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Biomedical subjects

U Okamoto

Publications and source records attributed to U Okamoto.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Human spleen insoluble fibrinolytic proteinase acting at neutral pH: its partial purification and characterization.

An insoluble fibrinolytic enzyme with a molecular weight of approximately 30,000, was purified from the human spleen. A single protein band possessing fibrinolytic activity was obtained on polyacrylamide gel disk electrophoresis at pH 4.5. The enzyme, tentatively termed spleen fibrinolytic proteinase (SFP), degraded fibrinogen at neutral pH following Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The fibrinogenolytic activity was not inhibited by t-AMCHA, a specific plasmin inhibitor. SFP barely degraded certain synthetic ester or polypeptide substrates for trypsin, chymotrypsin, plasma, Xa, elastase and collagenase. These results indicate a different nature for SFP compared to other enzymes examined. SFP was found to digest no elastin and its fibrinogenolytic activity was strongly inhibited by STI, indicating that it was not an elastase. SFP required neither Zn++ nor CA++ for its fibrinogenolytic activity, indicating that it differed from metal-dependent proteinases such as collagenase. SFP was inhibited by DFP but not by TLCK, suggesting that it contains an active serine residue, but no trypsin type histidine at its active center. These results appear to show that SFP is a unique proteinase in the spleen, which is capable of degrading fibrin and fibrinogen at neutral pH.

Ammonium Sulfate↗

Plasminogen-activator in human early milk: its partial purification and characterization.

Milk plasminogen-activator was partially purified from human transitional milk collected at about 10 days after delivery, by a five-step procedure involving chloroform treatment, ammonium sulfate precipitation, and column chromatography on Sephadex G-150, CM Sephadex C-50 and DEAE Sephadex A-50. This gave milk-activator with a maximum purification factor of about 2,400-fold with respect to the skimmed milk. The CM Sephadex-step preparation showed, on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, a single plasminogen-activator activity band located between the bands of albumin and prealbumin of human serum. This preparation exhibited no kinin forming activity. The activator hydrolyzed acetyl-glycyl-L-lysine methyl ester with similar order kinetic constants to urokinase, and was inhibited strongly by diisopropylfluorophosphate. The molecular weight of the activator as estimated by gel filtration was approximately 86,000, the isoelectric points as estimated by gel isoelectric focusing were pH 7.2, 6.9 and 6.6, and the activator activity was not quenched by antiurokinase globulin, indicating that the milk-activator is a different entity from urokinase.

Ammonium Sulfate↗

Fibrinolytic activity of lung and spleen extracts observed in conventional but not in germ-free rats.

Protease-like activity which split plasminogen-free fibrin was demonstrated in 2 M KSCN extracts of the lung and spleen of conventional rats. The activity was virtually undetectable in tissue extracts from germ-free rats. The extracts from the conventional rat tissues split fibrin and fibrinogen remarkably at neutral pH, but not casein, when examined using fibrin, fibrinogen-agar and casein-agar plates. The fibrinolytic activity was inhibited by STI and DFP, indicating a serine protease nature. The activity was not inhibited by TLCK, t-AMCHA or dansyl-L-arginine-methylpiperidine amide (a selective synthetic thrombin inhibitor, OM189). It was neither activated nor inhibited by cysteine, KCN or iodoacetic acid. The results obtained indicate that the protease-like activity of the lung and spleen extracted with 2 M KSCN from conventional rats has properties which differ from those of trypsin, plasmin, plasminogen-activator, thrombin, and cathepsin A, B and C.

Animals↗

[Releasing of plasminogen-activator from the kidney to the blood (author's transl)].

When fibrinolytic activity in blood samples from various vessels was examined by the dilute-blood-clotlysis-time method (DBCLT), it was found to be noticeably high in the renal venous blood, though the activity was not detected by usual blood clotlysis time method. Plasmin was not detected in any blood samples examined, and the contents of fibrinogen and fibrin (or fibrinogen) breakdown products in the renal venous blood were not significantly different from those in the blood from other vessels. However, the high activity of plasminogen-activator was found only in the renal venous blood. Inhibitors on plasmin and plasminogen-activator (urokinase) were detected in almost the same amount in the blood samples from the various vessels. The amount of the inhibitors was sufficient to inhibit the plasminogen activation by urokinase, whose activity was equivalent to the plasminogen-activator activity in the renal venous blood. These results indicate that the high activity by DBCLT in the renal venous blood was derived from the high activity of plasminogen-activator, which was inactivated by inhibitors in undiluted blood. Plasminogen-activator may be released from the kidney to the blood, and immediately inactivated by the inhibitors in renal vein, and then diluted with systemic blood which contains little plasminogen-activator.

Animals↗