Silver staining of collagen type I after sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis: effect of Maillard reaction.

Differences in the acidic silver staining, after sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, between the alpha 1 and alpha 2 collagen chains, as well as between rat-tail tendon and calf-skin collagen type I, were observed. The staining conditions at which the staining differences are both most expressed and reproducible were characterized. Age differences between staining of the alpha 1 CB6 fragment from young rats (2 and 12 months) and old rats (29 months) indicated that different susceptibilities of collagen species to the silver staining can be the result of different extents of some age-dependent post-translational modification, such as glycation. In vitro incubation of acid-soluble rat-tail tendon collagen with various sugars led to an increase in silver staining compared with samples incubated in the absence of sugar. This effect was inhibited by sodium cyanoborohydride, diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid and aminoguanidine, i.e. compounds inhibiting the Maillard reaction at various stages. It can be concluded that the enhanced silver susceptibility of glycated collagen is related to advanced-phase Maillard reaction products attached to collagen.

Capillary zone electrophoresis: its applicability and potential in biochemical analysis.

Recent developments in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) are reviewed, starting with available instrumentation, a description of different operational modes and the most commonly used detection systems. Appropriate attention is paid to CZE-mass spectrometry coupling and coupling of electrophoretic and chromatographic procedures. The possibility of separating chiral molecules is also discussed. Examples of applications concern mainly amino acids, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and their constituents.

Separation of elastin cross-links as phenylisothiocyanate derivatives.

A method has been developed for the separation and quantitation of desmosines in tissue samples. The tissue is treated with cold 10% trichloroacetic acid to remove collagen and hydrolysed in HCl vapours in sealed vials. Preseparation of desmosines from tissue acid hydrolysates is performed on a cellulose column, first eluted with n-butanol-acetic acid-water to wash out other amino acids and then with water to recover desmosines. Separated desmosines are then derivatized with phenylisothiocyanate and determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using a gradient system with sodium acetate pH 6.4 and acetonitrile. Desmosines were detected spectrophotometrically at 254 nm. The method was applied to the determination of desmosine in elastin, rat aorta and bovine ligamentum nuchae.

Change with age of UV absorbance and fluorescence of collagen and accumulation of epsilon-hexosyllysine in collagen from Wistar rats living on different food restriction regimes.

Accumulation of glycation products (as revealed by the thiobarbituric test and hexosyllysine assay) and the pigmented products (350 nm UV absorbance and 370ex/440em nm fluorescence) in aortal and skin collagen was investigated under the conditions of different nutritional regimes. Four groups of animals were tested: (1) ad libitum fed controls, (2) animals which were food restricted throughout their whole life (50% food intake), (3) animals fed ad libitum during their first year of life and then food restricted and (4) animals food restricted when young and fed ad libitum from the age of 1 year onwards. It was shown that all food-restricted animals showed lower levels of glycation and pigmentation products in collagen preparations from skin and aorta. The lowest accumulation was observed in group 4 which exhibited the longest 50% survival (29.4 months, as compared with 18.3 months in normally-fed controls). Of particular interest is the fact that in this group the decreased rate of accumulation of the glycated and pigmented products was preserved even after 1 year of life, i.e., when the animals had a free access to food. Though not directly supporting the glycation theory of aging (Cerami, 1985), our data are indicative of the involvement of glucose metabolism in the ageing process. Correlation between the levels of glycated and pigmented products in aortal and skin collagen as well as the correlation between the rate of accumulation of these products and 50% survival was impossible to establish. Nevertheless, each time that food restriction was imposed on the animals it always resulted in decreased accumulation of glycated and pigmented products and increased 50% survival. Possible mechanisms for this process are discussed.

Separation and partial characterization of Maillard reaction products by capillary zone electrophoresis.

Capillary zone electrophoresis proved useful for separating small amounts of both charged and uncharged solutes that are otherwise difficult to analyse. A typical complex mixture that had previously resisted all analytical approaches, including reversed-phase separations, is the products arising from the reaction of free amino acids with aldehydic sugars (Maillard reaction products). By using capillary zone electrophoresis [untreated capillary 50 cm x 75 microns I.D., 18 kV, 0.02 mol/l phosphate buffer (pH 7.5)], a number of products resulting from the reaction of glucose or ribose with glycine, alanine and isoleucine were separated and partially characterized. They were separated (1) without derivatization (and profiles of compounds absorbing at 220 nm were obtained), (2) as phenylthiocarbamyl derivatives in a search for reactive amino groups and (3) after derivatzation with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine in a search for a method for compounds with a free aldehydic group. Phenylthiocarbamyl derivatives were separated in 0.005 mol/l borate buffer (pH 9.6) at 20 kV and 25 microA. Separation of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones was effected by electrokinetic micellar chromatography in the same apparatus using a 50 cm x 75 microns I.D. capillary at 10 kV in 0.01 mol/l Na2HPO4-0.006 mol/l tetraborate, 0.050 mol/l with respect to sodium dodecyl sulphate. The results are compared with those given by high-performance liquid and thin-layer chromatography.

Sterol composition of a delta 5,7-sterol-rich strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae during batch growth.

Sterol composition was examined during batch growth on complex media containing ethanol, molasses or glucose as the carbon source. The molasses-grown cells exhibited a balanced sterol composition throughout growth, maintaining the proportion of ergosterol to 24:28-dehydroergosterol equal to 1.4. The negative effect of glucose on sterol synthesis manifested itself by decreasing the accumulation of 24:28-dehydroergosterol and total sterols but not of ergosterol. Using ethanol as the sole carbon source, a large amount of 24:28-dehydroergosterol accumulated, partly at the expense of other sterols. The gradual addition of nitrogen source during growth significantly decreased the accumulation of ergosterol, 24:28-dehydroergosterol and of total sterols. A general scheme of regulation of sterol synthesis in baker's yeast is presented.

Absence of glucose-stimulated transport in yeast protoplasts.

Protoplasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae prepared by snail-gut juice treatment were compared in their transport properties with intact cells. 1. Constitutive monosaccharide transport (D-xylose, 6-deoxy-D-glucose), as well as inducible transport of D-galactose, were unaltered. 2. Phosphorylation-associated transport of 2-deoxy-D-glucose was enhanced in protoplasts, possibly as a consequence of removal of the unstirred layer of the cell wall. 3. Proton-driven transports of trehalose, L-leucine, L-proline and monophosphate could not be activated by preincubation with D-glucose, apparently owing to lack of proton-solute coupling in transport. Utilization of glucose was not depressed but respiration was reduced by about 50% while acidification of the external medium after glucose addition was inhibited by more than 90%. This may be related to the inability of protoplast plasma membrane H-ATPase to be activated by glucose and hence to impaired proton-translocating capacity. Uranyl ions inhibited generally much less in protoplasts than in intact cells although their binding to protoplasts was greater (maximum 0.68 fmol per cell but 3.2 fmol per protoplast).

Interaction of nystatin with nystatin-resistant Candida tropicalis.

Nystatin-resistant yeast Candida tropicalis was obtained after UV illumination and plating on nystatin-containing media. The mutant contained no ergosterol in the plasma membrane but bound nystatin to a degree similar to that of the wild strain (1.2 vs. 1.5 nmol per mg dry solid). Respiration of the mutant on glucose was reduced by 36% in the presence of 25 microM nystatin. This corresponded to a 25-43% decrease of the uptake of monosaccharides. Transport of amino acids was reduced by nystatin in the mutant by 44-86%, as compared with a 84-95% reduction in the wild strain. The intracellular ATP content was reduced by nystatin equally in the wild strain and in the mutant (by 43 and 47%). Nystatin appears to affect specifically membrane transport processes of nonelectrolytes while both the H+-extruding ATPase and the membrane potential are unaffected.

A model system for bacteriorhodopsin chromophore.

The absorption characteristics of bacteriorhodopsin chromophore cannot be understand on the basis of a simple protonated Schiff-base linkage. A possible hypothetical explanation may be an interaction of the aromatic amino acid residues also with retinal. Mixtures of retinal and tryptophan analogues were reacted in organic solvents. Many similarities were found in the absorption spectra of the different products of these reactions and in those of the main forms of bacteriorhodopsin photocycle. Such products are suggested to model the purple complex of bacteriorhodopsin as well as the chromophores of the photointermediates.

Effect of high substrate concentrations on active transport parameters.

A general model is described to account for the observation that steady-state accumulation ratios (mainly of non-electrolytes) decrease with increasing solute concentration, frequently reaching values of less than unity. Three variants of the model are treated, all of them including the assumption that the immediate supply of the source of energy is limited and its local concentration is appreciably reduced by its interaction with the transport system. Consequences of this assumption for the kinetic parameters of the initial rate of transport are analyzed and compared with experimental data.