Electric Single-Molecule Hybridization Detector for Short DNA Fragments.

By combining DNA nanotechnology and high-bandwidth single-molecule detection in nanopipets, we demonstrate an electric, label-free hybridization sensor for short DNA sequences (<100 nucleotides). Such short fragments are known to occur as circulating cell-free DNA in various bodily fluids, such as blood plasma and saliva, and have been identified as disease markers for cancer and infectious diseases. To this end, we use as a model system an 88-mer target from the RV1910c gene in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is associated with antibiotic (isoniazid) resistance in TB. Upon binding to short probes attached to long carrier DNA, we show that resistive-pulse sensing in nanopipets is capable of identifying rather subtle structural differences, such as the hybridization state of the probes, in a statistically robust manner. With significant potential toward multiplexing and high-throughput analysis, our study points toward a new, single-molecule DNA-assay technology that is fast, easy to use, and compatible with point-of-care environments.

Fibrinolysis, renin activity, and prorenin in normal women: effects of exercise and oral contraceptive medication.

PIP: 25 young women, 13 of whom on oral contraception (OC), were observed to study the effects of exercise and of OC on the blood fibrinolytic and renin systems. It appeared very clearly that exercise would activate the fibrinolytic system, and that renin activity was also stimulated, suggesting a relationship between the 2 systems. The connection between exercise, fibrinolysis and prorenin activity was evidenced by an exercise-induced drop in the proportion of inactive renin and fibrinolytic activity, and in the presence of contraceptive-induced activation of fibrinolysis. OC did not seem to raise plasma prorenin above the control value, but it did raise active-renin, especially late in the menstrual cycel.^ieng

Effects of pregnancy, oral contraception, and binephrectomy, on human plasma "prorenin" and its activator(s).

We compared two temperatures for cryoactivation, -4 degrees and 4 degrees C, in subjects representing high and low renin states. The colder temperature was universally more effective for activating prorenin, but not to the same degree in men and women, in all physiological states. At 4 degrees, for short intervals, false negatives are more likely to be obtained, especially in women and anephrics. We confirmed higher plasma renin activities (PRA) in women on oral contraceptive medication (pill), and in the 1st and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. The highest prorenin component was in the 1st trimester, the lowest in anephric subjects (2NX, about 28% of normal). Prorenin as percent of total renin was relatively constant in healthy men, women (no pill), women (pill), and women, 1st trimester. In the 3rd trimester, this percentage dropped, p less than 0.025; in anephric men and women, it rose (N.S.), suggesting highest prorenin convertase activity exists in the 3rd trimester, lowest activity in 2NX. This was confirmed by adding Trasylol during cryoactivation at -4 degrees C, and noting least, and greatest inhibition of prorenin activation, respectively. The effectiveness of trypsin relative to cold activation rises as the proportion of 2NX plasma increases in a mixture with normal plasma. The 2NX plasma lacks both prorenin, and its convertase. Trypsin can substitute for part of the convertase, and is therefore more effective than cold, which is rate-limited by convertase deficiency. Thus, the choice between trypsin and cold depends, in part, on whether only prorenin, or also its convertase, is being evaluated. Systemic convertase appears to be a dynamic physiological variable influencing renin production from prorenin, and is conditioned by the presence of healthy kidneys, and by sex hormones.

Activation and measurement of plasma prorenin in the rat.

Prorenin determination in rat plasma has been problematic from the outset. Consequently, its existence is questioned by some and its quantity by others, making it difficult for knowledge to advance as to its function relative to the renin system. The present study examines major variables in the determination of rat plasma prorenin and renin, notably different prorenin activation protocols involving blood samples obtained under various conditions from animals under different anesthetics. We found that a trypsin activation step with 5 mg/mL plasma, 60 min at 23 degrees C, followed by a PRA step of 10 min at 37 degrees C, resulted in the highest prorenin estimates, up to approximately 400 ng.mL-1.h-1 in terms of angiotensin I, as compared with published values of 0-190, based on other protocols. These estimates were obtained despite considerable destruction of angiotensinogen (renin substrate) by trypsin. Cryoactivation of prorenin was much less effective than in human plasma but, when followed by trypsin, it facilitated greater activation than with trypsin alone. Comparable fresh and fresh-frozen plasmas had similar prorenin-renin values, but lower values were observed in plasmas that had been repeatedly frozen and thawed. Conscious rats and those anesthetized with Inactin or ether had higher renins and prorenins than those anesthetized with methoxyflurane or halothane. Rats with kidneys in place during blood collection had higher renins (but not prorenins) than those whose kidneys were clamped off, suggesting that last-minute renin release during blood collection had occurred. We conclude that (i) trypsin generates increased renin, or renin-like, activity in plasma, suggesting activation of a precursor; (ii) on this basis, high prorenin levels exist in normal rat plasma; (iii) renin and prorenin levels are variously influenced by different anesthetics and blood handling procedures; (iv) variation in prorenin levels suggests that it is a dynamic (functional?) component of the renin system; (v) prorenin measurements are heavily influenced by methodological variations during the trypsin step or the subsequent PRA step; (vi) using standardized methodology, the rat can serve as a model for investigating the function of prorenin in normotension and hypertension.

Microheterogeneity and sialic acid in human plasma angiotensinogens in various physiological states.

Pooled or individual plasmas from normal men, women, pregnant women (third trimester), anephric women, and rat liver perfusates were used as sources of angiotensinogen. The plasmas were fractionated and desalted by Sephadex gel filtration, then subjected to isoelectric focusing in a pH 4 to 6 gradient on 40 X 4 cm slabs of polyacrylamide gel. The gels were cut transversely into 0.5-cm-wide strips, the pH measured, and their angiotensinogen concentrations determined by incubation with excess human renin and radioimmunoassay of the product, angiotensin I. This revealed several peaks of angiotensinogen concentration indicative of microheterogeneity in all cases. Contrary to other claims, the isoelectric pH profiles of angiotensinogens in the various physiological states were substantially alike. Major peaks were found at pH 4.75 to 4.85 and 4.9 to 5.0 and minor peaks at pH 4.5 to 4.7 and 5.0 to 5.2; this resolution was greater than that achieved with rat liver angiotensinogens. Incubation of human angiotensinogens with neuraminidase for 3 or 16 h raised their isoelectric pH by about 0.5 U, probably due to removal of sialic acid. Since microheterogeneity persisted after desialylation, it is probably determined by structural characteristics other than sialic acid composition.

Extrarenal production and activation of human plasma prorenin: the evidence after venous occlusion.

Venous occlusion of the left arm in consenting men was induced for 10 or 20 min to stimulate local fibrinolytic and other proteases, thereby favouring the conversion of prorenin to renin. Using the two techniques cryoactivation and tryptic activation, we found that plasma active renin increased significantly after such occlusion (10 and 20 min) while prorenin rose more convincingly and progressively from 10 to 20 min. The renin increase can be partially attributed to hemoconcentration, but in vivo production and (or) local activation of prorenin to renin cannot be excluded. The prorenin rise can apparently be attributed to local extrarenal production, and not to hemoconcentration or influx, since it was progressive and neither prorenin nor renin levels were raised at all in blood circulating outside the occluded arm. Prekallikrein and plasminogen levels were elevated in occlusion plasmas, but responsibility of these enzyme systems for any enhanced activation of prorenin was not established. The trypsin inhibitory capacity was also elevated, increasing the requirement of trypsin to achieve optimal activation of prorenin, but not changing the prorenin estimate itself. Thus, prorenin appears to be released extrarenally, within the vasculature of an occluded arm, while in vitro evidence suggests that the mechanisms for its activation were stimulated. The importance of such extrarenal production and activation of prorenin for renin production under other physiological or pathophysiological conditions remains to be determined.

Resolution of rat renin substrates by isoelectric focusing.

Pooled plasmas from normal or binephrectomized rats and perfusates of isolated livers were used as sources of renin substrate for isoelectric focusing. After desalting, preliminary fractionation (plasma only), and concentration, the preparations were focused in a pH 3--10 gradient on 20-cm glass plates layered with Sephadex slurry. The pH 4--6 region, containing all the substrate, was scraped from this plate and refocused in a pH 4--6 gradient. Substrate content of 1-cm strips of slurry from half of the plate was determined by both radioimmunoassay and bioassay of angiotensin resulting from incubation with added renin. Corresponding strips from the other half of the plate were incubated without renin as a control for any preformed angiotensin. The asymmetry and broad distribution (pH 4--5) of substrate from different sources suggested the existence of more than one form. Higher resolution achieved by using the high substrate concentration of postnephrectomy plasma and 0.5-cm strips of slurry on 20-cm or 40-cm plates revealed peaks and shoulders of substrate activity. Our data suggest that multiple forms of substrate are synthesized by the liver and circulate in plasma. Postnephrectomy rat plasma appears to contain relatively more substrate(s) with higher isoelectric points than in normal plasma, possibly an accumulation of forms ordinarily degraded by endogenous renal renin.

Peculiarities of plasma "prorenin" measurements in man, dog, and rat, and their theoretical implications.

In human plasma, trypsin activates "prorenin" within 1 min at 23 degrees C. It is quickly neutralized by endogenous inhibitors, and the subsequent hourly expression of old and new renin activity (PRA) is relatively consistent during 15, 30, or 60 min incubation at 37 degrees. In dog plasma, prorenin activation requires much higher trypsin concentrations - 3-5 mg/ml, vs 0.5-1.5 mg in humans - implying a higher content of endogenous protease inhibitors, and/or the lack of some endogenous mediator of the action of trypsin. These could also be partly responsible for the observed lack of cryoactivation in dogs. The effect of trypsin in dog plasma does not end abruptly as in humans. A post-tryptic prorenin "convertase" continues to act at 37 degrees, steadily increasing the hourly rate of angiotensin generation as the incubation is prolonged. Neither lima bean trypsin inhibitor (LBTI) nor endogenous inhibitors fully inhibit this trypsin-induced convertase. It is transferable to normal plasma, where it raises the PRA. Pepstatin severely inhibits this effect, most probably by inhibiting the new renin, possibly also by inhibiting the convertase itself. Rat plasma appears intermediate between human and dog plasmas in some respects. Trypsin activates prorenin well at 4 mg/ml, when exposed for 30 min at 23 degrees, provided the subsequent PRA incubation stage is kept short, e.g. 10 vs 30 min. This implies a low tolerance to effective concentrations of trypsin, presumably attributable to the nature and/or quantity of endogenous protease inhibitors. The amount of prorenin, as judged by activation, equals that of dogs. However, active renin is distinctly higher in rats, possibly due to the stressful influence of anesthesia and blood collection. This greatly reduces the prorenin: renin ratio in rats relative to dogs, and brings them closer to the human ratio. Clamping off the renal blood vessels while blood is collected, lowers the basal PRA, and raises the prorenin:renin ratio. Thus, prorenin is detectable in all 3 species, but the best methods for activating it are quite different, implying marked differences in the mechanisms involved.

Renin substrate (angiotensinogen) preparations in the determination of prorenin and renin: evidence for extrarenal plasma prorenin and its renal "convertase".

Standard methods for determining prorenin-renin concentrations in plasma (PRC) and other tissues require the addition of exogenous renin substrate (angiotensinogen) to improve the kinetics of the renin reaction. We studied the effects of substrate prepared from normal human plasma fraction Cohn IV-4, or from nephrectomized (2NX) sheep plasma, on PRC of normal and 2NX human plasmas before and after prorenin activation by acid, cold, and trypsin, and compared the results with plasma renin activities (PRA, no added substrate). Plasmas from 2NX men exhibited negligible basal PRA, indicating that very little, if any, renin had been formed from the extrarenal prorenin they contained, and suggesting the lack of an endogenous prorenin activating mechanism, or "convertase," of probable renal origin. Prorenin was demonstrable by tryptic activation, more than by acid or cold, at up to about 30% of normal. Addition of Cohn IV-4 substrate to 2NX plasma unexpectedly produced (i) a basal PRC value higher than in normal plasma, (ii) total renin values after activation by acid, cold, and trypsin that were much closer to normal values than reflected by PRA methodology, without a commensurate increase (if anything a decrease) in prorenin as a percentage of total renin estimated by all activation methods, and (iii) substantial equalization of activation effects such that trypsin was no longer more effective than acid and cold (and this was also noted with normal plasma). The skewing effect of adding Cohn IV-4 substrate on the PRC of 2NX plasma was much greater than in normal plasma, even though 2NX plasma already had an above normal level of endogenous substrate and should have been influenced less. Enhancement of PRC was very pronounced even when Cohn IV-4 was added to make up only 9% of total (endogenous + exogenous) substrate in the incubation system, suggesting that it was not the added substrate but a renin-generating contaminant that inflated the PRC. Such inflation could be blocked by adding protease inhibitors, suggesting that the responsible protease(s) acted as a prorenin "convertase" that generated new renin from renal and (or) extrarenal prorenin contributed by the added substrate, as well as by the plasma being assayed. One component of convertase could be kallikrein, which was identified by chromogenic assay, the importance of which relative to total convertase activity is unknown.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Does angiotensin regulate systemic conversion of prorenin to renin?

Within 12 hours of binephrectomy in rats, plasma prorenin rises about 250% above the pre-operative baseline and remains above-normal for at least 48 hours, indicating an extrarenal source of prorenin. Concurrently, active renin disappears, implying the loss of a renal "convertase" mechanism for prorenin activation. Such "convertase" activity was detected in incubates of renal cortical slices. To test the effect of angiotensin (Ang) on prorenin/"convertase" regulation, we infused Ang I (100 ng/kg/min) intraperitoneally for 24 hours and obtained evidence of "convertase" inhibition, as happened also following Ang II (2uM) addition to incubated cortical slices. Thus, the release and/or activity of "convertase" appears to be regulated by Ang in-vivo and in-vitro, suggesting that Ang controls not only direct renal renin release but also the secretion and/or activity of a renal "convertase" capable of producing additional renin from circulating prorenin pools.