The effect of vanadate on Na+,K+-ATPase activity of mouse cerebral cortex during bicuculline-induced seizures

Effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes and pentylenetetrazol-induced seizure on brain cortex (Ca2+)ATPase activity in rats

The aim of the present study was to obtain information about the effects of pentylenetetrazol-induced status epilepticus (SE) and streptozotocin-induced diabetes on brain cortex Ca(2+)ATPase activity. Treatment with pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) and streptozotocin (STZ) to rats resulted in significant decrease in brain cortex Ca(2+)ATPase activity as compared with controls. However, PTZ-treated diabetic rats had a slight but non-significant decrease in enzyme activity. Treatment with PTZ caused a more pronounced effect in inhibiting enzyme activity than that of treatment with STZ. Our results concluded that reduced brain cortex Ca(2+)ATPase activity following PTZ and STZ treatments to rats, may be an initial biochemical lesion which triggers a sequence of events which may culminate in cell death.

Na+, K+-ATPase activity in cultured C6 glioma cells

Rat C6 glioma cells were cultured for 4 days in MEM medium supplemented with 10% bovine serum and Na+, K+-ATPase activity was determined in homogenates of harvested cells. Approximately 50% of enzyme activity was attained at 1.5 mM K+ and the maximum (2.76 +/- 0.13 mumol Pi/h/mg protein) at 5 mM K+. The specific activity of Na+, K+-ATPase was not influenced by freezing the homogenates or cell suspensions before the enzyme assay. Ten minutes' exposure of glioma cells to 10(-4) or 10(-5) M noradrenaline (NA) remained without any effect on NA+, K+-ATPase activity. Neither did the presence of NA in the incubation medium, during the enzyme assay, influence the enzyme activity. The nonresponsiveness of Na+, K+-ATPase of C6 glioma cells to NA is consistent with the assumption that alpha (+) form of the enzyme may be preferentially sensitive to noradrenaline. Na+, K+-ATPase was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by vanadate and 50% inhibition was achieved at 2 x 10(-7) M concentration. In spite of the fact that Na+, K+-ATPase of glioma cells was not responsive to NA, the latter could at least partially reverse vanadate-induced inhibition of the enzyme. Although the present results concern transformed glial cells, they suggest the possibility that inhibition of glial Na+, K+-ATPase may contribute to the previously reported inhibition by vanadate of Na+, K+-ATPase of the whole brain tissue.

Do vanadium ions exert any specific effect on brain protein phosphorylation

It has been shown previously (1) that vanadate stimulates phosphorylation of the overall proteins from the synaptic membranes of rat cerebral cortex. The aim of the present experiments was to investigate whether the action of vanadate and also of vanadyl ions could exert any specific effect on endogenous phosphorylation of proteins from subcellular fractions of the rat brain cortex. Both vanadate and vanadyl ions stimulate phosphorylation of the overall proteins from synaptic membranes and to lesser extent from mitochondria. An attempt was made to estimate the contribution of inhibition of ATPase activity to nonspecific stimulation of phosphate labeling in the synaptic membrane fraction. A band of Mr approx. 37 kDa from synaptic membranes was particularly sensitive to vanadate. In mitochondria both vanadate and vanadyl caused a marked, concentration dependent inhibition of phosphorylation of a band corresponding to Mr approx. 34 kDa. The effect was confined exclusively to the mitochondrial fractions (total, perikaryal and two synaptic types). It was absent in all subcellular fractions tested, including the nuclear one. Phosphorylation of the mitochondrial 34 kDa band is not influenced by cyclic AMP, Ca-calmodulin, shift of pH from 6.6 to 8.1. Alkaline hydrolysis removed almost all phosphate-labeled bands of mitochondria, including that of 34 kDa.

Effects of systemic kainic acid administration on regional Na+, K+-ATPase activity in rat brain

Changes in the activity of Na+,K+-ATPase and in the water, Na+, and K+ levels in the parietal cortex, hippocampus, and thalamus were investigated in rats 1, 3, 6, and 24 h following systemic kainic acid injection. An increase in Na+,K+-ATPase activity was observed in all three regions 3 h after the treatment, with a subsequent decrease in enzyme activity. The elevation in Na+,K+-ATPase activity was accompanied by an increase in the Na+ content and a decrease in the K+ content. These changes are presumed to occur because of repeated discharges and excessive prolonged depolarization in response to kainic acid. The decreases in Na+,K+-ATPase activity 6 and 24 h following kainic acid treatment coincide with neuropathological damage and edema formation, mainly in the hippocampus and thalamus.

Vanadate inhibition of rat cerebral cortex Na+,K+-ATPase during postnatal development

The Na+,K+-ATPase activity and its response to vanadate inhibition was investigated in cerebral cortex homogenates of 7-, 12- and 18-day-old rats. The enzyme was inhibited by vanadate in a dose-dependent manner in all these age groups. Furthermore, there was a different sensitivity towards vanadate during postnatal development; the concentration of V+5 needed for 50% inhibition of Na+, K+-ATPase was 1.1 X 10(-6)M, 2 X 10(-7)M and 4.4 X 10(-7)M for 7-, 12- and 18-day-old rats, respectively. It is suggested that the different sensitivity of Na+, K+-ATPase towards vanadate inhibition during postnatal development might be due to age-dependent changes in the ratio of various cell types.