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Metabolism of neuropeptides. Hydrolysis of the angiotensins, bradykinin, substance P and oxytocin by pig kidney microvillar membranes.

ABSTRACT: Microvillar membranes derived from the brush border of the renal proximal tubule are very rich in peptidases. Pig kidney microvilli contain endopeptidase-24.11 associated with a battery of exopeptidases. The manner by which some neuropeptides are degraded by the combined attack of the peptidases of this membrane has been investigated. The contribution of individual peptidases was assessed by including inhibitors (phosphoramidon, captopril, amastatin and di-isopropyl fluorophosphate) with the membrane fraction when incubated with the peptides. Substance P, bradykinin and angiotensins I, II and III and insulin B-chain were rapidly hydrolysed by kidney microvilli. Oxytocin was hydrolysed much more slowly, but no products were detected from [Arg8]vasopressin or insulin under the conditions used for other peptides. The peptide bonds hydrolysed were identified and the contributions of the different peptidases were quantified. For each of the susceptible peptides, the main contribution came from endopeptidase-24.11 (inhibited by phosphoramidon). Peptidyl dipeptidase A (angiotensin-I-converting enzyme) was of less importance, even in respect of angiotensin I and bradykinin. When [2,3-Pro3,4-3H]bradykinin was also investigated at a lower concentration (20 nM), the conclusions in regard to the contributions of the two peptidases were unchanged. The possibility that endopeptidase-24.11 might attack within the six-residue disulphide-bridged rings of oxytocin and vasopressin was examined by dansyl(5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-sulphonyl)ation and by reduction and carboxymethylation of the products after incubation. Additional peptides were only observed after prolonged incubation, consistent with hydrolysis at the Tyr2-Ile3 and Tyr2-Phe3 bonds respectively. These results show that a range of neuropeptides are efficiently degraded by microvillar membranes and that endopeptidase-24.11 plays a key role in this process.

SUBMITTER: Stephenson SL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1147548 | biostudies-other | 1987 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Neuropeptides and regulatory peptide hormones control many developmental, physiological and behavioural processes in animals, including humans. The nonapeptides oxytocin and arginine vasopressin are produced and released by the pituitary gland and have actions on many organs and tissues. Receptive cells possess particular receptors to which the peptides bind as ligands, leading to activation of G-protein-coupled receptors, hence cellular responses. In humans and other mammalian species, oxytocin and vasopressin mediate a range of peripheral and central physiological functions that are important for osmoregulation, reproduction, complex social behaviours, memory and learning. The origin of the oxytocin/vasopressin signalling system is thought to date back more than 600 million years. All vertebrate oxytocin- and vasopressin-like peptides have presumably evolved from the ancestral nonapeptide vasotocin by gene duplication and today are present in vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Oxytocin- and vasopressin-like peptides have been identified in several invertebrate species, including molluscs, annelids, nematodes and arthropods. Members of this peptide family share high sequence similarity, and it is possible that they are functionally related across the entire animal kingdom. However, it is evident that not all animals express oxytocin/vasopressin neuropeptides and that there is little information available about the biology and physiology of this signalling system of invertebrates and, in particular, of insects, which represent more than half of all known living organisms. This report describes the discovery of novel oxytocin- and vasopressin-like peptides in arthropods and summarizes the status quo of the functional relevance of this neuropeptide signalling system in invertebrates, which will have beneficial implications for the design of selective and potent ligands to human oxytocin and vasopressin receptors.

Project description:The artificial sweetener aspartame (N-L-alpha-aspartyl-L-phenyl-alanine-1-methyl ester; Nutrasweet), its decomposition product alpha Asp-Phe and the related peptide alpha Asp-PheNH2 were rapidly hydrolysed by microvillar membranes prepared from human duodenum, jejunum and ileum, and from pig duodenum and kidney. The metabolism of aspartame by the human and pig intestinal microvillar membrane preparations was inhibited significantly (> 78%) by amastatin or 1,10-phenanthroline, and partially (> 38%) by actinonin or bestatin, and was activated 2.9-4.5-fold by CaCl2. The inhibition by amastatin and 1,10-phenanthroline, and the activation by CaCl2 are characteristic of the cell-surface ectoenzyme aminopeptidase A (EC 3.4.11.7) and a purified preparation of this enzyme hydrolysed aspartame with a Km of 0.25 mM and a Vmax of 126 mumol/min per mg. A purified preparation of aminopeptidase W (EC 3.4.11.16) also hydrolysed aspartame but with a Km of 4.96 mM and a Vmax of 110 mumol/min per mg. However, rentiapril, an inhibitor of aminopeptidase W, caused only slight inhibition (maximally 19%) of the hydrolysis of aspartame by the microvillar membrane preparations. Similar patterns of inhibition and kinetic parameters were observed for alpha Asp-Phe and alpha Asp-PheNH2. Two other decomposition products of aspartame, beta Asp-PheMe and cyclo-Asp-Phe, were essentially resistant to hydrolysis by both the human and pig intestinal microvillar membrane preparations and the purified preparations of aminopeptidases A and W. Although the relatively selective inhibitor of aminopeptidase N (EC 3.4.11.2), actinonin, partially inhibited the metabolism of aspartame, alpha Asp-Phe and alpha Asp-PheNH2 by the human and pig intestinal microvillar membrane preparations, these peptides were not hydrolysed by a purified preparation of aminopeptidase N. Membrane dipeptidase (EC 3.4.13.19) only hydrolysed the unblocked dipeptide, alpha Asp-Phe, but the selective inhibitor of this enzyme, cilastatin, did not block the metabolism of alpha Asp-Phe by the microvillar membrane preparations.

Project description:The purification of detergent-solubilized kidney microvillar endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11) by immuno-adsorbent chromatography is described. The product (the d-form) was 270-fold purified compared with the homogenate of kidney cortex and was obtained in a yield of 5%. It was free of other peptidase activities and homogeneous by electrophoretic analyses. It contained about 15% carbohydrate and one Zn atom/subunit. Two trypsin-treated forms were also characterized. One (dt-form) was obtained by treatment of the d-form. The other (tt-form) was the result of solubilizing the membrane by treatment with toluene and trypsin. All three forms had apparent subunit Mr values of approx. 89 000, but the d-form appeared to be slightly larger than the other two. Estimates of Mr by gel filtration showed that of the tt-form to be 216 000 whereas those of the other forms were 320 000. An estimate of the detergent (Triton X-100) bound to the d- and dt-forms accounted for this difference. By several criteria, including charge-shift crossed immunoelectrophoresis and hydrophobic chromatography, the d- and dt-forms were shown to be amphipathic molecules. In contrast, the tt-form was hydrophilic in its properties. Differences in ionic properties were also noted, consistent with the loss, in the case of the dt-form, of a positively charged peptide. The results indicate that the native endopeptidase is a dimeric molecule, each subunit being anchored in the membrane by a relatively small region of the polypeptide close to one or other terminus. The d- and dt-forms had similar enzyme activity when assayed by the hydrolysis of 125I-insulin B-chain. Chelating agents and phosphoramidon inhibited the endopeptidase. The kinetic constants were determined by a new two-stage fluorimetric assay using glutarylglycylglycylphenylalanine 2-naphthylamide as substrate and aminopeptidase N (EC 3.4.11.2) to hydrolyse phenylalanine 2-naphthylamide. The Km was 68 microM and Vmax. 484nmol X min-1 X (mg of protein)-1.

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Metabolism of neuropeptides. Hydrolysis of the angiotensins, bradykinin, substance P and oxytocin by pig kidney microvillar membranes.

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