Catherine Damien

Conversion of orally administered 2-n.pentylaminoacetamide into glycinamide and glycine in the rat brain

Male Sprague Dawley albino rats were treated orally with 2-n.pentylaminoacetamide (10 to 100 mg/kg b.wt). This oral administration provoked a dose-related and time-dependent accumulation of glycinamide in forebrain, cerebellum, and medulla, and to increased levels of glycine in the three brain areas, and of serine in medulla. In kidney, liver and plasma, the accumulation of glycinamide was lower and there was no increase in glycine and serine levels. With a dose of 100 mg/kg b.wt, 28% of the drug were eliminated unchanged and 16% as glycinamide, in urines collected for 24 h. In all tissues examined, 2-n.pentylaminoacetamide and glycinamide levels peaked at 1 h and were nil again after 24 h, the ratio of 2-n.pentylaminoacetamide over glycinamide decreasing more rapidly in brain than in kidney and liver. Contrasting with the effects of 2-n.pentylaminoacetamide, the oral administration of glycinamide (66 mg/b.wt) led, 2 hours later, to similar low rises of glycinamide in plasma and brain. In another control experiment, the intraperitoneal injection of a large dose of glycine (450 mg/kg b.wt) provoked, 30 min later, modest rises of glycine levels in the central nervous system that merely reflected a contamination by plasma glycine.

Variable Stimulation of Adenylate Cyclase Activity by Vasoactive Intestinal-Like Peptides and β-Adrenergic Agonists in Murine T Cell Lymphomas of Immature, Helper, and Cytotoxic Types*

We examined several cultured murine T cell lymphomas, induced by a radiation leukemia virus MuRadLV, including cell lines derived from immature T cells (5 clones of the BL/VL3 cell line), antigen-specific T helper cells (5 lines of the TL2 series), and one T cytotoxic cell line (NS8). With one exception (the TL2-9 cell line), these cells showed common characteristics: 1) an efficient adenylate cyclase system; 2) increased cyclic AMP production in response to at least one type of neurotransmitter, i.e., to the catecholamine isoproterenol and/or the neuropeptide VIP; 3) on the basis of adenylate cyclase stimulation, beta-adrenoceptors were of the beta 2 subtype and VIP receptors were of a helodermin-preferring subtype previously encountered in a human T lymphoblast cell line. Although we analyzed only a limited number of cell lines, it appeared that the immature T BL/VL3 clones responded to peptides of the VIP family with higher potency and efficacy than T helper and T cytotoxic cells. The membranes from the specific TL2-9 helper cell line were without adenylate cyclase activity in the presence of Gpp[NH]p, NaF, and GTP alone or GTP in the presence of isoproterenol or VIP. They produced cyclic AMP in the presence of Mn2+ and forskolin only, suggesting a defect in Gs as in S49 cyc- mouse lymphosarcoma cells. This was further demonstrated by the absence of cholera toxin-stimulated ADP-ribosylation in TL2-9 membranes.

VIP Receptors in Human SUP-T1 Lymphoblasts

We characterized a new type of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptors in the CD4+ Stanford University Pediatric (SUP)-T1 lymphoma cell line, by comparing receptor occupancy [in the presence of (125I)helodermin and (125I)(acetyl-His1)VIP] and adenylate cyclase activation (in the presence of GTP). The order of potency of peptides on both parameters was: helodermin greater than (acetyl-His1)VIP greater than (Phe1)VIP = VIP greater than PHI while secretin was ineffective. In membranes, when Gs was permanently activated by Gpp(NH)p or by ADP-ribosylation (after pretreating intact lymphoblasts for 2 h with cholera toxin), there resulted a variably increased affinity of receptors for VIP-like peptides, suggesting reduced receptor selectivity. Preexposing intact lymphoblasts to the same peptides induced, within 5 min, homologous desensitization (i.e. reduced binding capacity and even more so impaired capability to activate adenylate cyclase), whose extent correlated with the Kd of each peptide at time 0. After prolonged (16 h) exposure to 30 nM VIP that resulted in marked (75%) downregulation, 60% of the adenylate cyclase responsiveness could recover within 30-120 min even in the presence of cycloheximide, but further resensitization was cycloheximide-sensitive. To conclude, VIP receptors coupled to adenylate cyclase showed distinct specificity in human SUP-T1 lymphoblasts. Their specificity decreased when Gs was permanently activated. In intact cells exposed to VIP-like peptides, the receptors were rapidly desensitized, then down-regulated, the resensitization mechanism being not immediately inhibited by cycloheximide.

Phospholipase A2 activity of pancreatic secretory factor, a new secretagogue isolated from the venom of Heloderma suspectum

Pancreatic secretory factor (PSF), an efficient pancreatic secretagogue recently isolated from the venom of Heloderma suspectum is shown to exert phospholipase A2 activity towards phosphatidylcholine. This activity is strictly dependent on calcium (apparent K a 40 nM) and has an optimum pH around 9. At pH 7.4 and in the presence of calcium, PSF retains 40% of its phospholipase A2 activity. These results are compared to the calcium dependency of the secretory effect of PSF on rat pancreatic acini. Taken collectively, the present data on PSF suggest that a similar endogenous phospholipase A2 activity might be involved in the late steps of stimulus‐secretion coupling in the exocrine pancreas.

Decreased adenylate cyclase activation by helodermin and PGE1 in the lectin-resistant variant Wa4 of the mouse melanoma cell line B16

We examined the cultured mouse melanoma cell line B16 (clone F1) and its wheat germ agglutinin-resistant variant Wa4 that suffers from abnormal protein glycosylation (a high fucose:sialic acid ratio in glycoproteins). In both cell lines the adenylate cyclase system was endowed with a functional guanine nucleotide binding protein Gs and was efficiently coupled to alpha-MSH receptors. In the B16 cell line F1 studied we also observed an efficient stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity by helodermin, VIP and the VIP analogue [acetyl-His1]VIP, and also by PGE1. In membranes from the lectin-resistant variant Wa4, the stimulations by VIP-like peptides and by PGE1 were reduced by 60% and 50%, respectively, while the stimulation by alpha-MSH remained normal. As other components of the adenylate cyclase system (Gs site, catalytical unit) appeared unchanged in the Wa4 variant, we conclude that impaired glycosylation essentially affected the number of both VIP-like peptide receptors and PGE1 receptors.

Recovery of VIP/helodermin- and prostaglandin E1-stimulated adenylate cyclase activities in desensitized SUP-T1 human lymphoblasts

VIP/helodermin receptors and PGE1 receptors coupled to adenylate cyclase underwent rapid homologous desensitization and/or down regulation in the human lymphoma SUP-T1 cell line: helodermin- and PGE1-stimulated adenylate cyclase activities in membranes decreased by 75% and 80%, respectively, after a 16-hr incubation of cells with 30 nM VIP or 0.1 microM PGE1. The adenylate cyclase response to helodermin doubled within 120 min of incubation with fresh medium, this part of the resensitization process being not significantly reduced by cycloheximide. The second slower phase of recovery attained 80% of control values after 8 hr and was significantly affected by cycloheximide added at time 0. These data were corroborated by our observations on [125I]helodermin binding to intact cells. In the case of functional PGE1 receptors, sixty percent of the adenylate cyclase response reappeared within 30-60 min, with the second phase of recovery leading, after 2-3 hr to 80-85% of control values of PGE1-stimulated enzyme activity. This resensitization process to PGE1 was, as a whole, cycloheximide sensitive.

Stimulatory effects of Gila monster venom on rat pancreatic acini

The effects of Gila monster venom on dispersed rat pancreatic acini were compared with those of secretin and VIP. The efficacy of the venom in terms of amylase release was much higher (a 24-fold increase over basal secretion) than that of secretin (a 4-fold increase) and VIP (+ 40% only). On the other hand, cyclic AMP levels increased 12-fold with the venom, as compared to 18-fold with secretin and 16-fold with VIP. The venom, VIP and secretin all displaced 125I-VIP and the competition curve with the venom was steeper, suggesting that all VIP-recognizing receptors bound the venom with the same affinity. VIP receptors were, however, not responsible for the release of amylase provoked by the venom since VIP (and secretin) did not inhibit the secretory action of the venom. The venom exerted no effect on 45Ca efflux and its secretory effect did not depend on the presence of external calcium. Besides, the effect of CCK-8 on amylase release was additive with the effect of the venom. A first exposure to the venom induced a refractoriness to itself with respect to amylase release but not in terms of cyclic AMP increase. In conclusion, Gila monster venom may contain one component binding to VIP/secretin receptors with resulting cyclic AMP elevation. A second venom component may be responsible for the high secretory efficacy, without involving cyclic AMP or calcium efflux.

VIP-Helodermin receptors in the murine virus-induced T lymphoma cell line BL/VL3 recover less rapidly than β-adrenoceptors after down regulation

The time course of recovery of beta-adrenergic and VIP/helodermin receptors after homologous and heterologous down regulation was studied in the murine lymphoma cell line BL/VL3, a neoplastic equivalent of immature T cells. The heterologous part of isoproterenol down regulation was rapidly reversed, even in the presence of cycloheximide, suggesting that down regulation was linked to ligand-receptor interaction and/or cyclic AMP increase. Homologous down regulations of beta-adrenoceptors and VIP/helodermin receptors were less rapidly reversible and depended on protein synthesis as they were inhibited by cycloheximide: beta-adrenoceptors recovered faster than VIP/helodermin receptors.

Desensitization and Recovery of Prostaglandin-Stimulated Adenylate Cyclase Activity in a Murine Virus-Induced T Lymphoma Cell Line BL/VL3

Prolonged (16 h) preexposure to prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) of cells from a murine virus-induced T lymphoma cell line BL/VL3 provoked, in their membranes, a dose-dependent reduction of PGE1-mediated adenylate cyclase stimulation. Smaller (but significant) decreases of helodermin- and isoproterenol-mediated stimulations were also observed. After a 16 h incubation of these cells with 1 microM PGE1, that reduced by 85%, the PGE1-mediated adenylate cyclase stimulation in membranes, 50% of the PGE1 response recovered after 2 h of PGE1 withdrawal from the incubation medium. Over the following 2-24 h time interval, further recovery was limited. Protein synthesis was required for this resensitization mechanism of functional PGE1 receptors coupled to adenylate cyclase, as judged by the inhibitory effects of cycloheximide.