The requirements for serum albumin metabolism in subcellular fractions of liver and brain

Protein degradation in metabolic and nutritional disorders

The increased protein degradation associated with diabetes appears to be different in many respects from protein catabolism in normal, well-nourished cells. In all normal eukaryotic cells examined, degradation of cytosolic proteins exhibits several striking features. Large proteins tend to be degraded more rapidly than small proteins, acidic proteins tend to be degraded more rapidly than neutral or basic proteins, and glycoproteins are degraded more rapidly than non-glycoproteins. Furthermore, a general correlation exists between protein half-life in vivo and susceptibility to proteolytic attack in vitro. In streptozotocin-diabetic rats the relationships between degradative rate and protein size, net charge, and carbohydrate content are absent or markedly reduced among cytosolic proteins of the liver. However, the correlation between protein half-life and susceptibility to proteinase in vitro is unaltered. Therefore, the enhanced protein degradation in diabetes shows little or no selectivity towards large, acidic, glycoproteins but does show specificity for proteins than tend to be sensitive to proteinases. Similar studies using other tissues from diabetic rats are reported and general characteristics of the enhanced liver protein catabolism in starvation and hyperthyroidism are briefly discussed. The biochemical reasons for the increased protein catabolism in diabetes are unclear although several possible explanations are presented. The enhanced breakdown is probably not due to cellular proteins becoming more proteinase sensitive in diabetes since experiments with a variety of endoproteinases including pronase, chymotrypsin, pepsin, and lysosomal cathepsins have failed to demonstrate more rapid digestion of liver proteins from diabetic animals.

On biochemical variability and innovation

Examples of variability and apparent innovation presented in this paper are but a portion of the many examples in the literature. Thus, the notion of the "unity of biochemistry" has been advanced in an overly simplified form and reflects a primitive stage in the development of the discipline. Cells contain many more compounds and biosynthetic mechanisms than we had suspected or list in our texts. Accordingly, either early chemical evolution was far more extensive than we have postulated or an evolution of biochemical synthesis and function took place which was more extensive than has been postulated; perhaps both have occurred. The chemical choices available from the environment have been considerable rather than limited and the cells have chosen, adapted, improved upon a limited number of these, and in turn have themselves been selected. In the case of the naturally occurring antibiotic substances, biosynthetic mechanisms for compounds which do not fit within the cells' own nucleic acids and proteins to advantage have nevertheless been preserved since they contribute to survival. On the other hand, some of these compounds such as alpha-ribazole, are fitted to other metabolic uses. The existence of the large number of uncommon relatives of the common components of the nucleic acids and proteins in turn implies an enormous untapped area of potential knowledge concerning their paths of biosyntheses and the genetic and physiological controls for these same paths. That these compounds exist perhaps also indicates an expanded material basis for a continuing biochemical evolution.

The roles of synthesis and degradation in determining tissue concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase-5

C(14)-labeled amino acids were incorporated in vivo into LDH-5 of rat tissues. Different amounts of LDH-5 in liver, heart muscle, and skeletal muscle resulted from differences in rates of both intracellular degradation and synthesis. Rate constants for LDH-5 synthesis were 65, 2, and 5 picomoles per day per gram in rat liver, heart muscle, and skeletal muscle, respectively; rate constants for degradation were 0.041, 0.399, and 0.018 reciprocal days, respectively. The corresponding half-lives for LDH-5 in these tissues were 16, 1.6, and 31 days. Markedly divergent rates of LDH-5 catabolism in various tissues suggest the possibility that one isozyme with a slow rate of destruction may serve to maintain critical enzymatic activity in a tissue where rapid degradation of another isozyme occurs.

The role of the kidney in the catabolism of Bence Jones proteins and immunoglobulin fragments

The role of the kidney in the catabolism of Bence Jones proteins, intact IgG molecules, and isolated L chains, Fab and Fc fragments of IgG, was studied. The proteins were purified, radioiodinated, and their survival times measured in nephrectomized, ureter-severed, and control mice. Active endogenous catabolism was the major factor in overall Bence Jones metabolism since excretion as proteinuria accounted for less than 25% of the total metabolism. The survival times of lambda- and kappa-type human Bence Jones proteins and the Bence Jones protein produced by mice with MPC-2 plasma cell tumor were exceedingly short in both unoperated and ureter-severed mice, with 50% of the injected protein catabolized in from 0.8-1.6 hr. In contrast, the survival of Bence Jones protein was markedly prolonged in nephrectomized animals, with 50% of the injected dose catabolized in from 9 to 17 hr. This ten-fold decrease in catabolic rate indicates that the kidneys are the major site of breakdown of Bence Jones proteins. Similar studies with other proteins indicated that the kidneys are also the major site for catabolism of isolated L chains but not of intact IgG molecules. The Fc immunoglobulin fragment was not catabolized and the Fab fragment only partially catabolized by the kidney. When ureter-severed animals were allowed to develop advanced uremia before being studied, the survival of Bence Jones protein was greatly prolonged, indicating that the catabolic process is impaired in the presence of uremia. The nature of this renal catabolism remains unknown. These observations suggest that the Bence Jones proteins and L chains observed in the urine of patients may reflect only a small fraction of such molecules synthesized by these patients. Furthermore, they provide an explanation for the prolongation of Bence Jones protein survival and the development of Bence Jones proteinemia observed in subjects with multiple myeloma and impaired renal function.

The effect of hexokinase and tricarboxylic acid-cycle intermediates on fatty acid oxidation and formation of ketone bodies by rat-liver mitochondria

1. The oxidation of butyrate, hexanoate and octanoate by rat-liver mitochondria suspended in a tris-potassium chloride medium in the presence of malate and serum albumin has been investigated. 2. The oxidation of butyrate to acetoacetate was markedly decreased by the addition of a system competitive for ATP (hexokinase-glucose). 3. Serum albumin or tricarboxylic acid-cycle intermediates prevented the inhibition by hexokinase and in their presence a greater proportion of the oxygen consumption was contributed by the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The results suggest that the energy supply for fatty acid activation is either compartmentalized in a spatial or kinetic sense or there exists a special activating mechanism not involving ATP. 4. Malate and other tricarboxylic acid-cycle intermediates caused substantial reduction (to beta-hydroxybutyrate) of the acetoacetate formed during the oxidation of butyrate, hexanoate and octanoate.

Oxidative phosphorylation accompanying oxidation of short-chain fatty acids by rat-liver mitochondria

1. The factors concerned in the estimation of P/O ratios when fatty acids are oxidized by rat-liver mitochondria have been assessed. 2. The oxidation of butyrate, hexanoate and octanoate is accompanied by ATP synthesis. At low concentrations of the fatty acids, P/O ratios approximately 2.5 are obtained. 3. Oxidative phosphorylation is uncoupled, respiratory control ratios are lowered and respiration is inhibited when the concentration of the fatty acid in the incubating medium is raised (to 5-10mm); octanoate is a more potent uncoupler than either hexanoate or butyrate. 4. Serum albumin and carnitine, either singly or in combination, protect the mitochondria from the effect exerted by the fatty acids. 5. The rate of oxidation of short-chain fatty acids in the presence of ADP is increased in the presence of carnitine.