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Various lines of evidence from starch gel electrophoretic experiments demonstrate the existence of a genetically determined rare variant form of the type III isozyme of hexokinase (HK) in the leucocytes of a small percentage of the general human population. This enzymatically active variant (designated IIIS) migrates slightly, but significantly, slower than the common form (designated IIIF). In addition to finding various individuals with a two-banded pattern (heterozygotes containing both IIIS and IIIF), a finding reported previously by S. Povey, G. Corney, and H. Harris ((1975) Ann. Hum. Genet. 38, 407-415), we discovered one person homozygous for the variant phenotype. In close agreement with Povey et al., screening of 59 individuals at random indicated a gene frequency of about 0.017 for the IIIS allele, corresponding to a homozygous genotype for this allele that would be expected in about one of every 3500 individuals. Experiments involving the mixing of blood samples from the individual homozygous for IIIS with those homozygous for IIIF indicate that secondary in vitro changes, a possibility suggested by Povey et al., are not responsible for the appearance of the variant. This conclusion was supported by a demonstration of the specificity of the alteration in type III's mobility in comparison with the lack of alterations in any of the LDH isozymes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and various amido black-stainable proteins. These studies confirm the proposal for a genetically determined polymorphism of type III HK. No differences could be found between the total HK activity (according to spectrophotometric assays) of extracts from the subject homozygous for the variant and the activity from the homozygote for the common form, in terms of either their Km values for glucose or their heat stability properties. The similarity of Km values was supported by kinetic assays performed during staining of the individual forms on electrophoretic gels. Previous findings, reported elsewhere, of type III HK in RBC extracts were shown here to be attributable to contamination, by leucocytes, of the extracts. As a consequence of these studies, slight, but significant, amounts of type II-like HK were also discovered in leucocytes. Because our studies described above were completed in 1969, advantage was taken of the opportunity to test the HK pattern 17 years later from some of the same subjects. The patterns of the homozygotes for IIIS and for IIIF and the heterozygotes were found to be identical to the original ones, indicating no age-, environmental-, or other time-related changes that could explain the variation in type III HK.

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The biosynthesis from L-alanine of D-alanyl-D-alanine, required for the peptidoglycan layer of the cell wall of many bacterial species, is catalyzed by two enzymes in series, alanine racemase and D-alanine: D-alanine ligase. A simple in vitro method, called the combined assay, for simultaneously testing for effectors of either or both enzymes in a single assay by coupling these enzymes to each other is described here. The experiments used to derive the optimum conditions for the assay are also described. Each enzyme is included in the assay in rate-limiting amounts, wherein the product of the initial racemase reaction, D-alanine, becomes the substrate for the subsequent ligase. The product of the overall reaction, [14C]-D-alanyl-D-alanine, is separated chromatographically from the L-[1-14C]alanine substrate, and from any D-[1-14C]alanine intermediate, at the end of the incubation, is counted and the percent conversion of substrate to product calculated. The inhibitory effects of 3-fluoro-D-alanine-2d, a known inhibitor of the racemase, and D-cycloserine and DL-1-aminoethylphosphonic acid, inhibitors of both enzymes, were readily detectable. The sensitivity of the combined assay to these inhibitors appears similar to that of earlier assays. This assay has the advantage over previous ones of being able to detect inhibitors of either enzyme in a single assay, thereby avoiding the need to screen each compound in a separate assay of each enzyme.

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Based upon the clinical finding that a Merck somatostatin-14 (S-14) analog induced steatorrhea in man, we sought to develop animal models to study the effects of S-14 and a series of synthetic analogs on absorption. Rats were trained to eat a diet (preweighed) containing 15% fat. Following the feeding period, the remaining diet was removed and the amount consumed recorded. This food conditioning of the rats was continued until the rats consumed approximately 15 g of the diet per day. Feces were collected and weighed prior to feeding periods. On test days, S-14 or analogs were administered sc to rats immediately prior to feeding. For each compound tested, fat absorption decreased in dose-dependent fashion. For example, S-14 at 0.5 mg/kg did not increase % of dietary fat in feces (% DFF). At 1.0 mg/kg, S-14 increased % DFF from 7.9 to 10.2 (p less than 0.01, pretest day vs test day), and at 10 mg/kg S-14, % DFF increased from 9.1 to 12.8 (p less than 0.001). For each analog, the subcutaneous dose required to decrease fat absorption in rats was several orders of magnitude higher than the intravenous dose required to inhibit insulin and glucagon. Moreover, the threshold for production of statistically significant increases in fecal fat differed among analogs when compared to their endocrine potencies. One analog administered in the model for 14 days was shown to produce consistent fat malabsorption throughout the entire test period; however, this lipid malabsorption was substantially more pronounced on the first three days of the treatment period. When the compound was not administered on day 15, the % DFF significantly decreased. In an attempt to develop a system more suitable for rapid screening, pancreatic secretagogues such as secretin or cholecystokinin, were administered intravenously to anesthetized rats whose duodena had been cannulated and perfused to enable collection of pancreatic secretions. Total amylase, lipase, and protein were determined in single animals in response to a secretagogue, both before and after iv pretreatment by S-14 or an analog. Pancreatic enzyme secretion in response to sequential secretagogue-stimulation was found to be reproducible for up to three injections and behaved in a dose-dependent fashion. In general, secretagogue-induced increases in amylase, lipase, and total protein were comparable. Pretreatment with the S-14 analogs substantially inhibited secretagogue-induced pancreatic exocrine secretion and was dose-dependent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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A consistent pattern of insulin-like properties is expressed by a variety of glycoside inhibitors of concanavalin A (Con A), and is suggestive of a common mechanism of action to explain these effects. Various exogenously added glycoside derivatives inhibit the binding of insulin-Sepharose beads to insulin receptors on isolated intact rat fat cells with a specificity resembling that for Con A-Sepharose binding to these cells. A more limited number of glycosides tested were also found to inhibit the binding of 125I-insulin, although some enhancement of binding that preceded the inhibition was observed for some of these saccharides. The glycosides also antagonize insulin-stimulated glucose utilization by the cells, but in some cases also mimic the hormone by stimulating glucose utilization. A few glycosides mimic insulin without appearing to antagonize its bioactivity. Radiolabeled glycoside inhibitors fail to bind to insulin in equilibrium dialysis experiments although they readily bind to Con A, indicating that the glycosides act directly on the cell rather than on the insulin molecule. The latter observation is consistent with the ability of those glycosides that act like insulin to do so independent of the hormone. In view of the known insulin-like properties of Con A, the effects of the glycosides seen in the present study suggest roles for a membrane carbohydrate and a carbohydrate binding site in the mechanisms of action of both insulin and Con A. In addition to various alternative explanations, a working hypothesis is presented to rationalize the present observations. It proposes that the effects of the exogenously added glycosides (and Con A) may reflect the presence on the membrane of a native carbohydrate moiety by either mimicking or competitively inhibiting its ability to interact reversibly with a lectin-like carbohydrate binding site associated with the function of the insulin receptor.20

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A number of alkyl, aryl, and aralkyl glycosides (mono- and disaccharides) substituted in the aglycon with a primary amino group have been found to exert insulin-like activity on rat adipocytes in vitro. Systematic variations in the saccharide configuration, glycosidic linkage, aglycon moiety, and sugar substitution pattern were investigated to delineate structure-activity relationships. A high degree of structural specificity was observed. Maximal insulin mimicking activity was obtained with the 6-aminohexyl 1-thio-D-mannopyranosides; the beta anomer was more active than the alpha anomer. Modification of the sugar hydroxyl groups resulted, in most cases, in partial or complete loss of biological activity at the levels tested; however, in a few instances, sugar-modified derivatives did show enhanced insulin-like effects. Specific structural types evaluated are discussed in greater detail. 6-Aminohexyl 1-thio-beta-D-mannopyramoside also exhibited in vivo insulin-like effects on both diaphragm muscle and omental adipose tissues. The specificities for the sugar as well as the aglycon portions of these carbohydrate derivatives suggest that both parts of the molecule are involved in the expression of the full biological activity observed; their respective roles in the mechanism of the insulin-like activity are discussed.

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The possible role of galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosylceramide (GM1) ganglioside in the lipolytic activity of cholera toxin on isolated fat cells has been examined. Analyses of the ganglioside content and composition of intact fat cells, their membranous ghosts, and the total particulate fraction of these cells indicate that N-acetylneuraminylgalactosylglucosylceramide (GM3) represents the major ganglioside, with substantial amounts of N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosylceramide (GM2) and smaller amounts of other higher homologues also present. Native GM1 was not detected in any of these preparations. Examination of the relative capacities of various exogenously added radiolabeled sphingolipids to bind to the cells indicated that GM2 and glucosylsphingosine were accumulated by the cells to extents comparable to GM1. Galactosylsphingosine and sulfatide also exhibited significant, although lesser, binding affinities for the cells. The adipocytes appeared to nonspecifically bind exogenously added GM1; saturation of binding sites for GM1 could not be observed up to the highest concentration tested (2 X 10(-4) M), wherein about 7 X 10(9) molecules were associated with the cells. Essentially all of this exogenously added GM1 was found bound to the plasma membrane "ghost" fraction. Investigation of the biological responses of the cells confirmed their sensitivities to both cholera toxin and epinephrine-stimulated lipolysis, as well as the lag period displayed during the toxin's action. While we could confirm that the toxin's lipolytic activity can be enhanced by prior treatment of the fat cells with GM1, several of the observed characteristics of this phenomenon differ from earlier reported findings. Accordingly, added GM1 was able to enhance only the subsequent rate, but not the extent, of toxin-stimulated glycerol release (lipolysis) from the cells. We also were unable to confirm the ability of GM1 to enhance the toxin's activity at either saturating or at low toxin concentrations. The limited ability of added GM1 to enhance the toxin's activity appeared in a unique bell-shaped dose-response manner. The inability of high levels of GM1 to stimulate a dose of toxin that was ineffective on native cells suggests that the earlier reported ability of crude brain gangliosides to accomplish this was due to some component other than GM1 in the crude extract. While several glycosphingolipids and some other carbohydrate-containing substances that were tested lacked the ability to mimic the enhancing effect of GM1, 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-galactoside exhibited an effect similar to, although less pronounced than, that of GM1. The findings in these studies are unable to lend support to the earlier hypothesis that (a) GM1 is cholera toxin's naturally occurring membrane receptor on native fat cells, and (b) the ability of exogenously added GM1 to enhance the toxin's lipolytic activity represents the specific creation of additional natural receptors on adipocytes...

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The interaction of concanavalin A (Con A) with isolated adipocytes was studied using Con A-Sepharose beads in the affinity binding buoyant density method previously used to study insulin receptors. Free Con A-Sepharose beads could be separated from the bound beads (cell-bead complexes) by sedimentation of the high density beads and floatation of the low density complexes. Sedimented and total beads could be determined by counting the radioactivity associated with [-125I]Con A coupled in tracer amounts to the beads. Various lines of evidence demonstrated the high specificity of binding. Soluble Con A, but neither insulin nor any of the other proteins tested, inhibited and reversed the binding of Con A-Sepharose to the cells. Whereas treatment of Con A- (and insulin-) derivatized beads with anti-insulin antiserum, and cells with trypsin, readily inhibited binding of insulin-Sepharose to cells, neither treatment inhibited Con A-Sepharose binding. According to the relative extents of inhibition and reversal of binding exhibited by 15 different carbohydrates, the saccharide binding sites on Con A-Sepharose appeared virtually identical with the known sites on free Con A. Protein-containing components of cell ghosts that were solubilized with Triton X-100 appeared to correspond to the Con A-Sepharose receptor sites on the basis of their ability to bind to Con A-Sepharose columns, be eluted with methyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside (MeMan) and be precipitated by the free lectin and redissolved by MeMan. According to (a) Normarski interference contrast microscopic examination of the topographical distribution of Con A-Sepharose beads and cells surrounding and bound to each other, and (b) absence of any apparent morphological changes in the cells due to binding, it is suggested that extensive clustering ("cap" or "macropatch" formation) of Con A receptors did not occur on the adipocyte as a consequence of the interaction of the cells with the Con A-Sepharose beads.

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Immobilized insulin, prepared by coupling insulin directly to agarose or through hydrocarbon "connecting arms," was demonstrated to be capable of firmly binding intact adipocytes and their ghosts. Various lines of evidence indicate that the insulin receptor on the plasma membrane, in addition to the insulin coupled to the agarose, was responsible for the observed binding. This evidence includes: (a) the finding that increasing the "arm" length increased the binding capacities of insulin-Sepharose affinity chromatographic columns, (b) specific inhibition and reversal by insulin and antiserum to insulin of the binding, as compared to lesser effects by other peptide hormones, (c) the indication that only the plasma membrane sacs, not the other cellular contaminants in the crude ghosts, are capable of binding, and (d) the impairment and restoration of trypsin-sensitive membrane binding sites that are also required for insulin biosensitivity. These findings support the idea that the insulin receptor is the trypsin-sensitive site. By use of the differential buoyant densities of the various cell-bead complexes that resulted from the interaction of adipocytes with insulin-Sepharose, a new procedure was developed to demonstrate and study the binding. These complexes could also be demonstrated by interference contrast microscopy. Binding readily occurred under conditions favorable for insulin stimulation of the cells. By coupling tracer amounts of [(125)I]insulin to Sepharose or insulin-Sepharose, the effects of anti-insulin antisera, free insulin, and other peptide hormones and supplemental factors on the buoyant-density distribution of the complexes could be measured, as well as the effects of other ligands coupled to Sepharose.

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