High-speed, inline measurement of protein activity and inactivation processes by supercontinuum attenuation spectroscopy.

Some proteins such as catalase and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) are very sensitive to external factors such as irradiation or heat, which may cause inactivation. Since proteins are used in a wide field of applications, the entire activity has to be ensured during the whole process. By default, activity is measured by invasive and offline activity assays. To avoid the need for a time-consuming offline analysis, we developed an optical high-speed measurement technique, which may form the basis for the non-invasive inline control of enzyme processes e.g. in the textile or food industry. The technique is based on attenuation spectroscopy using a supercontinuum laser source in combination with multivariate data analysis, in particular partial least squares regression (PLSR). For verification of the approach, samples treated by various stresses were analyzed in parallel by activity assays and our new method. Applying this technique, we were able to determine the activity in the turbid catalase samples after heat treatment, addition of guanidine-HCl or irradiation with UV light by applying partial least squares regression. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the combination of broadband attenuation spectroscopy and PLSR enables us to determine also the activity of GDH in clear solutions after heat treatment.

Target size analysis by radiation inactivation: the use of free radical scavengers.

Several model systems were employed to assess indirect effects that occur in the process of using radiation inactivation analysis to determine protein target sizes. In the absence of free radical scavengers, such as mannitol and benzoic acid, protein functional unit sizes can be drastically overestimated. In the case of glutamate dehydrogenase, inclusion of free radical scavengers reduced the apparent target size from that of a hexamer to that of a trimer based on enzyme activity determinations. For glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, the apparent target size was reduced from a dimer to a monomer. The target sizes for both glutamate dehydrogenase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the presence of free radical scavengers corresponded to subunit sizes when determinations of protein by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or immunoblotting were done rather than enzyme activity. The free radical scavengers appear to compete with proteins for damage by secondary radiation products, since irradiation of these compounds can result in production of inhibitory species. Addition of benzoic acid/mannitol to samples undergoing irradiation was more effective in eliminating secondary damage than were 11 other potential free radical scavenging systems. Addition of a free radical scavenging system enables more accurate functional unit size determinations to be made using radiation inactivation analysis.

[The combined action of ionizing radiation and nitro compounds on the activity of the basic enzymes of glutamic acid metabolism]. / Sochetannoe vozdeistvie ioniziruiushchego izlucheniia i nitrosoedinenii na aktivnost' osnovnykh fermentov obmena glutaminovoi kisloty.

The activity of aspartate aminotransferase, glutamate dehydrogenase in the liver of rats in 1, 7 and 15 days after gamma irradiation effect of the dose of 0.5 Gy on the background of consumption by animals of sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and nitrosodiethylamine was studied. The combined influence of chemical agents and gamma irradiation modified the effects of nitro compounds-xenobiotics on processes of the synthesis and dissociation of the glutamic acid as well as the intensity of transamination of the reamination by aspartate aminotransferase.

Radiation effects on the native structure of proteins: fragmentation without dissociation.

Several proteins (avidin, carboxypeptidase B, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, maltase, and peroxidase) composed of one to six subunits were irradiated in the frozen state. Each irradiated protein was examined by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and by denaturing gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). All these proteins eluted from SEC as a single peak even though SDS-PAGE showed cleavage of the polypeptide backbone of the monomers. Thus, fragmentation of the subunits did not result in dissociation of the oligomeric structure.

Photomodulation of glutamate dehydrogenase properties by red light.

To gain some insight into the mechanism by which red light-biosystem interaction occurs, an investigation was made of certain features of purified glutamate dehydrogenase from beef liver (E.C. 1.4.1.3.) irradiated with either an He-Ne laser (632.8 nm) or a red light-emitting diode (650 +/- 20 nm). In both cases the energy dose was 0.24 J cm-2. Significant changes in the glutamate dehydrogenase extinction coefficient measured at 275 nm, the capability of the enzyme to bind the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), certain kinetic parameters, the pH and temperature dependence and the sensitivity to guanosine 5 triphosphate (GTP) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) were found, probably due to the interaction of light with a protein domain containing a metal ion or ions. He-Ne laser and diode irradiation were found to differ with regard to their interaction with glutamate dehydrogenase. Interestingly, different effects were also found when an He-Ne laser and a non-coherent Xe-Hg lamp were used to irradiate glutamate dehydrogenase under the same experimental conditions. This confirms that non-coherent light at various power levels affects the isolated glutamate dehydrogenase.

Rat brain metabolism enzyme activity variations following He-Ne laser irradiation.

In order to gain insight into the metabolic modifications induced in rat brain tissues by helium-neon (He-Ne) laser irradiation, in the research described here, we investigated the variations in the activity of the enzymes aspartate transferase (AST, EC 2.6.1.4), both cytosolic and mitochondrial, glutamate dehydrogenase (GIDH, EC 1.4.1.3), and total superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), in the brain of rats treated with a very small dose (1.08 J) of He-Ne laser radiation. The rats were sacrificed 4 h after the treatment. The enzymes were evaluated spectrophotometrically in brain extracts of irradiated animals and also in untreated rats (controls) and rats that underwent simulated treatment (stressed). The data obtained from 5-10 animals assayed individually showed that, in the in toto brain tissues of the irradiated rats compared to the stressed rats, there was a marked increase of total SOD, together with an appreciable decrease of cytosolic AST, and insignificant variations in mitochondrial AST and GIDH. Stress alone caused a considerable decrease of total SOD and small but statistically significant increases of s-AST, m-AST, and GIDH.

Helium-neon laser irradiation of rat liver mitochondria gives rise to a new subpopulation of mitochondria: isolation and first biochemical characterization.

An experiment was performed to isolate the small atypical mitochondria produced during the irradiation of normal mitochondria with an He-Ne laser. Rat liver mitochondria were irradiated with a low-power continuous-wave He-Ne laser (energy dose, 5 J cm-2), followed by isolation using a sucrose gradient. In the irradiated sample, two bands were observed, one corresponding to normal mitochondria and the other to atypical mitochondria. Certain biochemical features of the mitochondria were investigated: mitochondrial enzyme activity and the presence of DNA and RNA were demonstrated. Hybridization experiments carried out with labelled mitochondrial probes, containing the genes for cytochrome oxidase subunit I and 12S rRNA, confirmed the mitochondrial nature of the isolated RNA.

[Aspartate aminotransferase and glutamate dehydrogenase activity in the rat brain during infrared laser exposure]. / Aktivnost' aspertataminotransferazy i glutamatdegidrogenazy v golovnom mozge krys pri infrakrasnom lazernom vozdeistvii.

In experiments in vivo it was shown that upon low-intensity infrared irradiation changes in the activity of main enzymes of glutamic acid metabolism are a function of time of exposure and flux density.

[Modification with dyes of the effects of laser irradiation on various enzymes of glutamic acid metabolism]. / Modifikatsiia krasiteliami éffektov lazernogo vozdeistviia na nekotorye fermenty obmena glutaminovoi kisloty.

In the in vivo experiments it has been shown that a mixture of low-intensity helium-neon laser radiation and dyes modifies the effect of laser radiation on the activity of basic enzymes of glutamic acid metabolism.

[Enzymatic and morphological study of the liver in acute radiation sickness]. / Enzimno i morfologichno izsledvane na cherniia drob pri ostra lucheva bolest.

The morphologic changes in the liver were investigated along with those in the activity of the specific liver enzymes in the blood plasma of rats in the case of the severe form of acute radiation disease. The rats were treated with 670 Rad at the rate of 90 Rad/min. The studies were carried out on the 1st, 8th , 15th, 22nd, and 30th day following irradiation. It was found that under the conditions of the experiment the activity of the cytoplasmic enzymes sorbitoldehydrogenase , cholinesterase, and leucinaminopeptidase strongly rose on the 1st day after treatment (the activity of sorbitoldehydrogenase increased 11 times). The activity of acid phosphatase and glutamate dehydrogenase also increased strongly, whereupon there was deterioration of the mitochondrial and lysosomal structures. Seen were well expressed processes of fatty and parenchymal dystrophy. The studies on the changes in the activity of these enzymes can be used as an adjunct, resp., an auxiliary test to the haematologic indices in the evaluation of the severity of radiation disease.

Glutamate dehydrogenase from wild type Neurospora crassa; inactivation by photo-oxidation.

The NADP dependent glutamate dehydrogenase from wild type Neurospora crassa is inactivated by exposure to light in the presence of the dye, Methylene Blue. Photo-oxidation appears to disturb the conformational equilibrium which controls the activity of this enzyme. Data obtained suggests that the modified group is the same as that reactive to the histidine reagent, diethylpyrocarbonate.

Radiation inactivation of glutamate dehydrogenase hexamer: lack of energy transfer between subunits.

The effects of ionizing radiation on glutamate dehydrogenase and on fluorescein isothiocyanate--tagged glutamate dehydrogenase were analyzed by target theory. Enzymatic activity, fluorescence, and the survival of the 56,000-dalton monomer subunit were determined on frozen samples irradiated at -135 degrees C and on lyophilized samples irradiated at either -135 degrees C or +30 degrees C. The effects of temperature were the same for all three parameters. Enzymatic activity was lost after small doses of high-energy electrons, whereas fluorescence and monomer subunits survived much larger doses of radiation. Target analysis revealed that the functional unit size for enzymatic activity was the hexamer, confirming both the earlier radiation study and conventional biochemical analyses. Target sizes obtained from fluorescence and subunit structure measurements were close to that of the monomer. These results indicate that the primary ionization caused by electron bombardment results in damage to a single polypeptide strand and that there is no massive transfer of radiation energy to other units in the hexamer. The large target size observed for enzymatic activity appears to be a structural requirement for the simultaneous presence of six intact subunits rather than the result of the spread of energy from the initial site to adjacent chains with consequent damage to other subunits.

The radiation inactivation of glutamate dehydrogenase.

Pulse radiolysis and 60Co gamma radiolysis were used to study the effects of ionizing radiations on the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase. Hydroxyl radicals are considerably more effective than hydrated electrons in causing loss of enzymatic activity. Evidence is also presented that the free radical anions (SCN)-.2, (Br)-.2, and (I)-.2 react with the enzyme and cause a loss of enzymatic activity. The results implicate the possible involvement of cysteine, tyrosine, and tryptophan residues in the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase.

Porphyrin-induced photodamage at the cellular and the subcellular level as related to the solubility of the porphyrin.

Porphyrin-induced photodamage has been studied on small organic molecules, biomolecules, mitochondria and red cells. Water soluble components (e.g. tryptophan and glutamate dehydrogenase) are more easily destroyed by uroporphyrin than by protoporphyrin. On the other hand, lipophilic components (e.g. succinate dehydrogenase, mitochondria and red cell membranes) are more severely damaged by protoporphyrin. The results may be of importance to explain the different skin lesions in erythropoietic protoporphyria and in porphyria cutanea tarda. The photodamage is enhanced by D2O and reduced by azide. Reagents known to increase or decrease the yields of superoxide, peroxide or hydroxyl radicals have no effect on the photodamage. The results suggest that singlet oxygen is the most important reactive oxygen species.

The role of histidine residues in glutamate dehydrogenase.

1. Glutamate dehydrogenase was subject to rapid inactivation when irradiated in the presence of Rose Bengal or incubated in the presence of ethoxyformic anhydride. 2. Inactivation in the presence of Rose Bengal led to the photo-oxidation of four histidine residues. Oxidation of three histidine residues had little effect on enzyme activity, but oxidation of the fourth residue led to the almost total loss of activity. 3. Acylation of glutamate dehydrogenase with ethoxyformic anhydride at pH6.1 led to the modification of three histidine residues with a corresponding loss of half the original activity. Acylation at pH7.5 led to the modification of two histidine residues and a total loss of enzyme activity. 4. One of the histidine residues undergoing reaction at pH6.1 also undergoes reaction at pH7.5. 5. The presence of either glutamate or NAD(+) in the reaction mixtures at pH6.1 had no appreciable effect. At pH7.5 glutamate caused a marked decrease in both the degree of alkylation and degree of inactivation. NAD(+) had no effect on the degree of inactivation at pH7.5 but did modify the extent of acylation. 6. The normal response of the enzyme towards ADP was unaffected by acylation at pH6.1 or 7.5. 7. The normal response of the enzyme towards GTP was altered by treatment at both pH6.1 and 7.5.