Lipid Composition Analysis Reveals Mechanisms of Ethanol Tolerance in the Model Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an important unicellular yeast species within the biotechnological and the food and beverage industries. A significant application of this species is the production of ethanol, where concentrations are limited by cellular toxicity, often at the level of the cell membrane. Here, we characterize 61 S. cerevisiae strains for ethanol tolerance and further analyze five representatives with various ethanol tolerances. The most tolerant strain, AJ4, was dominant in coculture at 0 and 10% ethanol. Unexpectedly, although it does not have the highest noninhibitory concentration or MIC, MY29 was the dominant strain in coculture at 6% ethanol, which may be linked to differences in its basal lipidome. Although relatively few lipidomic differences were observed between strains, a significantly higher phosphatidylethanolamine concentration was observed in the least tolerant strain, MY26, at 0 and 6% ethanol compared to the other strains that became more similar at 10%, indicating potential involvement of this lipid with ethanol sensitivity. Our findings reveal that AJ4 is best able to adapt its membrane to become more fluid in the presence of ethanol and that lipid extracts from AJ4 also form the most permeable membranes. Furthermore, MY26 is least able to modulate fluidity in response to ethanol, and membranes formed from extracted lipids are least leaky at physiological ethanol concentrations. Overall, these results reveal a potential mechanism of ethanol tolerance and suggest a limited set of membrane compositions that diverse yeast species use to achieve this. IMPORTANCE Many microbial processes are not implemented at the industrial level because the product yield is poorer and more expensive than can be achieved by chemical synthesis. It is well established that microbes show stress responses during bioprocessing, and one reason for poor product output from cell factories is production conditions that are ultimately toxic to the cells. During fermentative processes, yeast cells encounter culture media with a high sugar content, which is later transformed into high ethanol concentrations. Thus, ethanol toxicity is one of the major stresses in traditional and more recent biotechnological processes. We have performed a multilayer phenotypic and lipidomic characterization of a large number of industrial and environmental strains of Saccharomyces to identify key resistant and nonresistant isolates for future applications.

Increased production of 27-hydroxycholesterol in human colorectal cancer advanced stage: Possible contribution to cancer cell survival and infiltration.

So far, the investigation in cancer cell lines of the modulation of cancer growth and progression by oxysterols, in particular 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC), has yielded controversial results. The primary aim of this study was the quantitative evaluation of possible changes in 27HC levels during the different steps of colorectal cancer (CRC) progression in humans. A consistent increase in this oxysterol in CRC mass compared to the tumor-adjacent tissue was indeed observed, but only in advanced stages of progression (TNM stage III), a phase in which cancer has spread to nearby sites. To investigate possible pro-tumor properties of 27HC, its effects were studied in vitro in differentiated CaCo-2 cells. Relatively high concentrations of this oxysterol markedly increased the release of pro-inflammatory interleukins 6 and 8, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, vascular endothelial growth factor, as well as matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9. The up-regulation of all these molecules, which are potentially able to favor cancer progression, appeared to be dependent upon a net stimulation of Akt signaling exerted by supra-physiological amounts of 27HC.

Exploring oxidative modifications of tyrosine: an update on mechanisms of formation, advances in analysis and biological consequences.

Protein oxidation is increasingly recognised as an important modulator of biochemical pathways controlling both physiological and pathological processes. While much attention has focused on cysteine modifications in reversible redox signalling, there is increasing evidence that other protein residues are oxidised in vivo with impact on cellular homeostasis and redox signalling pathways. A notable example is tyrosine, which can undergo a number of oxidative post-translational modifications to form 3-hydroxy-tyrosine, tyrosine crosslinks, 3-nitrotyrosine and halogenated tyrosine, with different effects on cellular functions. Tyrosine oxidation has been studied extensively in vitro, and this has generated detailed information about the molecular mechanisms that may occur in vivo. An important aspect of studying tyrosine oxidation both in vitro and in biological systems is the ability to monitor the formation of oxidised derivatives, which depends on a variety of analytical techniques. While antibody-dependent techniques such as ELISAs are commonly used, these have limitations, and more specific assays based on spectroscopic or spectrometric techniques are required to provide information on the exact residues modified and the nature of the modification. These approaches have helped understanding of the consequences of tyrosine oxidation in biological systems, especially its effects on cell signalling and cell dysfunction, linking to roles in disease. There is mounting evidence that tyrosine oxidation processes are important in vivo and can contribute to cellular pathology.

Ophthalmic and molecular genetic findings in Kniest dysplasia.

PURPOSE: To study the variability of the ophthalmic phenotype in Kniest dysplasia. Kniest dysplasia is an inherited disorder associated with defects in type II collagen and characterised by short-trunked dwarfism, kyphoscoliosis, and enlarged joints with restricted mobility. Other features include marked hand arthropathy, cleft palate, hearing loss, and ocular abnormalities (myopia, abnormal vitreous, and high risk of developing retinal detachment). METHODS: Data from eight unrelated individuals with a clinical and molecular diagnosis of Kniest dysplasia are reported. Clinical assessment included an audiogram and ophthalmological examination in all but one patient who died in the immediate postnatal period. Sanger sequencing of the COL2A1 gene was performed. RESULTS: Six of the seven patients tested were high myopes with one patient being an emmetrope. Bilateral quandratic cataracts and subluxed lenses were noted in one subject. Variable but abnormal vitreous architecture was observed in all seven individuals tested. Six of the seven patients had significant hearing impairment and five of the seven patients exhibited clefting abnormalities. One patient had bilateral retinal detachments in his twenties. Six dominant disease-causing COL2A1 variants were detected. In three cases, testing of parental samples revealed that the disease-causing variant was not present in either parent. CONCLUSION: The ophthalmic features in Kniest dysplasia are very similar to those in other disorders of type II collagen such as Stickler syndrome. It is likely that different type II collagenopathies have a similar level of ocular morbidity and regular ophthalmologic examination is recommended. Kniest dysplasia is associated with heterozygous COL2A1 mutations that are frequently de novo.

Impairment of calcium ATPases by high glucose and potential pharmacological protection.

The review deals with impairment of Ca(2+)-ATPases by high glucose or its derivatives in vitro, as well as in human diabetes and experimental animal models. Acute increases in glucose level strongly correlate with oxidative stress. Dysfunction of Ca(2+)-ATPases in diabetic and in some cases even in nondiabetic conditions may result in nitration of and in irreversible modification of cysteine-674. Nonenyzmatic protein glycation might lead to alteration of Ca(2+)-ATPase structure and function contributing to Ca(2+) imbalance and thus may be involved in development of chronic complications of diabetes. The susceptibility to glycation is probably due to the relatively high percentage of lysine and arginine residues at the ATP binding and phosphorylation domains. Reversible glycation may develop into irreversible modifications (advanced glycation end products, AGEs). Sites of SERCA AGEs are depicted in this review. Finally, several mechanisms of prevention of Ca(2+)-pump glycation, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Vascular cell responsiveness to Toll-like receptor ligands in carotid atheroma.

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is potentiated by stimulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which serve to detect pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). However little is known of which PAMPs may be present in atheroma, or capable of stimulating inflammatory signalling in vascular cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DNA extracted from human carotid atheroma samples was amplified and sequenced using broad-range 16S gene specific primers to establish historical exposure to bacterial PAMPs. Responsiveness of primary human arterial and venous endothelial and smooth muscle cells to PAMPs specific for each of the TLRs was assessed by measurement of interleukin-8 secretion and E-selectin expression. RESULTS: Extracts of atheromatous tissue stimulated little or no signalling in TLR-transfected HEK-293 cells. However, sequencing of bacterial DNA amplified from carotid atheroma revealed the presence of DNA from 17 different bacterial genera, suggesting historical exposure to bacterial lipopeptide, lipopolysaccharide and flagellin. All cells examined were responsive to the ligands of TLR3 and TLR4, poly inosine:cytosine and lipopolysaccharide. Arterial cells were responsive to a wider range of PAMPs than venous cells, being additionally responsive to bacterial flagellin and unmethylated cytosine-phosphate-guanosine DNA motifs, the ligands of TLR5 and TLR9, respectively. Cells were generally unresponsive towards the ligands of human TLR7 and TLR8, loxoribine and single stranded RNA. Only coronary artery endothelial cells expressed TLR2 mRNA and responded to the TLR2 ligand Pam(3)CSK(4). CONCLUSIONS: Vascular cells are responsive to a relatively diverse range of TLR ligands and may be exposed, at least transiently, to ligands of TLR2, TLR4, TLR5 and TLR9 during the development of carotid atheroma.

The nitric oxide-donating pravastatin derivative, NCX 6550 [(1S-[1alpha(betaS*, deltaS*), 2alpha, 6alpha, 8beta-(R*), 8a alpha]]-1,2,6,7,8,8a-Hexahydro-beta, delta, 6-trihydroxy-2-methyl-8-(2-methyl-1-oxobutoxy)-1-naphtalene-heptanoic acid 4-(nitrooxy)butyl ester)], reduces splenocyte adhesion and reactive oxygen species generation in normal and atherosclerotic mice.

Statins possess anti-inflammatory effects that may contribute to their ability to slow atherogenesis, whereas nitric oxide (NO) also influences inflammatory cell adhesion. This study aimed to determine whether a novel NO-donating pravastatin derivative, NCX 6550 [(1S-[1alpha(betaS*,deltaS*),2alpha,6alpha,8beta-(R*),8a alpha]]-1,2,6,7,8,8a-hexahydro-beta,delta,6-trihydroxy-2-methyl-8-(2-methyl-1-oxobutoxy)-1-naphthalene-heptanoic acid 4-(nitrooxy)butyl ester)], has greater anti-inflammatory properties compared with pravastatin in normal and atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E receptor knockout (ApoE-/-) mice. C57BL/6 and ApoE-/- mice were administered pravastatin (40 mg/kg), NCX 6550 (48.5 mg/kg), or vehicle orally for 5 days. Ex vivo studies assessed splenocyte adhesion to arterial segments and splenocyte reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. NCX 6550 significantly reduced splenocyte adhesion to artery segments in both C57BL/6 (8.8 +/- 1.9% versus 16.6 +/- 6.7% adhesion; P < 0.05) and ApoE-/- mice (9.3 +/- 2.9% versus 23.4 +/- 4.6% adhesion; P < 0.05) concomitant with an inhibition of endothelial intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression. NCX 6550 also significantly reduced phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced ROS production that was enhanced in isolated ApoE-/- splenocytes. Conversely, pravastatin had no significant effects on adhesion in normal or ApoE-/- mice but reduced the enhanced ROS production from ApoE-/- splenocytes. In separate groups of ApoE-/- mice, NCX 6550 significantly enhanced endothelium-dependent relaxation to carbachol in aortic segments precon-tracted with phenylephrine (-logEC(50), 6.37 +/- 0.37) compared with both vehicle-treated (-logEC50, 5.81 +/- 0.15; P < 0.001) and pravastatin-treated (-logEC50, 5.57 +/- 0.45; P < 0.05) mice. NCX 6550 also significantly reduced plasma monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels (648.8 pg/ml) compared with both vehicle (1191.1 pg/ml; P < 0.001) and pravastatin (847 +/- 71.0 pg/ml; P < 0.05) treatment. These data show that NCX 6550 exerts superior anti-inflammatory actions compared with pravastatin, possibly through NO-related mechanisms.

Chemometric modeling to relate antioxidants, neutral lipid fatty acids, and flavor components in chicken breasts.

Relationships among quality factors in retailed free-range, corn-fed, organic, and conventional chicken breasts (9) were modeled using chemometric approaches. Use of principal component analysis (PCA) to neutral lipid composition data explained the majority (93%) of variability (variance) in fatty acid contents in 2 significant multivariate factors. PCA explained 88 and 75% variance in 3 factors for, respectively, flame ionization detection (FID) and nitrogen phosphorus (NPD) components in chromatographic flavor data from cooked chicken after simultaneous distillation extraction. Relationships to tissue antioxidant contents were modeled. Partial least square regression (PLS2), interrelating total data matrices, provided no useful models. By using single antioxidants as Y variables in PLS (1), good models (r2 values > 0.9) were obtained for alpha-tocopherol, glutathione, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and reductase and FID flavor components and among the variables total mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids and subsets of FID, and saturated fatty acid and NPD components. Alpha-tocopherol had a modest (r2 = 0.63) relationship with neutral lipid n-3 fatty acid content. Such factors thus relate to flavor development and quality in chicken breast meat.

The in vivo susceptibility of Leishmania donovani to sodium stibogluconate is drug specific and can be reversed by inhibiting glutathione biosynthesis.

Resistance to pentavalent antimonial (Sb(v)) agents such as sodium stibogluconate (SSG) is creating a major problem in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. In the present study the in vivo susceptibilities of Leishmania donovani strains, typed as SSG resistant (strain 200011) or SSG sensitive (strain 200016) on the basis of their responses to a single SSG dose of 300 mg of Sb(v)/kg of body weight, to other antileishmanial drugs were determined. In addition, the role of glutathione in SSG resistance was investigated by determining the influence on SSG treatment of concomitant treatment with a nonionic surfactant vesicle formulation of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a specific inhibitor of the enzyme gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase which is involved in glutathione biosynthesis, and SSG, on the efficacy of SSG treatment. L. donovani strains that were SSG resistant (strain 200011) and SSG sensitive (strain 200016) were equally susceptible to in vivo treatment with miltefosine, paromomycin and amphotericin B (Fungizone and AmBisome) formulations. Combined treatment with SSG and vesicular BSO significantly increased the in vivo efficacy of SSG against both the 200011 and the 200016 L. donovani strains. However, joint treatment that included high SSG doses was unexpectedly associated with toxicity. Measurement of glutathione levels in the spleens and livers of treated mice showed that the ability of the combined therapy to inhibit glutathione levels was also dependent on the SSG dose used and that the combined treatment exhibited organ-dependent effects. The SSG resistance exhibited by the L. donovani strains was not associated with cross-resistance to other classes of compounds and could be reversed by treatment with an inhibitor of glutathione biosynthesis, indicating that clinical resistance to antimonial drugs should not affect the antileishmanial efficacies of alternative drugs. In addition, it should be possible to identify a treatment regimen that could reverse antimony resistance.

Detection of phospholipid oxidation in oxidatively stressed cells by reversed-phase HPLC coupled with positive-ionization electrospray [correction of electroscopy] MS.

Measurement of lipid peroxidation is a commonly used method of detecting oxidative damage to biological tissues, but the most frequently used methods, including MS, measure breakdown products and are therefore indirect. We have coupled reversed-phase HPLC with positive-ionization electrospray MS (LC-MS) to provide a method for separating and detecting intact oxidized phospholipids in oxidatively stressed mammalian cells without extensive sample preparation. The elution profile of phospholipid hydroperoxides and chlorohydrins was first characterized using individual phospholipids or a defined phospholipid mixture as a model system. The facility of detection of the oxidized species in complex mixtures was greatly improved compared with direct-injection MS analysis, as they eluted earlier than the native lipids, owing to the decrease in hydrophobicity. In U937 and HL60 cells treated in vitro with t-butylhydroperoxide plus Fe(2+), lipid oxidation could not be observed by direct injection, but LC-MS allowed the detection of monohydroperoxides of palmitoyl-linoleoyl and stearoyl-linoleoyl phosphatidylcholines. The levels of hydroperoxides observed in U937 cells were found to depend on the duration and severity of the oxidative stress. In cells treated with HOCl, chlorohydrins of palmitoyloleoyl phosphatidylcholine were observed by LC-MS. The method was able to detect very small amounts of oxidized lipids compared with the levels of native lipids present. The membrane-lipid profiles of these cells were found to be quite resistant to damage until high concentrations of oxidants were used. This is the first report of direct detection by LC-MS of intact oxidized phospholipids induced in cultured cells subjected to oxidative stress.

Pathways of phospholipid oxidation by HOCl in human LDL detected by LC-MS.

A wealth of evidence now indicates that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) must be modified to promote atherosclerosis, and that this may involve oxidants released by phagocytes. Many studies of oxidative damage in atherosclerosis previously have concentrated on damage by nonhalogenated oxidants, but HOCl is a highly toxic oxidant produced by myeloperoxidase in phagocytes, which is also likely to be important in the disease pathogenesis. Currently some controversy exists over the products resulting from reaction of HOCl with LDL lipids, in particular regarding whether predominantly chlorohydrins or lipid peroxides are formed. In this study LC-MS of phosphatidylcholines in human LDL treated either with HOCl or the myeloperoxidase system was used as a specific method to detect chlorohydrin and peroxide formation simultaneously, and with comparable sensitivity. Chlorohydrin products from lipids containing oleic, linoleic and arachidonic acids were detected, but no hydroperoxides of linoleoyl or arachidonoyl lipids could be observed. This study provides the first direct evidence that lipid chlorohydrins rather than peroxides are the major products of HOCl- or myeloperoxidase-treated LDL phospholipids. This in turn provides important information required for the study of oxidative damage in vivo which will allow the type and source of oxidants involved in the pathology of atherosclerosis to be investigated.

The biosynthesis of erythroascorbate in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its role as an antioxidant.

This study investigated the ability of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to synthesize ascorbate and its 5-carbon analogue erythroascorbate from a variety of precursors, and their importance as antioxidants in this organism. Studies of ascorbate and analogues in micro-organisms have been reported previously, but their function as antioxidants have been largely ignored. Ascorbate and erythroascorbate concentrations in yeast extracts were measured spectrophotometrically, and their levels and identity were checked using liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry. The yeast was readily able to synthesize ascorbate from L-galactono-1,4-lactone or erythroascorbate from D-arabinose and D-arabino-1,4-lactone, whereas L-gulono-1,4-lactone was a much poorer substrate for ascorbate biosynthesis. In untreated cells, the concentration of ascorbate-like compounds was below the level of detection of the methods of analysis used in this study (approximately 0.1 mM). Intracellular ascorbate and erythroascorbate were oxidized at high concentrations of tert-butylhydroperoxide, but not hydrogen peroxide. Their synthesis was not increased in response to low levels of stress, however, and preloading with erythroascorbate did not protect glutathione levels during oxidative stress. This study provides new information on the metabolism of ascorbate and erythroascorbate in S. cerevisiae, and suggests that erythroascorbate is of limited importance as an antioxidant in S. cerevisiae.

The reactions of hypochlorous acid, the reactive oxygen species produced by myeloperoxidase, with lipids.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO), an abundant enzyme in phagocytes, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis. The major oxidant produced by MPO, hypochlorous acid (HOCl), is able to modify a great variety of biomolecules by chlorination and/or oxidation. In this paper the reactions of lipids (preferentially unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol) with either reagent HOCl or HOCl generated by the MPO-hydrogen peroxide-chloride system are reviewed. One of the major issues has been whether the reaction of HOCl with lipids of low density lipoprotein (LDL) yields predominantly chlorohydrins or lipid hydroperoxides. Electrospray mass spectrometry provided direct evidence that chlorohydrins rather than peroxides are the major products of HOCl- or MPO-treated LDL phosphatidylcholines. Nevertheless lipid peroxidation is a possible alternative reaction of HOCl with polyunsaturated fatty acids if an additional radical source such as pre-formed lipid hydroperoxides is available. In phospholipids carrying a primary amino group such as phosphatidylethanolamine chloramines are the preferred products compared to chlorohydrins. Cholesterol can be converted by HOCl to great variety of oxysterols besides three isomers of chlorohydrins. For the situation in vivo it appears that the type of reaction occurring between HOCl and lipids would very much depend on the circumstances, e.g. the pH and the presence of radical initiators. The biological effects of lipid chlorohydrins are not yet well understood. It has been shown that chlorohydrins of both unsaturated fatty acids as well as of cholesterol may cause lysis of target cells, possibly by disruption of membrane structures.

1H NMR as a non-invasive probe of amniotic fluid in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Ten amniotic fluid samples obtained from third trimester pregnant women suffering from insulin dependant diabetes mellitus were analysed by 1H-NMR and compared to ten samples from a group of normal volunteers. A subset of the metabolites identified; valine, lactate, alanine, acetate, citrate and glucose were quantitated using standard addition methods. Apart from valine and citrate, a general diminution in the concentration of each of these species was found, especially glucose, in the diabetic group. The abnormally low glucose levels in the diabetic group are suggestive of infection in the patient group. However, the depressed lactate levels in the diabetic group suggest that in these cases the fetus was not subjected to stress.

Direct observation of lipid hydroperoxides in phospholipid vesicles by electrospray mass spectrometry.

Positive ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was used to obtain a lipid profile of vesicles prepared from egg yolk lethicin and enriched with arachidonylstearoyl phosphatidylcholine and dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine. The vesicles were oxidized by treatment with tert-butylhydroperoxide and iron (II) sulfate, and the formation of hydroperoxides of the polyunsaturated lipid arachidonylstearoyl phosphatidylcholine was observed. The native lipid signal at 832 a.m.u. decreased and new signals appeared at 864, 896, and 928 a.m.u., corresponding to the addition of one (+32), two (+64), and three (+96) molecules of dioxygen. The dihydroperoxide was found to be the most favourable peroxide product, but it appeared that a degradation of the hydroperoxides was occurring concomitant with their formation, and only their net formation was observed. The rate of depletion of the polyunsaturated lipid and the rate of accumulation of the hydroperoxides was found to increase with the Fe2+ concentration between 10 microM and 2 mM, and was also dependent on the tert-butylhydroperoxide concentration. This is the first report of analysis of lipid hydroperoxides by electrospray mass spectrometry, showing that technique offers a sensitive, direct, and informative approach to the study of oxidative damage to biological membranes.

Erythrocyte glutathione balance and membrane stability during preeclampsia.

This study aimed to determine whether oxidative damage to the erythrocyte occurs in preeclampsia, and relates to disease severity. The oxidative status of intact erythrocytes from preeclamptic patients and normal pregnant women was determined using spin echo 1H-NMR, which measures both the concentration and redox state of intracellular glutathione. Previous studies of preeclampsia have only measured total glutathione levels. Membrane fragility was determined from the degree of lysis caused by incubation in hypotonic saline. Erythrocytes from moderate-severe preeclamptic patients underwent more lysis than erythrocytes from control pregnant women (p < .05) or mild preeclamptic patients. It is suggested that increased lysis results from oxidative damage to the erythrocyte membrane, causing a decrease in membrane fluidity and reducing its ability to withstand osmotic changes. Intracellular glutathione was more oxidized in erythrocytes from pregnant women compared to nonpregnant controls (p < .05), and there was a less significant trend toward more oxidized glutathione with increasing severity of preeclampsia. The moderate-severe group showed a clear division in glutathione redox status: some patients had very oxidized glutathione while others had a normal redox balance. This novel finding suggests that some patients may be unusually susceptible to erythrocyte glutathione oxidation, possibly leading to general cellular damage, in particular HELLP Syndrome.

Oxidation of erythrocyte glutathione by monocytes stimulated with interleukin-6. Analysis by 1H spin echo NMR.

1H spin echo NMR was used to follow the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from human monocytes by monitoring erythrocyte glutathione status, which is sensitive to applied oxidative stress. This allowed the ability of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) to stimulate release of ROS from monocytes to be assessed in terms of oxidative damage to other cells, providing an estimation of its importance in vivo. It was found that incubation of monocytes with erythrocytes in the presence of IL-6 resulted in oxidation of the erythrocyte glutathione pool, indicating that oxidants are released in sufficient amounts to cause oxidative stress. High levels of IL-6 occurring in plasma of women with severe pre-eclampsia could therefore be responsible for depleted plasma antioxidants and haemolysis. The oxidation of erythrocyte glutathione was inhibited by the presence of the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin, suggesting that this may be of value in the treatment of oxidative pathologies.

Alteration of the erythrocyte glutathione redox balance by N-acetylcysteine, captopril and exogenous glutathione.

The effect of the thiol containing compounds N-acetylcysteine and captopril on glutathione metabolism in human erythrocytes has been investigated non-invasively using 1H spin echo NMR. N-Acetylcysteine was found to increase the reduced form of glutathione while captopril increased the oxidized form, but no changes in the total glutathione concentration were observed. Incubation of the cells with buthionine sulphoximine to inhibit de novo glutathione synthesis did not affect the response. The results show that these compounds act by altering the redox balance of glutathione rather than by stimulating its synthesis, and that their mechanisms of action are different, and not simply due to the presence of the thiol group.

Metabolic studies of a fructose-intolerant yeast by in vivo 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

The metabolic effects of the administration of fructose to a yeast expressing the cDNA for rat liver ketohexokinase have been investigated by 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Cessation of growth suffered by the yeast on exposure to 5 and 25 mM-fructose was accompanied by a large accumulation of fructose 1-phosphate at the expense of cytoplasmic orthophosphate and nucleoside triphosphate. Shifts in resonances were consistent with a drop in cytoplasmic pH. Arresting growth with 1 mM-fructose, however, did not result in these changes, although a large accumulation of fructose 1-phosphate occurred which may have been supported by the mobilization of polyphosphates.