Regulation of nerve growth factor content in a neuroblastoma cell line

Trends in the search for bioactive microbial metabolites

Bioactive microbial metabolites are attracting increasing attention as useful agents for medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture, and as unique biochemical tools. A review of the current trends in the discovery of new metabolites shows that the number of active compounds with non-antibiotic type of activity has increased, resulting in an expansion of the variety of bioactivity of microbial metabolites. Factors that contribute to the increased rate of discovery include: development of new methods for activity measurement, exploitation of novel groups of microorganisms as sources of active compounds, new directions for chemical modification, and incorporation of newer knowledge of biotechnology into screening systems. To exemplify this, typical screening methods, and chemical and biological properties of several bioactive compounds obtained by these methods are discussed.

The expanded horizon for microbial metabolites--a review

Modern screening methods have been used for a variety of new natural products. By taking advantage of the side effects of erythromycin, a derivative, EM523, and several related substances (motilides) have been synthesized. These compounds are agonists of the peptide hormone, motilin. By screening for microbial metabolites which may substitute for biologically active peptides, we discovered lactacystin. It has nerve growth-factor-like activity and induces differentiation in mouse neuroblastoma Neuro2A cells. An inhibitor of protein kinase, staurosporine, a microbial alkaloid found by chemical screening, has a variety of pharmacological activities, such as the relaxation of rabbit aortic strips and the inhibition of changes in platelet shape induced with phorbol myristate acetate. Triacsin, an inhibitor of acetyl-CoA synthetase, which was isolated from Streptomyces sp. SK-1894, potentiated platelet-activating factor production of A23187-treated rat polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Phthoxazolin, an inhibitor of cellulose biosynthesis isolated from Streptomyces sp. OM-5714, inhibited the growth of velvet leaf when treated after its emergence. These products provide examples of the possible utility of newly discovered microbial metabolites.

Neuroblastoma cells contain a trophic factor sharing biological and molecular properties with ciliary neurotrophic factor

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a protein supporting the in vitro survival of a characteristic spectrum of embryonic chicken and rat peripheral neurons. High-speed supernatants of extracts from two neuroblastoma (NB) cell lines--the mouse C 1300 N2a and the human IMR 32--mimic the effects of CNTF on identical target neurons. Promotion of survival is dose-dependent with an ED50 of 80 micrograms (IMR 32) and 140 micrograms (C 1300 N2a) of protein per ml and saturable at plateau values for surviving neurons identical to those achieved with purified CNTF. Small amounts of a CNTF-like material are also detectable in medium conditioned by NB cells. The activity is destroyed by heat and trypsin and not blocked by antibodies to (mouse) nerve growth factor. Unlike the neurite-promoting and neuronal-survival modulating agent laminin, it cannot be depleted on poly(L-alpha-ornithine)-coated plastic surfaces. NB IMR 32 cell extracts were electrophoresed using NaDodSO4/PAGE and transferred to nitrocellulose. Ciliary ganglion neurons seeded on the blotting paper in culture medium lacking CNTF ("cell blot") exclusively survive on two distinct bands with apparent molecular masses of 24 and 48 kDa. Twenty-four kilodaltons is the molecular mass of a CNTF purified from rat sciatic nerve. These results suggest that NB cells may contain a CNTF-like protein and provide further evidence that neurons may store neurotrophic factors. Purified (chicken) CNTF failed to affect proliferation and neurite growth of NB cells. The biological relevance of CNTF for NB cells, therefore, remains to be elucidated.

Altered nerve growth factor in fibroblasts from patients with familial dysautonomia

Nerve growth factor was measured in cultured human skin fibroblasts from controls and from patients with familial dysautonomia and dystonia musculoram deformans. Cells from these sources grown over a range of cell densities contained similar levels of beta-nerve growth factor as measured by radioimmunoassay. Results of bioassay demonstrated that the nerve growth factor from dysautonomic cells was only approximately 10% as active per ng of immunoreactive protein as that from control and dystonic cells. Treatment of fibroblasts with the beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol resulted in a 17- to 170-fold rise in the cyclic AMP content of both control and dysautonomic cells in 10 min. The content of immunoreactive beta-nerve growth factor in control fibroblasts increased 50--300% after 3--4 hr of exposure to isoproterenol. At no time, throughout a 7.5 hr period, was there a change in the amount of immunoreactive beta-nerve growth factor in the dysautonomic cells. These studies suggest that the molecular basis of the genetic defect in familial dysautonomia may lie in processing of the precursor or in the structure of the biologically active beta subunit of nerve growth factor.