Partial purification and properties of a plasminogen activator from human erythrocytes

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Abstract

The lysis time of euglobulin clots made with whole blood (plasma and red cells) was very much shorter than that of clots made with plasma alone, indicating a fibrinolytic component in red cells. A plasminogen activator was found in the stroma-free hemolysate, and proteolytic activity was found in the stromal fraction. The plasminogen activator, purified by using diethylaminoethyl-cellulose (DEAE-cellulose) in a batch procedure followed by column chromatography, was called erythrokinase (EK). On preliminary characterization, EK appears to activate human and bovine plasminogen in a manner similar to urokinase (UK), as determined by fibrinolytic and caseinolytic assays. The two enzymes can be separated by DEAE chromatography and acrylamide-gel electrophoresis, however, and they hydrolyze acetyl-L-lysine methyl ester and benzoyl arginine methyl ester at different rates.

Authors

M. Semar, L. Skoza, A. J. Johnson

Studies on a complex mechanism for the activation of plasminogen by kaolin and by chloroform: the participation of Hageman factor and additional cofactors

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Abstract

As demonstrated by others, fibrinolytic activity was generated in diluted, acidified normal plasma exposed to kaolin, a process requiring Hageman factor (Factor XII). Generation was impaired by adsorbing plasma with glass or similar agents under conditions which did not deplete its content of Hageman factor or plasminogen. The defect could be repaired by addition of a noneuglobulin fraction of plasma or an agent or agents eluted from diatomaceous earth which had been exposed to normal plasma. The restorative agent, tentatively called Hageman factor-cofactor, was partially purified by chromatography and had an apparent molecular weight of approximately 165,000. It could be distinguished from plasma thromboplastin antecedent (Factor XI) and plasma kallikrein, other substrates of Hageman factor, and from the streptokinase-activated pro-activator of plasminogen. Evidence is presented that an additional component may be needed for the generation of fibrinolytic activity in mixtures containing Hageman factor, HF-cofactor, and plasminogen.

Authors

Derek Ogston, C. Marie Ogston, Oscar D. Ratnoff, Charles D. Forbes

Hormonal regulation of lipolysis and phosphorylase activity in human fat cells

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Abstract

Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) at a concentration of 1 ng/ml antagonized theophylline, and norepinephrine induced release of glycerol and free fatty acids (FFA) in human fat cell preparations. Insulin at higher doses also inhibited theophylline-stimulated lipolysis. The N6-2-0′dibutyryl derivative of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (DCAMP) stimulated lipolysis. Prostaglandin E1 did not significantly inhibit the lipid mobilizing effects of DCAMP. Changes in glycogen phosphorylase activity after treatment with theophylline, norepinephrine, DCAMP, and PGE1 paralleled those of lipolysis. These results suggest that in man as in experimental animals lipolysis and phosphorylase activity are regulated through processes involving cyclic AMP and that PGE1 appears to exert its antilipolytic effect in human fat cells, as in rat fat cells, by interfering at the level of adenyl cyclase with the accumulation of cyclic AMP.

Authors

Jay Moskowitz, John N. Fain

A study of estrogen metabolic clearance rates and transfer factors

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Abstract

We have attempted to measure the metabolic clearance rates (MCR) and the transfer factors of estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) during 2-hr and 12-hr infusions. When estradiol-3H was infused for 2 hr, apparent equilibrium was reached at 70 min; the 12-hr infusions showed that plasma estradiol-3H levels increased slowly throughout the infusion. When estrone-3H was infused, constancy of estrone-3H levels was not attained in either the 2-hr infusions or in the two 12-hr infusions. The tritium level in the metabolite of the infused estrogen did not become constant in 50% of the short infusions and increased during all the long infusions. Thus, the conversion ratios CE1E2 and CE2E1 continually changed and transfer factors could not be calculated.

Authors

W. C. Hembree, C. W. Bardin, M. B. Lipsett

Anemia with spur cells: a red cell defect acquired in serum and modified in the circulation

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Abstract

The sera and red cells of three patients with severe liver disease and “spur cells” were studied. In each case the per cent of serum cholesterol which was free (unesterified) was elevated, and the serum lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase activity was depressed. Lipoproteins with beta mobility were increased, but exhibited immune reactivity with antisera to both alpha- and beta-lipoproteins. Serum bile salt concentrations were markedly elevated and consisted primarily of chenodeoxycholic acid, with small amounts of lithocholic acid present as well.

Authors

R. A. Cooper

Pseudohypoparathyroidism: defective excretion of 3′,5′-AMP in response to parathyroid hormone

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Abstract

Urinary excretion of cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (3′,5′-AMP) was tested in normal subjects and patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism, idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, surgical hypoparathyroidism, and pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism under basal conditions and after a 15 min infusion of purified parathyroid hormone. Basal excretion of the nucleotide was less than normal in the patients with hypocalcemic disorders and greater than normal in pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism. Parathyroid hormone caused a marked increase in excretion of 3′,5′-AMP in all subjects except those with pseudohypoparathyroidism; nine patients with this disorder did not respond to the hormone and four showed a markedly deficient response. Radioimmunoassay showed that parathyroid hormone circulated in increased amounts in plasma from patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism and became undetectable when serum calcium was increased above 12 mg/100 ml. Suppression of parathyroid hormone secretion by induction of hypercalcemia did not alter the deficient response to exogenous hormone. The results indicate that: (a) parathyroid hormone circulates in abnormally high concentrations in pseudohypoparathyroidism and secretion of the hormone responds normally to physiological control by calcium; (b) testing urinary excretion of 3′,5′-AMP in response to infusion of purified parathyroid hormone appears to be an accurate and sensitive index for establishing the diagnosis of pseudohypoparathyroidism; and (c) the metabolic defect of the disorder can be accounted for by a lack of or defective form of parathyroid hormone-sensitive adenyl cyclase in bone and kidney.

Authors

Lewis R. Chase, G. Leland Melson, G. D. Aurbach

Familial renal glycosuria: a genetic reappraisal of hexose transport by kidney and intestine

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Abstract

Renal glucose titration studies were carried out in 10 members of two pedigrees with familial renal glycosuria to test the accepted hypothesis of autosomal dominant inheritance and to investigate the genetic significance of “type A” and “type B” renal glycosuria. In one family, a brother and sister each had a moderately reduced threshold and tubular maximum for glucose (type A), but both of their parents reabsorbed glucose normally. In the second family, two brothers had severe type A renal glycosuria, their mother and one brother had a mild type A defect, and another brother demonstrated a reduced threshold, an exaggerated splay, and a normal tubular maximum, indicative of type B glycosuria.

Authors

Louis J. Elsas, Leon E. Rosenberg

The importance of aerobic metabolism in the renal concentrating process

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Abstract

The extent to which the concentrating function of the kidney depends on oxidative processes was investigated by infusing cyanide into one renal artery of dogs undergoing mild mannitol diuresis while receiving an infusion of vasopressin. This produced an abrupt fall in concentrating capacity (TcH2O) that was reversed when the cyanide infusion was stopped. The change could not be accounted for by the accompanying solute diuresis, since it was not reproduced by increasing the rate of mannitol infusion. The reduction in TcH2O induced by cyanide did not result from increased delivery of dilute urine to the collecting ducts, since free water clearance (CH2O), studied in other dogs during water diuresis, was unchanged or decreased by cyanide. Cyanide produced renal vasodilatation, as did intraarterial acetylcholine, but in contrast to the striking reduction in concentrating capacity evoked by cyanide, TcH2O was not significantly changed by acetylcholine.

Authors

Edward Weinstein, Andrzej Manitius, Franklin H. Epstein

Effect of decreased O₂ supply to tissue on the lactate:pyruvate ratio in blood

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Abstract

Experiments were performed with trained conscious dogs with permanently implanted intravascular catheters. With the dogs in a basal resting state, the concentrations of lactate (L) and pyruvate (P) in arterial blood fluctuated widely from day to day, whereas their concentration ratio (L/P) remained relatively constant. By contrast, decrease in tissue O2 supply induced by severe chronic anemia increased the arterial blood L/P, specifically, with only random accompanying changes in the lactate or pyruvate concentrations themselves.

Authors

William A. Neill, Peter E. Jensen, Gerald B. Rich, John D. Werschkul

Comparison of the reflex reactivity of skin and muscle veins in the human forearm

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Abstract

To determine the relative participation of skin and muscle capacitance beds of the forearm in venomotor reflexes, epinephrine iontophoresis was combined with forearm plethysmography so that the volume of muscle veins could be estimated simultaneously with the volume of cutaneous veins, at a constant venous pressure. With this technique not only are the cutaneous veins markedly constricted but they also are prevented from filling since skin blood flow is abolished. In 10 normal subjects, the venous volume in the elevated control forearm at a congesting pressure of 30 mm Hg (VV[30]) was 3.16 ±0.30 SEM cc/100 cc, while in the iontophoresed arm it was 2.54 ±0.31 cc/100 cc. Thus the forearm cutaneous VV[30] was 1.62 cc/100 cc. With a deep breath, ice to the forehead, and leg exercise, and cutaneous VV[30] decreased 19.8% (P < 0.01), 36.6% (P < 0.01), and 32.6% (P < 0.02), respectively, whereas the muscle VV[30] was not altered significantly. Similar results were observed using the isolated forearm technique and a deep muscle vein. The infusion of epinephrine intra-arterially did not decrease reflex venomotor reactivity until cutaneous blood flow was completely suppressed, indicating that the inability of the veins to react in the iontophoresed arm was not the result of epinephrine diffusion into the muscle bed. Thus, these results indicate that, in the forearm, only cutaneous veins participate in venomotor reflexes. Further, since the forearm is principally composed of skeletal muscle and the hand skin, an explanation is provided for the observation that veins of the forearm, studied as a whole, appear less reactive to stimuli than veins of the hand. An explanation also is provided for fainting which occurs during motionless standing despite intense venoconstriction, thereby emphasizing the importance of the skeletal muscle pump in the legs in preventing postural syncope.

Authors

Robert Zelis, Dean T. Mason

Control of insulin secretion during fasting hyperglycemia in adult diabetics and in nondiabetic subjects during infusion of glucose

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Abstract

In obese adult diabetics, the concentration of insulin in venous plasma was unrelated to the degree of hyperglycemia after an overnight fast. However, in these subjects, insulin rose and fell in proportion to the magnitude of change in plasma glucose induced by small intravenous infusions of glucose. The minimal dose of glucose to cause a significant rise in insulin above the fasting level was similar in normal subjects, obese nondiabetic subjects, and in obese, hyperglycemic adult diabetics. This dose lay between infusion of 60 and 100 mg of glucose per min for 30 min. These results suggested that the secretion of insulin was under regulation by changes in blood glucose but was not stimulated in proportion to the stable raised blood glucose concentration of the hyperglycemic diabetic. Artificial hyperglycemia was induced in fasting normal subjects by constant intravenous infusion of glucose at rates of 100-250 mg of glucose per min for periods up to 8 hr. Plasma glucose rose during the 1st hr of infusion and then remained constantly elevated for up to 8 hr. The concentration of plasma insulin paralleled that of plasma glucose. During the period of constant hyperglycemia and elevated insulin, superimposition of a brief additional glucose load resulted in a prompt rise in glucose and insulin, both returning to the previous elevated levels.

Authors

Charles J. Goodner, Martin J. Conway, Jon H. Werrbach

Effect of expansion of extracellular fluid volume on renal phosphate handling

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Abstract

To examine the specific effect of extracellular fluid (ECF) volume expansion on phosphate excretion studies were performed in thyroparathyroidectomized dogs receiving saline solution intravenously. The natriuresis resulting from ECF volume expansion was consistently accompanied by an increase in phosphate excretion. The possible role of increased filtered load of phosphate was eliminated in experiments in which the filtered load of phosphate was reduced by acute reduction in the glomerular filtration rate. Despite considerable reductions in filtered phosphate, ECF volume expansion resulted in a consistent increase in phosphate excretion. Furthermore, the possible contribution of alteration in blood composition was investigated in experiments in which saline was infused during thoracic inferior vena cava constriction. In these experiments saline infusion failed to increase sodium or phosphate excretion. Cessation of saline infusion and release of caval constriction resulted in a prompt natriuresis and increased phosphate excretion. It is concluded from these studies that extracellular fluid volume expansion results in an increased phosphate excretion in the parathyroidectomized dog. This effect is the specific consequence of ECF volume expansion and is not due to increase in the filtered load of phosphate or alterations in blood composition.

Authors

Wadi N. Suki, Manuel Martinez-Maldonado, Diane Rouse, Arthur Terry

Failure of Nitro Blue Tetrazolium reduction in the phagocytic vacuoles of leukocytes in chronic granulomatous disease

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Abstract

The leukocytes of patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) may be identified by their failure to reduce Nitro Blue Tetrazolium (NBT) during phagocytosis. This reaction, normally detected in the phagocytic vacuole, is absent or delayed in CGD monocytes and eosinophils as well as in neutrophils, even though sonicates of normal and CGD leukocytes contain equal activities of a cyanide insensitive enzyme system capable of reduction of NBT in the presence of pyridine nucleotide.

Authors

David G. Nathan, Robert L. Baehner, Don K. Weaver

Anaerobic performance and metabolism of the hyperthyroid heart

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Abstract

Anaerobically periused hearts from rats with experimentally induced hyperthyroidism exhibited accelerated deterioration of pacemaker activity and ventricular performance. The diminished anaerobic performance of hyperthyroid hearts was associated with decreased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels and a reduced rate of anaerobic glycolysis as reflected in decreased lactic acid production during 30 min of anoxic perfusion.

Authors

Ruth A. Altschuld, Alan Weiss, Fred A. Kruger, Arnold M. Weissler

Physicochemical basis for formation of renal stones of calcium phosphate origin: calculation of the degree of saturation of urine with respect to brushite

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Abstract

Brushite (CaHPO4·2H2O) was considered to govern the formation of renal calculus of calcium phosphate origin. The degree of saturation of urine with respect to this phase was therefore calculated. This value was obtained from the ratio of the activity product of Ca++ and HPO4m (Ksp) before and after incubation of urine with brushite. The errors in the calculation of Ksp were largely eliminated by this procedure.

Authors

Charles Y. C. Pak

Infusion of long-chain fatty acid anions by continuous-flow centrifugation

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Abstract

We have developed a method for the rapid infusion into plasma of large amounts of long-chain free fatty acids (FFA). Unanesthetized dogs were connected by a peripheral artery to a closed, continuousflow centrifuge from which cells and plasma emerged in separate lines. Sodium oleate was infused directly into the plasma line before cells and plasma were recombined and returned to the animal through a peripheral vein.

Authors

William B. Greenough III, Stephen R. Crespin, Daniel Steinberg

Stimulation of insulin secretion by infusion of free fatty acids

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Abstract

The acute elevation of plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels by direct infusion of sodium oleate into the plasma of conscious dogs was accompanied by the rapid onset of a 2- to 12-fold increase in plasma immunoreactive insulin, and, subsequently, a marked fall in plasma glucose, even in dogs receiving intravenous glucose throughout the infusion. The magnitude of both the insulin and glucose responses correlated with the mean FFA level during infusion. A large increase in plasma insulin and fall in glucose also occurred when glycerol was infused with oleate in order to simulate endogenous lipolysis more closely. Insulin levels in pancreaticoduodenal vein blood rose markedly during oleate infusion, while plasma ketone levels rose only slightly.

Authors

Stephen R. Crespin, William B. Greenough III, Daniel Steinberg

Continuous infusion indicator dilution measurement of limb blood flow and vascular response to magnesium sulfate in normotensive and hypertensive men

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Abstract

A constant infusion, indicator dilution technique for blood flow measurements in the forearm and hand of man was tested and validated in vitro and in vivo. This technique employs jet injection to improve mixing of indicator with arterial blood. The mixing characteristics of the jet injection system were studied in vitro in tubing simulating the brachial artery of man. In addition, actual blood flows in the isolated pump-perfused forelimbs of five dogs were compared with constant infusion, indicator dilution calculated flows. Measurements were also made of mixing and of blood flow in the forearm and hand of man. The technique was used to compare forearm and hand vascular responses with constant intrabrachial arterial infusions of magnesium sulfate in 13 normotensive and 13 essential hypertensive men.

Authors

Henry W. Overbeck, Robert M. Daugherty Jr., Francis J. Haddy

Effect of flavin compounds on glutathione reductase activity: in vivo and in vitro studies

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Abstract

Increases or decreases of red cell glutathione reductase (GR) have been described in connection with many clinical abnormalities. We find that GR activity as measured in hemolysates represents only a portion of the available GR activity. The addition of small amounts of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), but not of flavin mononucleotide or riboflavin, activates the GR of hemolysates. 1 μM FAD results in a maximal activation within 10 min; gradually increasing activation occurs at much lower, for example, 20 mμM FAD concentrations. Once FAD has activated GR, dilution or dialysis does not reverse activation of the enzyme. Activation of GR by FAD can be inhibited by adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and to a lesser extent by adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP), if these adenine nucleotides are added before the addition of FAD, but only to a slight extent if FAD is added before the adenine nucleotides. The addition of FAD to GR does not alter its electrophoretic mobility but produces intensification of the bands.

Authors

Ernest Beutler