Molecular considerations relevant to the mechanism of active transport

Sodium- and energy-dependent uptake of myo-inositol by rabbit peripheral nerve. Competitive inhibition by glucose and lack of an insulin effect

Experimental diabetes consistently reduces the concentration of free myo-inositol in peripheral nerve, which usually exceeds that of plasma by 90-100-fold. This phenomenon has been explicitly linked to the impairment of nerve conduction in the acutely diabetic streptozocin-treated rat. However, the mechanism by which acute experimental diabetes lowers nerve myo-inositol content and presumably alters nerve myo-inositol content and presumably alters nerve myo-inositol metabolism is unknown. Therefore, the effects of insulin and elevated medium glucose concentration of 2-[3H]myo-inositol uptake were studied in a metabolically-defined in vitro peripheral nerve tissue preparation derived from rabbit sciatic nerve, whose free myo-inositol content is reduced by experimental diabetes. The results demonstrate that myo-inositol uptake occurs by at least two distinct transport systems in the normal endoneurial preparation. A sodium- and energy-dependent saturable transport system is responsible for at least 94% of the measured uptake at medium myo-inositol concentrations approximating that present in plasma. This carrier-mediated transport system has a high affinity for myo-inositol (Kt = 63 microM), and is not influenced acutely by physiological concentrations of insulin; it is, however, inhibited by hyperglycemic concentrations of glucose added to the incubation medium in a primarily competitive fashion. Thus, competitive inhibition of peripheral nerve myo-inositol uptake by glucose may constitute a mechanism by which diabetes produces physiologically significant alterations in peripheral nerve myo-inositol metabolism.

Crystallization patterns of membrane-bound (Na+ +K+)-ATPase

Extensive formation of two-dimensional crystals of the proteins of the pure membrane-bound (Na+ +K+)-ATPase is induced during prolonged incubation with vanadate and magnesium. Some membrane crystals are formed in medium containing magnesium and phosphate. Computer-averaged images of the two-dimensional crystals show that the unit cell in vanadate-induced crystals contains a protomeric alpha beta-unit of the enzyme protein. In phosphate-induced crystals an (alpha beta) 2-unit occupies one unit cell suggesting the interactions between alpha beta-units can be of importance in the function of the Na+, K+ pump.

ATP/ADP exchange activity of gastric (H+ +K+)-ATPase

The ATP/ADP exchange is shown to be a partial reaction of the (H+ +K+)-ATPase by the absence of measurable nucleoside diphosphokinase activity and the insensitivity of the reaction to P1, P5-di(adenosine-5') pentaphosphate, a myokinase inhibitor. The exchange demonstrates an absolute requirement for Mg2+ and is optimal at an ADP/ATP ratio of 2. The high ATP concentration (K0.5=116 microM) required for maximal exchange is interpreted as evidence for the involvement of a low affinity form of nucleotide site. The ATP/ADP exchange is regarded as evidence for an ADP-sensitive form of the phosphoenzyme. In native enzyme, pre-steady state kinetics show that the formation of the phosphoenzyme is partially sensitive to ADP while modification of the enzyme by pretreatment with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) in the absence of Mg2+ results in a steady-state phosphoenzyme population, a component of which is ADP sensitive. The ATP/ADP exchange reaction can be either stimulated or inhibited by the presence of K+ as a function of pH and Mg2+.

Effect of external ATP on the plasma membrane permeability and (Na+ +K+)-ATPase activity of mouse neuroblastoma cells

1. Addition of 3.5 mM ATP to mouse neuroblastoma Neuro-2A cells results in a selective enhancement of the plasma membrane permeability for Na+ relative to K+, as measured by cation flux measurements and electro-physiological techniques. 2. Addition of 3.5 mM ATP to Neuro-2A cells results in a 70% stimulation of the rate of active K+ -uptake by these cells, partly because of the enhanced plasma membrane permeability for Na+. Under these conditions the pumping activity of the Neuro-2A (Na+ +K+)-ATPase is optimally stimulated with respect to its various substrate ions. 3. External ATP significantly enhances the affinity of the Neuro-2A (Na+ +K+)-ATPase for ouabain, as measured by direct [3H]ouabain-binding studies and by inhibition studies of active K+ uptake. In the presence of 3.5 mM ATP and the absence of external K+ both techniques indicate an apparent dissociation constant for ouabain of 2 X 10(-6)M. Neuro-2A cells contain (3.5 +/- 0.7) X 10(5) ouabain-binding sites per cell, giving rise to an optimal pumping activity of (1.7 +/- 0.4) X 10(-20) mol K+/min per copy of (Na+ +K+)-ATPase at room temperature.

Determination of the distribution of sodium and potassium ion activated adenosinetriphosphatase among the various oligomers formed in solutions of nonionic detergents

Sodium and potassium ion activated adenosinetriphosphatase [(Na+ + K+)-ATPase] can be dispersed from the membrane-bound state, with the stable retention of the capacity to display (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity, by treatment with solutions of a homogeneous, nonionic detergent, octaethylene glycol dodecyl ether. The dispersed enzyme is incapable of turnover, however, in solutions where the free detergent concentration is above the critical micelle concentration. Treatment of solutions of this enzyme with the crosslinking reagent glutaraldehyde results in the quantitative, covalent coupling of the alpha-and beta-polypeptides. The various covalent products formed, when visualized on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, are integral oligomers of the asymmetric unit (alpha beta) of the enzyme. The noncovalent oligomers from which these products are derived can be separated on sucrose gradients based on differences in their respective sedimentation coefficients, but these sedimentation coefficients are highly dependent on the concentration of detergent in the gradient. Furthermore, the cross-linking assay reveals that changes in the aggregation state of the enzyme occur as detergent:protein ratios are varied or when the enzyme is added to the ATPase assay. These observations suggest that earlier conclusions about the oligomers of this enzyme present in detergent solution were significantly in error.

Simple model for the chemical potential change of a transported ion in active transport

The mechanism for active transport of ions across a membrane probably involves two distinct conformational states of the transport protein, in which the binding sites for the transported ion face opposite sides of the membrane. It is likely that the binding affinity for the ion changes in synchrony with the change in site orientation, such that the affinity is high on the uptake side of the membrane and low on the discharge side. A structural model is proposed for the transmembrane portion of such a protein, based on the known multihelical structure of bacteriorhodopsin. This structure is well adapted to a cyclical alternation between two conformations that differ simultaneously in orientation and binding affinity. No unfolding of the helices or other significant alterations in secondary structure is required. The model is explicitly intended as a hypothetical representation of the E1 and E2 states of ATP-driven Na+,K+ and Ca2+ pumps.