[Level of delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) in the brain of rats with different alcoholic motivation]

Radioimmunoassay was used to measure the content of delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) in random-bred albino rats divided into groups according to the duration of ethanol anesthesia and the levels of 15% ethanol consumption under free-choice conditions. The concentration of the neuropeptide was assayed in intact brain, in the cortex of large hemispheres, medulla oblongata, thalamus and striatum. The short-sleeping rats manifested a statistically significant lowering of the DSIP content in intact brain homogenates, in the cortex of large hemispheres and striatum. On the contrary, thirty minutes after a single intraperitoneal injection of ethanol in a dose of 1 g/kg the DSIP content in the medulla oblongata, thalamus and striatum was found to be increased. The raising of the ethanol dose up to 2.5 and 4.5 g/kg was followed by a less significant increase in the neuropeptide content. Prolonged chronic alcoholization under free-choice conditions led after 12 months to the reduced DSIP content in the medulla oblongata, thalamus and striatum. The importance of DSIP for the pathogenesis of experimental alcoholism using rats with different levels of alcoholic motivation is discussed.

A proteolytic mechanism for the action of insulin via oligopeptide mediator formation

Evidence is presented that the chemical mediator of insulin action is a peptide(s) and most likely glycopeptide(s). The mediator is formed proteolytically because 1) protease inhibitors inhibit insulin action and 2) trypsin mimicks insulin action via mediator formation. Trypsin mediator does not faithfully reproduce the action of insulin mediator, which indicates that the sites of proteolytic cleavage by insulin and trypsin differ. A coordinated multivalent proteolytic mechanism by which insulin acts to trigger an external membrane-bound protease to cleave mediator from a membrane glycoprotein precursor is presented.

Effects of pepstatin on reducing hypoxia-induced injury in the isolated guniea pig heart

Intracellular cathepsin D is thought to play a role in myocardial injury produced by ischemia and hypoxia. Pepstatin, a known inhibitor of cathepsin D, was infused into isolated guniea pig hearts (Langendorff preparation) in order to observe if such an administration of pepstatin would protect against the effects of a two minute exposure to hypoxia. Hypoxia was produced by exposing the hearts to perfusion fluid aerated with 20% 02/5% CO2/75% N2 and containing 0.5 microgram/ml of norepinephrine. Contractile force, heart rate, coronary flow and ECG were monitored. Samples of heart tissue were assayed for cathepsin D activity. Infusion of 0.06 mg/min of pepstatin for 30 minutes produced no significant alterations in the parameters of cardiac function studied. However, this amount of pepstatin inhibited 97% of the cathepsin D activity of the hearts. The characteristics ECG alterations produced by hypoxia were significantly reduced after infusion of pepstatin. These data indicate that pepstatin may protect the heart against hypoxia-induced injury.

Mammalian neuronal actions of FMRFamide and the structurally related opioid Met-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7

Since the enkephalins were first isolated a number of opioid peptides have been discovered, including a heptapeptide with the sequence Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met-Arg-Phe (Met-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7). The heptapeptide was first isolated from chromaffin granules in bovine adrenal medulla, but using immunochemical techniques it has now been identified in human, rat and bovine brains. The C-terminal tetrapeptide of this molecule (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe) occurs in amidated form as the molluscan peptide FMRFamide. Antisera raised against FMRFamide have revealed immunoreactive material in the brains of several vertebrate species, including the rat where it occurs in nerve cell bodies and terminals. I now report that ionophoretically applied FMRFamide has an excitatory effect on rat medullary neurones which is unaffected by the opiate antagonist naloxone. In contrast, Met-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 and leucine-enkephalin (Leu-enkephalin) have predominantly depressant effects, which suggests that FMRFamide acts at a separate receptor.

Chemotaxis of radiolabeled equine neutrophils

A method for the isolation of equine neutrophils was developed using metrizamide cushions. A purity of greater than 95% was routinely obtained with greater than 90% viability. These cells were radiolabeled and tested for their chemotactic response in Boyden chambers to zymosan-activated equine serum, the partially purified equine complement component C5a, and formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine. The time and ionic requirements for chemotaxis of radiolabeled equine neutrophils were investigated and maximal movement was observed at 2 hours' incubation and 1.0 mM Ca and 0.5 mM Mg. Dinitrophenol in a concentration range of 10(-2) to 10(-6) M also inhibited cell movement. A Zigmond-Hirsch checkerboard assay demonstrated the pronounced chemotactic activity of zymosan-activated equine serum and the partially purified equine C5a. The equine neutrophil did not respond to formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine.

Influence of converting enzyme inhibition on renal hemodynamics and glomerular dynamics in sodium-restricted dogs

Clearance and micropuncture experiments were performed to evaluate the influence of converting enzyme inhibition (CEI) (SQ 14,225) on renal hemodynamics, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), segmental vascular resistances, and superficial nephron function in anesthetized sodium restricted dogs. In one series (n = 8), renal blood flow (RBF) and GFR exhibited a high degree of autoregulatory efficiency when renal arterial pressure (RAP) was reduced from 126 +/- 5 to 86 +/- 1 mm Hg. With RAP maintained at the reduced level, CEI elicited increases in RBF (3.9 +/- 0.3 to 5.8 +/- 0.5 ml/min per g kw) and GFR (0.81 +/- 0.03 to 0.94 +/- 0.04 ml/min per g kw). With return of RAP to spontaneous levels during continued CEI, RBF and GFR autoregulatory efficiency was maintained, and was similar to that observed in control dogs subjected to the same procedures (n = 5). In the micropuncture experiments (n = 12), RAP was maintained at the reduced level (87.5 +/- .9 mm Hg), and measurements were made before and during CEI. Proximal tubule pressure, peritubular capillary pressure, stop flow pressure, and single nephron GFR (SNGFR) increased significantly. Regression analysis suggested that the increases in SNGFR were associated with small increases in the filtration coefficient. CEI reduced preglomerular resistance by 29% to 35% and efferent arteriolar resistance by 24% to 32%. These results indicate that the increased activity of the renin-angiotensin system that occurs during salt restriction exerts approximately equivalent vasoconstrictor influences on both preglomerular and postglomerular vascular resistance elements.

Properties of angiotensin-converting enzyme in intact cerebral microvessels

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) was studied in preparations of microvessels isolated from rabbit cerebral cortex. Activity was determined by measuring the degradation of hippuryl-histidyl-leucine (Hip-His-Leu) by the intact microvessels in a physiological salt solution at pH 7.4. ACE activity was dependent on both substrate and chloride ion concentration and was inhibited by captopril in a manner similar to that observed previously with tissue homogenates. Angiotensin I was rapidly degraded by the intact microvessels, even in the presence of 10(-6)M captopril. An advantage of the methodology employed was the ability to pretreat the microvessels and then assess the effect of pretreatment by transfer to a postincubation assay system. Pretreatment with a hyperosmolar urea solution did not change ACE activity or cause release of ACE from the microvessels, although lactic dehydrogenase and lysosomal enzymes were released. Pretreatment with captopril caused a lag in the subsequent degradation of Hip-His-Leu, presumably reflecting dissociation of inhibitor from the cell-associated enzyme. ACE activity was unaffected by hypoxic or anoxic incubation conditions. The ability to measure ACE activity of the microvessels in vitro provides a unique opportunity to study the properties of the enzyme in intact cerebrovascular endothelial cells.

Speract. Purification and characterization of a peptide associated with eggs that activates spermatozoa

A low molecular weight peptide (speract) associated with sea urchin eggs has been purified to apparent homogeneity by charcoal adsorption, DEAE-Sephacel chromatography, Bio-Gel P-2 filtration, and Dowex AG 50W-X4 chromatography. Gametes from 5000 female sea urchins were required for the isolation of approximately 9 mg of the peptide. The isolated peptide is homogenous based on [3H]acetic anhydride labeling, gel filtration, and reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography. Speract is composed entirely of neutral and acidic amino acids with glycine as the major component, and it appears to have a blocked NH2 terminus based on its insensitivity to leucine aminopeptidase, its failure to react with dansyl chloride, and its chromatographic behavior on strong cation exchange resins. Speract is a potent stimulator of sea urchin sperm oxygen consumption, causing significant increases of sperm respiration rates at concentrations as low as 10(-12) M and producing 20-fold increases of oxygen consumption at maximal concentrations of 10(-8) M. Sperm cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP concentrations are also increased by speract, but concentrations of at least 10(-10) M and 10(-9) M are required for half-maximal elevations, respectively. The peptide, purified from Strongylocentrotus purpuratus eggs, also cross-reacts with spermatozoa from Lytechnis pictus sea urchins, suggesting that speract does not show species specificity. These results represent the first report of the purification of a peptide associated with eggs that may affect spermatozoa under natural conditions.

Vertebrate brain-gut peptides related to FMRFamide and Met-enkephalin Arg6Phe7

Many mammalian brain-gut peptides are known to be represented in invertebrate nervous systems; we have now examined the possibility that an invertebrate neuropeptide occurs in vertebrates. Antisera were raised in rabbits to the molluscan neuropeptide. Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2 (FMRFamide). The antiserum used for radioimmunoassay and immunocytochemistry is highly specific for the C-terminus of the tetrapeptide. In radioimmunoassays of tissue extracts of brain, gut and pancreas of various vertebrates (chicken, frog, dog, rat) concentrations of immunoreactive material up to about 200 pmol/g have been recorded. The immunoreactive material in chicken pancreas behaves on gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography as a molecule that is larger and less basic peptide that FMRFamide. Immunocytochemical studies have demonstrated an endocrine cell origin for FMRFamide-like material in chicken pancreas, and in dog ileum. In brain, FMRFamide can be localised to nerve cell bodies (frog) and nerve fibres (frog and rat). Synthetic FMRFamide has been shown to have excitatory actions on brain stem neurons in the rat. It is suggested that neurons in the rat central nervous system have receptors for FMRFamide that normally bind endogenous material with FMRFamide immunoreactivity.

The brain-gut-skin triangle: new peptides

New data on tachykinins and bombesins are displayed and the present situation of research on the novel amphibian skin peptides sauvagine and dermorphin is illustrated. The potent stimulant effect of sauvagine on ACTH and beta-endorphin release has been confirmed both in vivo and on columns of isolated and dispersed rat pituitary cells, and similarly the potent inhibitory effect on PRL and GH release, both in the rat and man. Particular emphasis is laid on the occurrence of sauvagine-like immunoreactivity in fish urophysis and in amphibian nervous structures, including the retina. It is suggested that the long-searched corticotropin releasing factor and PRL release-inhibiting factor may be a sauvagine-like peptide. Dermorphin, in its turn, has been found to cause, by intracerebroventricular injection, not only analgesia and catalepsy, but also conspicuous EEG and behavioral changes in the rabbit and chick, as well as a sharp reduction in gastric emptying time and gastric acid output in the rat, together with marked stimulation of PRL release.

A peptide action in a lobster neuromuscular preparation

The neuropeptide proctolin causes a sustained contraction of the opener muscle of the dactyl of the lobster walking leg. This substance acts directly on the muscle at concentrations as low as 10(-10)M. The contraction is dependent on extracellular calcium. Neither a significant depolarization nor a detectable change in the input resistance accompanies the response. No presynaptic action of proctolin is indicated; excitatory and inhibitory junctional potential sizes and the frequency of spontaneous miniature excitatory junctional potentials are unaffected.

N-Formylmethionyl peptide receptors on equine leukocytes initiate secretion but not chemotaxis

The chemotaxis of leukocytes appears to be initiated by the binding of chemotactic factors to the surface of these cells. N-Formylated peptides induce chemotaxis and lysosomal enzyme secretion of leukocytes; because these peptides are available in a purified radiolabeled form, they have been useful in the characterization of receptors for chemotactic factors. Equine polymorphonuclear leukocytes secrete lysosomal enzymes but do not exhibit chemotaxis in respone to the N-formylated peptides, even though they have a high-affinity cell surface receptor for these agents. The specificity of the equine receptor resembles the specificity of the receptor on chemotactically responsive leukocytes from other species. Equine polymorphonuclear leukocytes may thus be an excellent model for the study of the events that lead to a biological response following receptor occupancy.

The ionic basis of chemotaxis. Separate cation requirements for neutrophil orientation and locomotion in a gradient of chemotactic peptide

The behavior of cells undergoing chemotaxis may be analyzed in terms of their orientation, a static characteristic, and of their locomotion. We have examined the extracellular divalent cation requirements for orientation and locomotion of rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes (neutrophils) in a gradient of the chemotactic peptide N-formyl-methionyl-leu-cyl-phenylalanine (F-Met-Leu-Phe) using the chemotaxis chamber recently developed by Zigmond. This chamber allows direct observation of cells attached to glass coverslips as they move up a gradient of chemotactic agent established across a 1-mm bridge. The orientation of neutrophils in the direction of the gradient was equally efficient whether cells and F-Met-Leu-Phe were suspended in merium supplemented with both Ca2+ and Mg2+ (complete medium), with Mg2+ but not Ca2+ (by simple omission of Ca2+ or by addition of EGTA), or with nonsupplemented medium (by omission of Ca2+ and Mg2+ or by addition of EDTA). These data confirm and extend Zigmond's earlier observation that exogenous divalent cations are not required for polymorphonuclear leukocyte orientation toward the chemotactic peptide. In contrast, cell locomotion, determined by linking the chemotaxis chamber to a time-lapse videocassette recorder and TV monitor, is markedly affected by the medium's content of divalent cations. Cells suspended in medium supplemented with Mg2+ but not calcium (by omission or chelation) or in nonsupplemented medium moved on the average 25% more rapidly than cells in complete Ca2+ and Mg2+ medium. Although the simple omission of Mg2+ does not prevent chemotaxis, chelation of Mg2+ in the medium completely abolishes leukocyte locomotion. Addition of varying concentrations of Mg2+ to the buffer in the presence of EDTA established that cell movement is fully restored by Mg2+ concentrations in the range of 3 X 10(-9) M, concentrations easily attained in the absence of added Mg2+. It was concluded that neither Ca2+ nor Mg2+ is needed for orientation in response to F-Met-Leu-Phe. However, low levels of exogenous Mg2+ but not Ca2+ are required for effective locomotion of neutrophils in the Zigmond changer. This result contrasts with data obtained in the Boyden chamber, where exogenous Ca2+ is considered essential for maximum chemotactic response.

[Brain oligopeptides--analgesic peptides, stimulators of memory and sleep]

A review of recent advances in the structure and properties of brain endogenous oligopeptides and their analogs is given. The principal attention is drawn to the stimulators of learning long-term memory, sleep and analgetic oligopeptides.