[en] Mouse islets were used to test the hypothesis that the B cell membrane must be depolarized for acetylcholine to increase insulin release. The resting membrane potential of B cells (at 3 mM glucose) was slightly decreased (5 mV) by acetylcholine, but no electrical activity appeared. This depolarization was accompanied by a Ca-independent acceleration of ⁸⁶Rb and ⁴⁵Ca efflux but no insulin release. When the B cell membrane was depolarized by a stimulatory concentration of glucose (10 mM), acetylcholine potentiated electrical activity, accelerated ⁸⁶Rb and ⁴⁵Ca efflux, and increased insulin release. This latter effect, but not the acceleration of ⁴⁵Ca efflux, was totally dependent on extracellular Ca. If glucose-induced depolarization of the B cell membrane was prevented by diazoxide, acetylcholine lost all effects but those produced at low glucose. In contrast, when the B cell membrane was depolarized by leucine or tolbutamide (at 3 mM glucose), acetylcholine triggered a further depolarization with appearance of electrical activity, accelerated ⁸⁶Rb and ⁴⁵Ca efflux, and stimulated insulin release. Acetylcholine produced similar effects (except for electrical activity) in the presence of high K or arginine which, unlike the above test agents, depolarize the B cell membrane by a mechanism other than a decrease in K+ permeability. Omission of extracellular Ca abolished the releasing effect of acetylcholine under all conditions but only partially decreased the stimulation of ⁴⁵Ca efflux. The results show thus that acetylcholine stimulation of insulin release does not result from mobilization of cellular Ca but requires that the B cell membrane be sufficiently depolarized to reach the threshold potential where Ca channels are activated. This may explain why acetylcholine alone does not initiate release but becomes active in the presence of a variety of agents

[en] Reversed-phase (RP) HPLC, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and gel permeation chromatography have been used to study the incorporation of 125I into bovine (b) TSH by the lactoperoxidase-catalyzed radioiodination procedure. Two preparations of [¹²⁵I]bTSH were studied, being freshly iodinated bTSH and tracer purified from this preparation by the method of receptor adsorption. It is demonstrated with these methods that both the alpha- and beta-subunits of bTSH are labeled with 125I, and that the tracer purified by receptor adsorption retains this incorporation pattern. However, the implied theoretical specific activity of (at least) 2 I atoms per TSH molecule (or approximately 140 muCi/micrograms) suggested by this result was not achieved, with observed tracer specific activity being 30-60 muCi/micrograms, indicating that hormone molecules with varying extents of labeling must exist. Evidence to support this was provided by comparison of the MIT/DIT ratios for the 2 tracer preparations. Receptor adsorption decreased the MIT/DIT ratio from 75:25 in the freshly iodinated bTSH to 93:7, indicating the selection of particular iodinated species. Tryptic mapping by RP-HPLC was used to study both tracer preparations, and it is shown that at least 14 iodine-containing tryptic peptides may be resolved for each preparation, which is greater than the theoretical maximum of 13 peptides if every tyrosine was labeled and tryptic cleavage occurred at all possible lysine and arginine residues. Tracer heterogeneity was also studied by purification using RP-HPLC. Selection of peak fractions demonstrated that intact [¹²⁵I]bTSH may be recovered from RP-HPLC which in TSH radioreceptor assay exhibit increased assay sensitivity, increased saturable binding, and decreased nonsaturable binding

[en] Studies were carried out to identify mammalian tissues capable of specifically binding mammalian pancreatic polypeptide (PP). Bovine PP (bPP) radiolabeled with ¹²⁵I was purified by HPLC to yield [¹²⁵I]iodo-(Tyr-27) bPP. The label was injected into three pairs of fasted littermate dogs and allowed to circulate for 5 min. One of the dogs was a control which received an excess of unlabeled porcine PP to provide competition for receptor binding. Unbound bPP was removed by perfusion with Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate and the tissue fixed in situ with Karnovsky's fixative. Tissue samples from various organs were removed, weighed, and counted. The entire gastrointestinal tract demonstrated high levels of ¹²⁵I after injection of the labeled peptide. The duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and colon were the only tissues to exhibit specific binding of bPP. These tissues (mucosal and muscle layers) from experimental animals exhibited 31-76% higher binding than the corresponding tissues from the control animals. Sections of the gastrointestinal tract were scraped to separate the mucosal layer from the underlying muscle layer. The mucosal layer of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum exhibited 145-162% increases in binding compared to the control animals. The muscle layer of these tissues demonstrated no significant increase. These findings demonstrate that mucosal layer of the small intestine is a target tissue for mammalian PP

[en] Erythropoietin (epo) is the glycoprotein hormone that induces normal red cell differentiation. Reaction of native or denatured epo with either [³H]iodoacetic acid or N-ethyl-2-[³H]maleimide did not result in the incorporation of any significant amount of radioactivity. Radiolabeling took place only if the protein were denatured before reduction and alkylation. When reduction was carried out in the presence of 6 M guanidine HCl, about 3.7 mol N-ethyl-2[³H]maleimide were covalently linked per mol epo. These results show that there are no free, accessible sulfhydryl groups in epo; there are two internal disulfide bonds. When epo was reduced in the presence of 6 M guanidine HCl and then reoxidized and the guanidine removed, about 85% of the biological activity was regenerated. The biological activity was lost irreversibly if the sulfhydryl groups were alkylated. Limited proteolysis of [³H]epo (labeled at sialic acid residues of the oligosaccharide chains) showed that it consists of two rather trypsin-resistant domains, each having a mol wt of about 16,000, connected by a small region of protein that is trypsin sensitive. The two large fragments contain most of the label. Biological activity and immunoreactivity are lost after limited tryptic proteolysis. Complexing epo with a neutralizing antibody protects its activity from proteolysis

[en] Previous studies have shown that the inner ring deiodination (IRD) of T3 and the outer ring deiodination (ORD) of 3,3'-diiodothyronine are greatly enhanced by sulfate conjugation. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of sulfation on T4 and rT3 deiodination. Iodothyronine sulfate conjugates were chemically synthetized. Deiodination was studied by reaction of rat liver microsomes with unlabeled or outer ring ¹²⁵I-labeled sulfate conjugate at 37 C and pH 7.2 in the presence of 5 mM dithiothreitol. Products were analyzed by HPLC or after hydrolysis by specific RIAs. T4 sulfate (T4S) was rapidly degraded by IRD to rT3S, with an apparent Km of 0.3 microM and a maximum velocity (Vmax) of 530 pmol/min X mg protein. The Vmax to Km ratio of T4S IRD was increased 200-fold compared with that of T4 IRD. However, formation of T3S by ORD of T4S could not be observed. The rT3S formed was rapidly converted by ORD to 3,3'-T2 sulfate, with an apparent Km of 0.06 microM and a Vmax of 516 pmol/min X mg protein. The enzymic mechanism of the IRD of T4S was the same as that of the deiodination of nonsulfated iodothyronines, as shown by the kinetics of stimulation by dithiothreitol or inhibition by propylthiouracil. The IRD of T4S and the ORD of rT3 were equally affected by a number of competitive inhibitors, suggesting a single enzyme for the deiodination of native and sulfated iodothyronines. In conjunction with previous findings on the deiodination of T3S, these results suggest that sulfation leads to a rapid and irreversible inactivation of thyroid hormone

[en] Pancreatic membrane receptors for cholecystokinin (CCK) in obese and nonobese Zucker rats were compared with the use of a biologically active [¹²⁵I]iodo-CCK-8 radioprobe. Membrane homogenates from obese rats bound half the amount of radioligand in 2 h as did membranes from lean rats (specifically bound, 7.0% vs. 14.0%; P less than 0.001). The reduced binding in membranes from obese rats did not result from kinetic effects or radioligand degradation; similar rates of association and dissociation of [¹²⁵I]iodo-CCK-8 were obtained in membrane preparations from both, and no differences were found in the extent of radioligand degradation in the two membrane preparations. These differences also did not reflect an effect of cell size, as pancreatic acinar cells from obese and nonobese rats had about the same perimeters (24.6 and 26.3 micron, respectively) and areas (30.1 and 34.2 micron 2, respectively). Scatchard-type plots of competitive displacement data for CCK-binding sites on pancreatic membranes from both genotypes were curvilinear and were analyzed by a two-site binding model. The Kd values for both the high (0.56 vs. 0.45 nM) and low (9.0 vs. 14 nM) affinity sites on membranes from nonobese and obese rats, respectively, were the same (P greater than 0.1), whereas the capacities for CCK in the high (365 vs. 165 fmol/mg protein) and low (1020 vs. 360 fmol/mg protein) affinity regions were significantly different (P less than 0.025). This difference in CCK receptor capacity was reflected by a reduced pancreatic protein secretory response in the obese rat. After injections of 40, 80, 160, and 320 ng CCK/kg BW, total pancreatic protein secretion in nonobese rats increased 5, 12, 19, and 21 times above basal levels, whereas the same doses caused 2-, 6-, 12-, and 13-fold increases in obese rats

[en] The effects of rat hypothalamic GH-releasing factor (GRF) and somatostatin (SRIF) on the release and biosynthesis of rat GH were studied by RIA and quantitative immunoprecipitation using monolayer cultures of rat anterior pituitary cells. In kinetic studies, GRF stimulation of GH release appeared at the first sampling time (20-min incubation) and the effect began to diminish after 2-h incubation with GRF. On the other hand, total (cell plus medium) content of GH significantly increased only after 24-h incubation. To examine the GH-synthesizing effect of GRF more directly, newly synthesized GH labeled by [³⁵S]methionine during incubation with GRF was quantified by immunoprecipitation. The amount of immunoprecipitable GH increased significantly and specifically also only after 24-h incubation. When GH pools were labeled with [³⁵S]methionine under different schedules, the basal release of newly synthesized GH, which was labeled for 1 h immediately before chase incubation was lower during the first 15 min than stored GH which had been labeled earlier. Basal newly synthesized GH secretion exceeded stored GH secretion after 30 min. In this system, SRIF suppressed both the basal and stimulated release of GH but did not modify GH biosynthesis under either condition. Newly synthesized GH showed significant degradation during 24-h incubation; neither GRF nor SRIF affected the rate of GH degradation during the same incubation period

[en] Specific binding sites for rat corticotropin-releasing factor (rCRF) are present in rat adrenal medulla, ventral prostate, spleen, liver, kidney, and testis and bovine chromaffin cells in culture. Maximal binding of [¹²⁵I]rCRF occurred within 25 min at 4 C and was saturable. Scatchard analysis of rCRF binding to rat adrenal membranes and bovine chromaffin cells revealed the existence of two classes of binding sites. One class had a relatively higher apparent affinity and lower number of binding sites, whereas the other class had a relatively lower affinity and higher number of binding sites. CRF induced a dose-related increase in rat adrenal membrane adenylate cyclase activity and cAMP levels in bovine chromaffin cells. Nanomolar concentrations of rCRF maximally stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in rat adrenal membranes and maximally increased cAMP levels in bovine chromaffin cells to 86% and 130% above control values, respectively. The demonstration of specific CRF-binding sites in a variety of peripheral tissues and the finding that activation of specific CRF-binding sites in adrenal tissue stimulates the adenylate cyclase-cAMP system suggest that CRF may have an important regulatory role in various peripheral tissues

[en] Mammary epithelial cells isolated from midpregant mice and cultured on collagen gels contain soluble glucocorticoid receptors. The kinetics of binding of dexamethasone reveal a saturable binding site [dissociation constant (K /sub d/), approximately 1 nM], and the binding site obeys a steroid specificity characteristic of a glucocorticoid receptor. As with the receptor isolated from intact glands, the receptor from the cultured cells also requires the addition of dithiothreitol for maximal binding of dexamethasone. The receptors are maintained at in vivo levels (approximately 1.3 pmol/mg DNA) for at least a period of 10 days in culture. However, the presence of both cortisol and PRL is required for the maintenance of the receptors, and the effect of both these hormones is dose dependent

[en] In order to study the metabolism of high density lipoprotein (HDL)-carried sterol in the rat, human HDL was reconstituted with [¹⁴C]cholesterol and [³H]cholesteryl ester. After iv injection into immature PMSG-human CG primed rats pretreated with 4-aminopyrazolopyrimidine and aminoglutethimide, there was time-dependent accumulation of ³H and ¹⁴C in various organs which reached a maximum by 15-90 min. On a milligram wet weight basis, uptake of ³H and ¹⁴C was greatest in the adrenals, next in ovaries, followed by the liver, with little uptake by kidneys and spleen. On an organ basis, accumulation was greatest by the liver. Coadministration of excess unlabeled HDL, but not human low density lipoprotein, reduced accumulation of radioactivity by the ovaries and adrenals by 60%, indicating a specific and saturable uptake process. Granulosa cells cultured in lipoprotein-deficient medium with reconstituted HDL formed ³H- and ¹⁴C-labeled 20 alpha-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one. Over a 24-h period, utilization of both [¹⁴C]cholesterol and [³H]cholesteryl ester was linear, but rates of utilization of the two sterol moieties were not parallel. Lysosomotropic agents had no effect on utilization of either free or esterified cholesterol for steroidogenesis but reduced degradation of ¹²⁵I-labeled low density lipoprotein apoprotein. These findings lend further support to the concept of a distinct HDL pathway in steroidogenic cells of the rat