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Biomedical subjects

V Shivaswamy

Publications and source records attributed to V Shivaswamy.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Functions of cytochrome c in regulation of electron transfer and protein folding.

Cytochrome c, a "mobile electron carrier" of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, also occurs in detectable amounts in the cytosol, and can receive electrons from cytochromes present in endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membranes as well as from superoxide and ascorbate. The pigment was found to dissociate from mitochondrial membranes in liver and kidney when rats were subjected to heat exposure and starvation, respectively. Treating cytochrome c with hydroxylamine gives a partially deaminated product with altered redox properties; decreased stimulation of respiration by deficient mitochondria, increased reduction by superoxide, and complete loss of reducibility by plasma membranes. Mitochondria isolated from brown adipose tissue of cold-exposed rats are found to be sub-saturated with cytochrome c. The ability of cytochrome c to reactivate reduced ribonuclease is now reinterpreted as a molecular chaperone role for the hemoprotein.

Animals

Redistribution of subcellular calcium in rat liver on administration of vanadate.

Mitochondria isolated from the livers of rats administered with sodium meta-, ortho-, or polyvanadate, but not vanadyl sulphate, exhibited enhanced Ca2+ -stimulated respiration and uptake of calcium. These effects were shown also by mitochondria isolated from livers perfused with polyvanadate. The concentration of acid-soluble calcium decreased significantly in the mitochondrial fraction on vanadate treatment, while that in the cytosol showed a corresponding increase. Phenoxybenzamine, an antagonist to alpha-adrenergic receptors, effectively inhibited vanadate-induced Ca2+ mobilization, but surgical sympathectomy was without effect. This is the first demonstration of vanadate mimicking alpha-adrenergic agonists in vivo.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists

Increase in alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase and other oxidoreductase activities of hepatic mitochondria on administration of vanadate to the rat.

Liver mitochondria isolated from vanadate-administered rats showed increased (20-25%) rates of oxidation of both NAD(+)-linked substrates and succinate. Respiratory control index and ADP/O were unaffected by the treatment. Dormant and uncoupler-stimulated ATPase activity also was not affected by vanadate administration. Membrane-bound, electron-transport-linked dehydrogenase activities (both NAD(+)- and succinate-dependent) increased by 15-20% on vanadate treatment. Mitochondrial alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity increased by 50% on vanadate administration. The above effects of vanadate on oxidoreductase activities could be prevented by the prior administration of antagonists to alpha-adrenergic receptors. Substrate-dependent H2O2 generation by mitochondria also showed an increase on vanadate administration.

Animals

Oxidations in kidney mitochondria of heat-exposed rats: regulation by cytochrome c.

Exposure of rats to higher environmental temperature (36-37 degrees C) decreased the capacity of their kidney mitochondria to oxidize succinate. The decrease was corrected on the addition of exogenous cytochrome c. Kidney mitochondria of heat-exposed animals showed decreased rates of H2O2 generation when alpha-glycerophosphate, but not succinate, was used as electron donor. These mitochondria also showed decreased activity of alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase but not of succinate dehydrogenase. The content of cytochrome c in kidney mitochondria of heat-exposed animals was low even though the concentration of the pigment in the whole tissue did not decrease. Starvation as well as administration of an antithyroid agent like propylthiouracil simulated some of the effects of heat exposure on kidney mitochondria, but the cytochrome c-dependent reversal of inhibition of oxidation was obtained only in heat exposure.

Animals

Decrease of phenylalanine hydroxylase during hepatocyte proliferation.

In partially hepatectomized rats, the activity of phenylalanine hydroxylase decreased in the regenerating liver but not in the kidneys. The concentration of corticosterone in the plasma of hepatectomized rats increased, and phenylalanine hydroxylase, despite being cortisol inducible, decreased in these as well as simultaneously adrenalectomized rats, showing lack of correlation between the changes of the steroid and the enzyme during the regeneration process. The decrease in the enzyme activity could be prevented by administering, during hepatic regeneration, only noradrenaline and adrenergic blocking agents, among the many hormones and phenyl compounds tested. A decrease in hepatic phenylalanine hydroxylase was also observed during two other conditions of hepatocyte cell proliferation obtained after giving chlorophenoxyisobutyrate and alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane.

Adrenalectomy