Effect of reduction of disulfide bonds on uptake of intrinsic factor-cyanocobalamin complex by homogenates of guinea pig ileum

Incorporation and metabolic conversion of cyanocobalamin by Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo

1. Cyano [57 Co] cobalamin bound to murine transcobalamin, associates with Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells. Association was found to be dependent on temperature, and to require between 7.2 - 10-5 and 2 - 10-4 M ionized calcium. 2. Association was blocked by vinblastine and colchicine, but not cytochalasin, suggesting that microtubules may be involved in this phenomenon. 3. Although irreversible association of radioactivity with cells was observed within minutes, appearance of significant radioactivity associated with the intracellular B12 binder, and conversion of cyanocobalamin to methyl- and 5'deoxyadenosylcobalamin required more than 18 h of incubation. 4. A pool of free vitamin B12 was found in cell extracts. This was composed of metabolically-active cobalamins characteristic of the interior of the cell, and not of cyanocobalamin recently incorporated. 5. Incorporation of 57Co-labelled vitamin B12 by these cells involves two major processes: a rapid irreversible association of transcobalamin-B12 complex following reaction with a presumably calcium-dependent receptor, and a much later entry of vitamin into the cytoplasm to become exposed to enzymes and associated with an intracellular binder.

Solubilized receptor for intrinsic factor-Vitamin B12 complex from guinea pig intestinal mucosa

the absorption of vitamin B(12) in many animals requires its prior association with intrinsic factor (IF) and attachment to a specific receptor in the intestine. Employing Triton X-100, we have solubilized from guinea pig ileum a factor that binds intrinsic factor-vitamin B(12) complex (IF-B(12)). This binding factor was soluble to the extent that it was not sedimented by centrifugation at 100,000 g for 1 h and was small enough to enter the included volume of a Sepharose 4-B column. Furthermore, the ileal extract contained no microfine particles of membrane upon electron microscopic search. When a portion of the extract was incubated with a mixture of gastric juice and (57)Co-labeled vitamin B(12), a portion of the radioactivity was excluded from a Sephadex G-200 column. When gastric juice from a patient with a congenital abnormality of IF that prevented its binding to intestine was substituted for normal human gastric juice, radioactivity was not excluded from the gel, indicating failure of this abnormal IF-B(12) to bind to the intestinal extract. These data suggested the presence of a specific binder of IF-B(12) in the ileal mucosal extract. The reactions of normal IF-B(12) with the solubilized binding factor and with the membrane-bound "receptor" had several characteristics in common, including calcium dependence, temperature independence, and pH optimum near neutral. Extracts from the distal intestine showed more activity than did those from the proximal. The solubilized binding facter seemed specific for IF-B(12) in that it was not blocked by prior incubation with excesses of either free vitamin B(12) or IF. Binding activity of the extract was decreased by incubation at pH 2.0, by heating to 56 degrees C, and by incubation with chymotrypsin and dithiothretiol. Incubation with trypsin, neuraminidase, and sulphydryl blockers did not affect it. The Triton X-100 extract of guinea pig ileal mucosa contains a specific binding factor that probably is the receptor for IF-B(12). This appears to be a protein with function dependent on peptide and disulphide linkages.