Effect of phenylpyruvate on pyruvate dehydrogenase activity in rat brain mitochondria.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Land JM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1177841 | biostudies-other | 1973 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:1. The effect of phenylalanine and phenylpyruvate on the metabolism of pyruvate by isolated mitochondria from rat brain was investigated. 2. Phenylpyruvate inhibited the fixation of H(14)CO(3) (-) in the presence of pyruvate by intact rat brain mitochondria, whereas phenylalanine and other metabolites of this amino acid had no inhibitory effect on this process. 3. Pyruvate carboxylase activity in freeze-dried rat brain mitochondrial preparations was also inhibited only by phenylpyruvate, and a ;mixed type' inhibition was observed. 4. The K(m) for pyruvate of rat brain pyruvate carboxylase was about 0.2mm. 5. The concentration of phenylpyruvate required for a 50% inhibition of H(14)CO(3) (-) fixation by the intact mitochondria and of pyruvate carboxylase activity was dependent on the concentration of pyruvate used in the incubation medium. 6. The possible significance of inhibition of pyruvate carboxylase activity by phenylpyruvate in the brains of phenylketonuric patients is discussed.
| S-EPMC1173818 | biostudies-other
Project description:The enzyme activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) was measured in mitochondria prepared from developing rat brain, before and after steady-state dephosphorylation of the E1 alpha subunit. A marked increase in dephosphorylated (fully activated) PDHC activity occurred between days 10 and 15 post partum, which represented approx. 60% of the difference in fully activated PDHC activity measured in foetal and adult rat brain mitochondria. There was no detectable change in the active proportion of the enzyme during mitochondrial preparation nor any qualitative alteration in the detectable catalytic and regulatory components of the complex, which might account for developmental changes in PDHC activity. The PDHC protein content of developing rat brain mitochondria and homogenates was measured by an enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay. The development of PDHC protein in both fractions agreed closely with the development of the PDHC activity. The results suggest that the developmental increase in PDHC activity is due to increased synthesis of PDHC protein, which is partly a consequence of an increase in mitochondrial numbers. However, the marked increase in PDHC activity measured between days 10 and 15 post partum is mainly due to an increase in the amount of PDHC per mitochondrion. The development of citrate synthase enzyme activity and protein was measured in rat brain homogenates and mitochondria. As only a small increase in citrate synthase activity and protein was detected in mitochondria between days 10 and 15 post partum, the marked increase in PDHC protein and enzyme activity may represent specific PDHC synthesis. As several indicators of acquired neurological competence become apparent during this period, it is proposed that preferential synthesis of PDHC may be crucial to this process. The results are discussed with respect to the possible roles played by PDHC in changes of respiratory-substrate utilization and the acquisition of neurological competence occurring during the development of the brain of a non-precocial species such as the rat.
| S-EPMC1147198 | biostudies-other
Project description:Glucose metabolism in nervous tissue has been proposed to occur in a compartmentalized manner with astrocytes contributing largely to glycolysis and neurons being the primary site of glucose oxidation. However, mammalian astrocytes and neurons both contain mitochondria, and it remains unclear why in culture neurons oxidize glucose, lactate, and pyruvate to a much larger extent than astrocytes. The objective of this study was to determine whether pyruvate metabolism is differentially regulated in cultured neurons versus astrocytes. Expression of all components of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), the rate-limiting step for pyruvate entry into the Krebs cycle, was determined in cultured astrocytes and neurons. In addition, regulation of PDC enzymatic activity in the two cell types via protein phosphorylation was examined. We show that all components of the PDC are expressed in both cell types in culture, but that PDC activity is kept strongly inhibited in astrocytes through phosphorylation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase alpha subunit (PDH alpha). In contrast, neuronal PDC operates close to maximal levels with much lower levels of phosphorylated PDH alpha. Dephosphorylation of astrocytic PDH alpha restores PDC activity and lowers lactate production. Our findings suggest that the glucose metabolism of astrocytes and neurons may be far more flexible than previously believed.
| S-EPMC2915787 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The protein pirin, which is involved in a variety of biological processes, is conserved from prokaryotic microorganisms, fungi, and plants to mammals. It acts as a transcriptional cofactor or an apoptosis-related protein in mammals and is involved in seed germination and seedling development in plants. In prokaryotes, while pirin is stress induced in cyanobacteria and may act as a quercetinase in Escherichia coli, the functions of pirin orthologs remain mostly uncharacterized. We show that the Serratia marcescens pirin (pirin(Sm)) gene encodes an ortholog of pirin protein. Protein pull-down and bacterial two-hybrid assays followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry analyses showed the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) E1 subunit as a component interacting with the pirin(Sm) gene. Functional analyses showed that both PDH E1 subunit activity and PDH enzyme complex activity are inhibited by the pirin(Sm) gene in S. marcescens CH-1. The S. marcescens CH-1 pirin(Sm) gene was subsequently mutated by insertion-deletion homologous recombination. Accordingly, the PDH E1 and PDH enzyme complex activities and cellular ATP concentration increased up to 250%, 140%, and 220%, respectively, in the S. marcescens CH-1 pirin(Sm) mutant. Concomitantly, the cellular NADH/NAD(+) ratio increased in the pirin(Sm) mutant, indicating increased tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity. Our results show that the pirin(Sm) gene plays a regulatory role in the process of pyruvate catabolism to acetyl coenzyme A through interaction with the PDH E1 subunit and inhibiting PDH enzyme complex activity in S. marcescens CH-1, and they suggest that pirin(Sm) is an important protein involved in determining the direction of pyruvate metabolism towards either the TCA cycle or the fermentation pathways.
| S-EPMC1797226 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The total activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase in mitochondria isolated from rat brain and liver was 53.5 and 14.2nmol/min per mg of protein respectively. Pyruvate dehydrogenase in liver mitochondria incubated for 4 min at 37 degrees C with no additions was 30% in the active form and this activity increased with longer incubations until it was completely in the active form after 20 min. Brain mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase activity was initially high and did not increase with addition of Mg2+ plus Ca2+ or partially purified pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase or with longer incubations. The proportion of pyruvate dehydrogenase in the active form in both brain and liver mitochondria changed inversely with changes in mitochondrial energy charge, whereas total pyruvate dehydrogenase did not change. The chelators citrate, isocitrate, EDTA, ethanedioxybis(ethylamine)tetra-acetic acid and Ruthenium Red each lowered pyruvate dehydrogenase activity in brain mitochondria, but only citrate and isocitrate did so in liver mitochondria. These chelators did not affect the energy charge of the mitochondria. Mg2+ plus Ca2+ reversed the pyruvate dehydrogenase inactivation in liver, but not brain, mitochondria. The regulation of the activation-inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase in mitochondria from rat brain and liver with respect to energy charge is similar and may be at least partially regulated by this parameter, and the effects of chelators differ in the two types of mitochondria.
| S-EPMC1165754 | biostudies-other
Project description:1. The fixation of CO(2) by pyruvate carboxylase in isolated rat brain mitochondria was investigated. 2. In the presence of pyruvate, ATP, inorganic phosphate and magnesium, rat brain mitochondria fixed H(14)CO(3) (-) into tricarboxylic acid-cycle intermediates at a rate of about 250nmol/30min per mg of protein. 3. Citrate and malate were the main radioactive products with citrate containing most of the radioactivity fixed. The observed rates of H(14)CO(3) (-) fixation and citrate formation correlated with the measured activities of pyruvate carboxylase and citrate synthase in the mitochondria. 4. The carboxylation of pyruvate by the mitochondria had an apparent K(m) for pyruvate of about 0.5mm. 5. Pyruvate carboxylation was inhibited by ADP and dinitrophenol. 6. Malate, succinate, fumarate and oxaloacetate inhibited the carboxylation of pyruvate whereas glutamate stimulated it. 7. The results suggest that the metabolism of pyruvate via pyruvate carboxylase in brain mitochondria is regulated, in part, by the intramitochondrial concentrations of pyruvate, oxaloacetate and the ATP:ADP ratio.
| S-EPMC1177577 | biostudies-other
Project description:The presence of palmitoyl-L-carnitine and acetoacetate (separately) decreased flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase in isolated mitochondria from rat hind-limb muscle. The effect of acetoacetate was dependent on the presence of 2-oxoglutarate and Ca2+. Palmitoylcarnitine, but not acetoacetate, also decreased the mitochondrial content of active dephospho-pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDHA). This effect was large only in the presence of EGTA. Addition of Ca2+-EGTA buffers stabilizing pCa values of 6.48 or lower gave near-maximal values of PDHA content, irrespective of the presence of fatty acids or ketones when mitochondria were incubated under the same conditions used for the flux studies, i.e. at low concentrations of pyruvate. There was, however, a minor decrement in PDHA content in response to palmitoylcarnitine oxidation when the substrate was L-glutamate plus L-malate. Measurement of NAD+, NADH, CoA and acetyl-CoA in mitochondrial extracts in general showed decreases in [NAD+]/[NADH] and [CoA]/[acetyl-CoA] ratios in response to the oxidation of palmitoylcarnitine and acetoacetate, providing a mechanism for both decreased PDHA content and feedback inhibition of the enzyme in the PDHA form. However, only changes in [CoA]/[acetyl-CoA] ratio appear to underlie the decreased PDHA content on addition of palmitoylcarnitine when mitochondria are incubated with L-glutamate plus L-malate (and no pyruvate) as substrate. The effect of palmitoylcarnitine oxidation on flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase and on PDHA content is less marked in skeletal-muscle mitochondria than in cardiac-muscle mitochondria. This may reflect the less active oxidation of palmitoylcarnitine by skeletal-muscle mitochondria, as judged by State-3 rates of O2 uptake. In addition, Ca2+ concentration is of even greater significance in pyruvate dehydrogenase interconversion in skeletal-muscle mitochondria than in cardiac-muscle mitochondria.
| S-EPMC1152309 | biostudies-other
Project description:1. The activities of, and the effects of phenylpyruvate on, citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.2) and fatty acid synthetase derived from the brains of 14-day-old and adult rats were investigated. 2. The brain citrate synthase from 14-day-old rats had a K(m) for oxaloacetate of 2.38mum and for acetyl-CoA of 16.9mum, and a V(max.) of 838nmol of acetyl-CoA incorporation/min per mg of mitochondrial protein. From adult rat brain this enzyme had a K(m) for oxaloacetate of 2.5mum and for acetyl-CoA of 16.6mum and a V(max.) of 1070nmol of acetyl-CoA incorporated/min per mg of mitochondrial protein. Phenylpyruvate inhibited the enzyme from adult and young rat brains in a competitive fashion with respect to acetyl-CoA, with a K(i) of 700mum. 3. The brain acetyl-CoA carboxylase from 14-day-old rats had a K(m) for acetyl-CoA of 21mum and a V(max.) of 0.248nmol/min per mg of protein, and from adult rats a K(m) for acetyl-CoA of 21mum and a V(max.) of 0.173nmol/min per mg of protein. The enzyme from young and adult rats required citrate (K(a)=3mm) for activation and were inhibited non-competitively by phenylpyruvate, with a K(i) of 10mm. 4. The brain fatty acid synthetase from 14-day-old rats had a K(m) for acetyl-CoA of 7.58mum and a V(max.) of 1.1 nmol of malonyl-CoA incorporated/min per mg of protein, and from adult rats a K(m) for acetyl-CoA of 4.9mum and a V(max.) of 0.48nmol of malonyl-CoA incorporated/min per mg of protein. Phenylpyruvate acted as a competitive inhibitor with respect to acetyl-CoA with a K(i) of 250mum for the enzyme from 14-day-old rats. 5. These results are discussed with respect to phenylketonuria, and it is suggested that the inhibition of the brain fatty acid synthetase and possibly the citrate synthetase by phenylpyruvate could explain the defective myelination characteristic of this condition.
| S-EPMC1177842 | biostudies-other
Project description:1. The effects of azaserine and nicotinamide, agents which inhibit and stimulate hepatic NAD synthesis respectively, on the content of NAD(+) and NADH in isolated rat islets of Langerhans incubated in vitro were studied. The effects of these compounds on the rates of insulin release, from isolated islets incubated in vitro, in response to various secretagogues were also measured. 2. Preincubation of islets in the presence of azaserine (0.3mm) caused a marked depletion of the normal islet-cell content of both NAD(+) and NADH and prevented the secretion of insulin in response to stimulatory concentrations of d-glucose, xylitol, d-xylulose, l-arginine hydrochloride and l-leucine. 3. Preincubation of islets in the presence of nicotinamide (2mm) increased the islet content of NAD(+) and enhanced the rate of release of insulin in response to d-glucose. Also when nicotinamide was present the inhibitory effect of azaserine on insulin release and the azaserine-induced depletion of the islet content of NAD(+) and NADH was prevented. 4. Preincubation with azaserine was without effect on the stimulation of insulin release caused by theophylline or dibutyryl cyclic AMP. 5. It is suggested that insulin release caused by sugars and amino acids is dependent on the maintenance of NAD concentrations, though this may not be the case for release due to theophylline and dibutyryl cyclic AMP.
| S-EPMC1177843 | biostudies-other
Project description:The steady-state content of active (dephospho) pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDHA) of suspensions of coupled rat brain mitochondria oxidizing succinate was found to be markedly increased with increasing free Ca2+ ion concentration of the medium, with a half-maximal effect at 10(-6.43) M Ca2+. Other ions were present in these studies at concentrations appropriate for the cytosol. Depolarization of the plasma membrane of synaptosomes caused an increase in the steady-state content of PDHA, with veratridine giving a larger increase than depolarization by 33 mM-KCl. Values were 68 +/- 1% (n = 13) and 81 +/- 1% (n = 19) of maximal activity, for control incubations and incubations in the presence of 30 microM-veratridine, respectively. Measurements of cytosolic free Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]cyt.) in these suspensions of synaptosomes, with the use of the fluorescent Ca2+-indicator Quin-2, indicated an increase on depolarization, with the change due to 30 microM-veratridine being larger in extent than that due to 33 mM-KCl. Values were 217 +/- 21 nM (n = 15), 544 +/- 48 nM (n = 15) and 783 +/- 75 nM (n = 14) for control, KCl-depolarized and veratridine-depolarized synaptosomes respectively. Experiments in which synaptosomes were treated with Ruthenium Red, an inhibitor of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake, gave much lower resting contents of PDHA (42 +/- 2% of maximal), but failed to prevent totally an increase on depolarization. Addition of an excess of EGTA to the synaptosomal suspension just before the addition of veratridine resulted in a partial diminution in the response of PDHA content. Parallel studies with Quin-2 indicated no increase in [Ca2+]cyt. on addition of veratridine, under these conditions. Thus an increase in [Ca2+]cyt. forms only a part of the mechanism whereby pyruvate dehydrogenase interconversion responds to depolarization. A decrease in the ATP/ADP ratio may also be important, as inferred from the results of experiments with ouabain, which inhibits the Na+ + K+-dependent ATPase.
| S-EPMC1144817 | biostudies-other