Ana Margarita García

Calcium transport in transverse tubules isolated from rabbit skeletal muscle

Isolated transverse tubule vesicles free of sarcoplasmic reticulum transport calcium with high affinity in the presence of ATP. The calcium transport by transverse tubules differs from calcium transport by sarcoplasmic reticulum. It is not increased by oxalate or phosphate, it has a different temperature dependence, it is inhibited by sub-micromolar concentrations of orthovanadate, it is stimulated by calmodulin, and is inhibited by quercetin without causing calcium release. The rates of calcium transport by transverse tubules are two orders of magnitude lower than those of sarcoplasmic reticulum, suggesting that the calcium pump protein of transverse tubules is a minor component of the membrane. Addition of calmodulin to transverse tubule vesicles--treated with high salt in the presence of EGTA to remove endogenous calmodulin--caused a marked stimulation of transport rates at low concentrations of calcium, and decreased from 1.0 to 0.3 microM the calcium concentration at which half-maximal rates of transport were obtained. A role for the transverse tubule calcium pump in maintaining low sarcoplasmic calcium concentrations is proposed.

Stereoselective metabolic pathways of ketoprofen in the rat: Incorporation into triacylglycerols and enantiomeric inversion

The enantiomeric bioinversion of ketoprofen (KP) enantiomers and their incorporation into triacylglycerols were investigated in the rat (1) in vitro, using liver homogenates, subcellular fractions, and hepatocytes, and (2) in vivo, in different tissue samples after oral administration of the radiolabelled compounds. In liver homogenates or subcellular fractions, the enantiomer (S)-ketoprofen (S-KP) was recovered unchanged, whereas (R)-ketoprofen (R-KP) was partially converted into its Coenzyme A (CoA) thioester and inverted to S-KP. Both processes occurred mainly in the mitochondrial fraction. This supports the mechanism of inversion via stereoselective formation of CoA thioester of R-KP, already described for other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Incorporation into triacylglycerols was detected after incubation with intact hepatocytes in the presence of added glycerol. The process was stereoselective for R-KP vs. S-KP (covalently bound radioactivity 26,742 +/- 4,665 dpm/10(6) cells vs. 6,644 +/- 3,179 dpm/10(6) cells, respectively). However, no incorporation was found in liver samples after oral administration of either R-KP or S-KP. On the contrary, in adipose tissue samples a significant and stereoselective formation of hybrid triacylglycerols was observed: 11,076 +/- 2,790 dpm.g-1 for R-KP vs. 660 +/- 268 dpm.g-1 for S-KP. The incorporated R/S ratio, higher in adipose tissue (R/S = 17) than in hepatocytes (R/S = 4), indicates that fat may be the main tissue store for the xenobiotic R-KP in rats.

Inhibition of phospholipase A2 purified from human herniated disc

The effect on human herniated intervertebral disc phospholipase A2 (HD-PLA2) of a number of retinoids, antirheumatic drugs and reported PLA2 inhibitors was evaluated using autoclaved [1-14C]-oleate-labeled Escherichia coli membranes as the substrate. Dexamethasone, non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs, aristolochic acid and retinol were inactive, whereas a marked inhibition was found for manoalide, retinal, nordihydroguaiaretic acid and p-bromophenacyl bromide after preincubation with the enzyme (IC50 values 0.25, 4, 5 and 5 microM, respectively). The results are parallel to those obtained with the PLA2 purified from human synovial fluid.

Differential hydrolysis of 1-alkyl-2-acyl and diacylglycerophosphocholines by human and non-human phospholipases A2

The activity of two human phospholipases A2, purified from synovial fluid and lumbar disc herniations, was tested using alkylacyl- and diacylglycerophosphocholines and the influence of the chemical link at the sn-1 position of glycerol was investigated. Both enzymes exhibited 2.5-3-fold selectivity for 1-ester-linked compared to 1-ether-linked phosphatidylcholine. No significant selectivity was observed with pancreatic phospholipase A2 while Naja naja naja venom enzyme was more efficient against 1-ether-phospholipids.