FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRODUCTION OF AMINO ACIDS BY RAT-LIVER MITOCHONDRIA AND OTHER SUBCELLULAR FRACTIONS

1. Rat-liver mitochondria showed a decrease in amino acid production after preparation in 0.25m-sucrose containing EDTA (1mm), but an increase in water content. When EDTA was replaced by Mn(2+) (1mm) or succinate (1mm), both amino acid production and water content were lowered, whereas preparation in 0.9% potassium chloride caused an increase in both. 2. Amino acid production by rat-liver homogenates prepared in 0.9% potassium chloride or 0.25m-sucrose was similar (q(amino acid) 0.047 and 0.042 respectively aerobically). After freezing-and-thawing q(amino acid) values were approximately doubled, and approached that of a homogenate prepared in water. 3. All cations tested inhibited amino acid production by mitochondria, Hg(2+) and Zn(2+) being the most effective in tris-hydrochloric acid buffer. In phosphate buffer Mg(2+) and Mn(2+) had no effect. Of the anions tested only pyrophosphate and arsenate had any inhibitory effect at final concn. 1mm. 4. Iodosobenzoate (1mm) and p-chloromercuribenzenesulphonate (1mm) inhibited mitochondrial amino acid production by 70-80%, whereas soya-bean trypsin inhibitor, EDTA and di-isopropyl phosphorofluoridate inhibited by a maximum of 30%. Respiratory inhibitors had no effect. 5. Rat-liver homogenate and subcellular fractions each showed an individual pattern of inhibition when a series of inhibitors was tested. 6. Amino acid production by mitochondria was decreased by up to 50% in the presence of oxidizable substrate, apart from alpha-glycerophosphate and palmitate, which had no effect. CoA stimulated amino acid production in tris-hydrochloric acid but not in phosphate buffer, alpha-oxoglutarate abolishing the stimulation. 7. Cysteine and glutathione stimulated amino acid production by whole mitochondria by 30%, but only reduced glutathione stimulated production in broken mitochondria. 8. Adrenocorticotrophic hormone and growth hormone stimulated mitochondrial amino acid production by 21-24%, whereas insulin inhibited production by 25%. 9. Coupled oxidative phosphorylation increased amino acid production by up to 154% at 25 degrees and 40 degrees . The increase was abolished by 2,4-dinitrophenol. 10. Amino acid incorporation in mitochondria was accompanied by an increase in amino acid production, both being decreased by chloramphenicol. 11. Mitochondrial production of ninhydrin-positive material was increased in the presence of albumin. The biggest increase was noted for the soluble fraction of broken mitochondria. No increase was found in the presence of (14)C-labelled algal protein or denatured mitochondrial protein.

BRAIN MITOCHONDRIA. I. ISOLATION OF BOVINE BRAIN MITOCHONDRIA

Two methods of preparing a mitochondrial fraction from beef brain cortex are described. Data are presented on the rate of oxidation of substrates, P/O and respiratory control ratios, cholinesterase activity, and DNA content. Electron micrographs of isolated mitochondria and mitochondria in situ are shown. Comparisons are drawn between these preparations and mitochondria prepared in 0.25 M sucrose. The data on enzymic properties and contamination by non-mitochondrial material indicate that mitochondrial fractions which compare favorably with those from other tissues can be prepared from brain tissue.

QUANTITATIVE STUDIES OF WHITE MATTER. II. ENZYMES INVOLVED IN TRIOSE PHOSPHATE METABOLISM

Methods for measurement of glyceraldehyde-P dehydrogenase, triose-P isomerase, fructose 1,6-diphosphate aldolase, and the DPN-linked and flavin-linked α-glycero-P dehydrogenases in small amounts of tissue have been worked out. These enzymes have been measured in ten tracts in rabbit central nervous system. The activities of all the enzymes measured, except the flavin-linked α-glycero-P dehydrogenase, are present in larger amounts in lightly myelinated than in heavily myelinated tracts, but are relatively low in fibrillar layer of olfactory bulb, which is unmyelinated. Aldolase, like P-fructokinase (measured previously), is especially low in fibrillar layer. Taken together with relatively high 6-P-gluconate dehydrogenase activity found earlier this supports the hypothesis that the pentose-P shunt is particularly active in this tract. The activity of DPN-linked α-glycero-P dehydrogenase is inversely proportional to the lipid content of the myelinated tracts, which suggests that its primary role is not related to lipid synthesis in adult brain. The activities of flavin-linked α-glycero-P dehydrogenase are unrelated to those of the DPN-linked enzyme, which is contrary to expectation if the two enzymes function as partners in the "α-glycerophosphate shuttle."

FRUCTOSE 1, 6-DIPHOSPHATASE IN STRIATED MUSCLE

1. The occurrence of fructose diphosphatase in muscle tissue was investigated with reference to the question whether lactate can be converted into glycogen in muscle, as postulated by Meyerhof (1930), fructose diphosphatase being one of the enzymes required for this conversion. 2. Fructose diphosphatase was found in skeletal muscle of man, dog, cat, rat, mouse, rabbit, guinea pig, cattle, sheep, pigeon, fowl and frog. Under the test conditions between 5 and 60 mumoles of substrate were split/g. fresh wt./hr. at 22 degrees . 3. Like liver fructose diphosphatase, the muscle enzyme is inhibited by substrate concentrations above 0.1 mm, by AMP and by trace quantities of Zn(2+), Fe(2+) and Fe(3+); it is ;activated' by EDTA. Inhibitions by the above agents may account for the failure of previous authors to detect the enzyme. 4. Heart muscle of several vertebrate species and the smooth muscle of pigeon and fowl gizzard had no measurable activity. 5. The presence of fructose diphosphatase and the virtual absence of the enzyme systems converting pyruvate into phosphopyruvate means that lactate and pyruvate cannot be converted into glycogen in muscle, whereas the phosphorylated C(3) compounds can. The reconversion into carbohydrate of lactate (which readily diffuses out of muscle) occurs in liver and kidney only. The reconversion of phosphorylated C(3) intermediates (which cannot diffuse out of the tissue) can occur only within the muscle. 6. alpha-Glycerophosphate is probably the main intermediate requiring conversion into glycogen. The possible role of alpha-glycerophosphate formation in vertebrate muscle, already well established in insect muscle, is discussed.

RESPIRATION OF MITOCHONDRIA OF RED AND WHITE SKELETAL MUSCLE

Mitochondria of guinea pig red and white skeletal muscle were isolated in a medium containing 0.25 m sucrose, 1 mm ethylenediamine tetraacetate, and 1% fraction V bovine albumin. Oxidative phosphorylation with pyruvate-malate as substrate was tightly coupled in both types of mitochondria when oxygen uptake was measured over a 2- to 4-min period with a platinum electrode. The P/O ratios approached the theoretical value of 3. Oxygen consumption was also determined manometrically with the substrates 10 mm pyruvate—1 mm malate, 10 mm succinate, 6 mm reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH2), 20 mm dl-lactate, and 12–20 mm dl-α-glycerophosphate. White muscle mitochondria had a higher rate of oxygen consumption with α-glycerophosphate than with lactate, succinate, and NADH2. Those of red muscle were less active with α-glycerophosphate than with the other substrates. These results indicate that an α-glycerophosphate shuttle may couple the reactions generating NADH2 in the cytoplasm of white muscle with the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The properties of the red muscle mitochondria suggest that the direct oxidation of NADH2 may be more important in this tissue than the α-glycerophosphate shuttle.