected intracerebroventricularly into mice. Antagonism by competition at the same site(s) is suggested from parallel shifts of the dose-response curves of etorphine or beta-endorphin in the presence of beta-endorphin-(1-27). Its potency is 4-5 times greater than that of the opiate antagonist naloxone. beta-Endorphin-(1-26) does not antagonize the antinociceptive action of etorphine or beta-endorphin in doses up to 500 pmol per animal.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Diversity of the ribosomal structures in the Euglena gracilis chloroplast genome: description of a mutant with two ribosomal operons and possible mechanism for its production.

We studied the bleached mutant of Euglena gracilis Y3BUD producing carotenoids and rich in chloroplast DNA. This mutant which was produced more than twenty years ago segregates permanently, forming 30 to 50% daughter cells without carotenoids and poor in chloroplast DNA. Electron microscopy and mapping with restriction enzymes show the deletion of a complete ribosomal operon out of the three present in the original strain.

Chloroplasts↗
PubMed1984

beta-Endorphin-induced analgesia is inhibited by synthetic analogs of beta-endorphin.

Competitive antagonism of human beta-endorphin (beta h-EP)-induced analgesia by synthetic beta h-EP analogs with high in vitro opiate receptor binding to in vivo analgesic potency ratio has been demonstrated. A parallel shift of the dose-response curve for analgesia to the right was observed when either beta h-EP or [ Trp27 ] -beta h-EP was coinjected with various doses of [Gln8, Gly31 ]-beta h-EP-Gly-Gly-NH2, [Arg9,19,24,28,29]-beta h-EP, or [ Cys11 ,26, Phe27 , Gly31 ]-beta h-EP. It was estimated that the most potent antagonist, [Gln8, Gly31 ]-beta h-EP-Gly-NH2, is at least 200 times more potent than naloxone.

Analgesia↗
PubMed1984

Enzymes processing somatostatin precursors: an Arg-Lys esteropeptidase from the rat brain cortex converting somatostatin-28 into somatostatin-14.

The post-translational proteolytic conversion of somatostatin-14 precursors was studied to characterize the enzyme system responsible for the production of the tetradecapeptide either from its 15-kDa precursor protein or from its COOH-terminal fragment, somatostatin-28. A synthetic undecapeptide Pro-Arg-Glu-Arg-Lys-Ala-Gly-Ala-Lys-Asn-Tyr(NH2), homologous to the amino acid sequence of the octacosapeptide at the putative Arg-Lys cleavage locus, was used as substrate, after 125I labeling on the COOH-terminal tyrosine residue. A 90-kDa proteolytic activity was detected in rat brain cortex extracts after molecular sieve fractionation followed by ion exchange chromatography. The protease released the peptide 125I-Ala-Gly-Ala-Lys-Asn-Tyr(NH2) from the synthetic undecapeptide substrate and converted somatostatin-28 into somatostatin-14 under similar conditions (pH 7.0). Under these experimental conditions, the product tetradecapeptide was not further degraded by the enzyme. In contrast, the purified 15-kDa hypothalamic precursor remained unaffected when exposed to the proteolytic enzyme under identical conditions. It is concluded that this Arg-Lys esteropeptidase from the brain cortex may be involved in the in vivo processing of the somatostatin-28 fragment of prosomatostatin into somatostatin-14, the former species being an obligatory intermediate in a two-step proteolytic mechanism leading to somatostatin-14.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

beta-endorphin-(1-27) is an antagonist of beta-endorphin analgesia.

beta h-Endorphin-(1-27), a naturally occurring fragment of human beta-endorphin (beta h-endorphin), diminishes the analgesic effect of beta h-endorphin when coinjected intra-cerebroventricularly into mice. A parallel shift in the dose-response curve of beta h-endorphin in the presence of beta h-endorphin-(1-27) suggests competition at the same site. The potency of beta h-endorphin-(1-27) in antagonizing analgesia is greater than 4 times greater than that of the opiate antagonist naloxone.

Analgesia↗
PubMed1983

Evidence for a predominant form of Mr = 15,000 prosomatostatin in the mouse hypothalamus. Relationship with somatostatin-14 and -28.

This paper demonstrates the presence of a single predominant form of high molecular weight somatostatin (Mr congruent to 15,000) in mouse hypothalamus as judged by a combination of purification procedures including molecular sieve filtration, reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography, isoelectric focusing, and gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions. Furthermore, the conversion of the Mr = 15,000 somatostatin species by hypothalamic enzyme activities led to the formation of both somatostatin-14 and -28 which were identified by high pressure liquid chromatography. No evidence was found for the presence of molecular species containing the sequence of the (Tyr-7, Gly-10) derivative of somatostatin. These observations suggest that, in contrast to the situation encountered in the pancreas, a predominant form of prosomatostatin is synthesized in hypothalamic neurones. They indicate that, in the hypothalamus, both the tetradecapeptide and somatostatin-28 derive from a single prohormone.

Animals↗