Characterization of membranes removed during open-sky vitrectomy.

Membranes removed during open-sky vitrectomy have been characterized by electron microscopy, reaction with anti-human fibrinogen, susceptibility to enzymatic digestion, amino acid analysis, and electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate. There were significant differences between longstanding and newly formed membranes. Longstanding membranes contained substantial amounts of hydroxyproline, glycine, and hydroxylysine, were capable of digestion by collagenase but not by plasmin, yielded faint positive results with anti-human fibrinogen, and showed fibrils characteristic of collagen by electron microscopy. After digestion with pepsin, electrophoresis revealed bands that migrated the same distance as vitreous collagen chains. This type of membrane is evidently collagenous in nature. A second type of membrane, which developed in the course of vitrectomy, contained no hydroxyproline, only traces of hydroxylysine, and relatively small amounts of glycine, was digested by plasmin, yielded strong positive results with anti-human fibrinogen, and showed fibers that were not characteristic of collagen by electron microscopy. Electrophoresis demonstrated bands similar to authentic fibrin in these newly formed membranes. These data suggest that this second type of membrane is composed largely of fibrin. Prevention of the formation of this second type of membrane during vitrectomy may require the addition of agents that inhibit fibrin formation.

Bovine glomerular basement membrane. Characterization of an alpha-size collagenous polypeptide.

The collagenase domain of bovine glomerular basement membrane was isolated in soluble form after limited digestion with pepsin. Gel filtration chromatography of the domain under denaturing conditions revealed that most of the polypeptide constituents exhibit apparent molecular weights greater than the type I collagen beta-chain, while approximately 15% are similar in size to that of alpha-chain. Carboxymethyl cellulose chromatography of the alpha-size region revealed that 70% of the protein was polypeptide XIV, as previously designated (West, T. W., Fox, J. W., Jodlowski, M., Freytag, J. W., and Hudson, B. G. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 10451-10459). This polypeptide exhibits an apparent molecular weight of 102,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. An absolute molecular weight value of 86,000 was determined by sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride. About 15% of the mass is carbohydrate which exists in the form of glucosylgalactosylhydroxylysine. Thus, the polypeptide backbone has a molecular weight of 73,000, a value which is considerably smaller than the alpha-chains of classical collagen. The amino acid and carbohydrate composition and cyanogen bromide patterns indicate that polypeptide XIV has a structure similar to that of C-chain or alpha 1 (IV) collagen which has been identified in other tissues. In addition, the cyanogen bromide pattern of the entire collagenous domain is similar to that of polypeptide XIV, suggesting that the latter is a structural segment of many of the higher molecular weight components.

Chromatographic analysis of hydroxylysine glycosides and acid hydrolyzates.

A single-column chromatographic technique for the analysis of hydroxylysine glycosides and acid hydrolyzates is described. This technique employs a Durrum D-500 amino acid analyzer equipped with a standard 48 cm X 1.8 mm column packed with DC-4A resin. Resolution was achieved with four sodium citrate buffers and four column temperatures. Products of glycoprotein hydrolysis including cysteic acid, methionine sulfoxide, 4-hydroxyproline, alpha-aminobutyric acid, glucosamine, galactosamine, hydroxylysine, tryptophan and the internal standard, norleucine, are resolved. The completely automated procedure takes 185 min per run and can measure amino acid residues in the nanomole range.

Intestinal basement membrane of Ascaris suum. Characterization of carbohydrate units.

Characterization of glycopeptides obtained on alkaline hydrolysis and on extensive collagenase and pronase digestion of the intestinal basement membrane showed the existence of two distinctly different carbohydrate units. One of these is a disaccharide, composed of glucose and galactose, linked to hydroxylysine. It was shown to be identical to the unit (2-O-D-glucopyranosyl-O-D-galactopyranosylhydroxylyasine) present in vertebrate basement membranes, as determined from stability to alkaline hydrolysis, retention time on amino acid analyzer, chemical composition, graded acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis, and periodate oxidation. Direct quantitation after alkaline hydrolysis showed the presence of 9.71 disaccharide units/1000 amino acid residues, indicating that 89% of the hydroxylysine residues of the intestinal membrane are glycosylated. The other unit, consisting of the remaining monosaccharides of the membrane, was separated from the disaccharide unit by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography of collagenase/pronase digests. Chemical analyses and molecular weight determination by thin layer gel filtration chromatography of purified glycopeptides indicated that this unit is an oligosaccharide which is composed of fucose, galactose, mannose, galactosamine, and glucosamine in a mole ratio of 1:1:1:1:2, respectively. The amount of this unit was calculated to be 2.6 units/1000 amino acid residues.

Kinetics of the activation of rat liver pyruvate kinase by fructose 1,6-diphosphate and methods for characterizing hysteretic transitions.

1. Kinetics of fructose 1,6-diphosphate activation of liver pyruvate kinase type I inhibited with MgATP and l-alanine are described as a function of enzyme and fructose 1,6-diphosphate concentrations. These results can be explained by a single pseudo-first-order transition of the enzyme into an active form, independent of the enzyme concentration. This rate constant, k(app.)=0.24s(-1) with 0.02mm-fructose 1,6-diphosphate (t(0.9) approximately 10s where t(0.9) is the time for 90% conversion), is an increasing function of fructose 1,6-diphosphate concentration far beyond that needed to maximally activate enzyme equilibrated with fructose 1,6-diphosphate (about 20mum). 2. The model equations are best analysed with numerical techniques which are described. These techniques are useful in studying similar slow transients frequently observed in stopped-flow studies of enzymes. 3. Shorter transients (t(0.9)=0.5-1.5s) were observed in the kinetic response of the enzyme to the addition of MgATP or phosphoenolpyruvate, but were not further characterized.

Kinetic properties of rat liver pyruvate kinase at cellular concentrations of enzyme, substrates and modifiers.

Kinetic properties of rat liver pyruvate kinase type I at pH7.5 and 6.5 were studied with physiological ranges of substrates, modifiers and Mg(2+) concentrations at increasing enzyme concentrations, including the estimated cellular concentrations (approx. 0.1mg/ml). Enzyme properties appear unaffected by increased enzyme concentration if phosphoenolpyruvate, fructose 1,6-diphosphate and inhibitors are incubated with enzyme before starting the reaction with ADP. Our data suggest that minimum cellular concentrations of MgATP and l-alanine provide virtually complete inhibition of pyruvate kinase I at pH7.5. The most likely cellular control of existing pyruvate kinase I results from the strong restoration of enzyme activity by the small physiological amounts of fructose 1,6-diphosphate. Decreasing the pH to 6.5 also restores pyruvate kinase activity, but to only about one-third of its activity in the presence of fructose 1,6-diphosphate. Neither pyruvate nor 2-phosphoglycerate at cellular concentrations inhibit the enzyme significantly.