Juan Pablo F.C. Rossi

Decreased Ca2+-ATPase Activity After Glycosylation of Erythrocyte Membranes In Vivo and In Vitro

Erythrocyte membranes drawn from diabetic patients with poor metabolic control have increased protein glycosylation and decreased Ca2+-ATPase activity. A significant relationship was found between these two parameters. Similar results were obtained when protein glycosylation and Ca2+-ATPase activity were measured in membranes from normal erythrocytes preincubated with glucose. In this condition, both parameters showed a clear time and dose dependence. Incubation of erythrocyte membranes instead of intact erythrocytes with glucose and glucose-6-phosphate strongly suggests that only the glycosylation of the membrane inner-surface proteins can affect Ca2+-ATPase activity. The simultaneous presence of 10 mM glucose and 5 mM ATP in the incubation medium did not affect the degree of erythrocyte membrane protein glycosylation but significantly blocked the inhibitory effect of glucose on Ca2+-ATPase activity. However, 5 mM ATP only partially blocked the inhibitory effect of 100 mM glucose, suggesting a competitive mechanism of glucose and ATP for the enzyme active site. Our results show that glycosylation of erythrocyte membrane proteins significantly inhibits Ca2+-ATPase activity. This effect could contribute to the development of the capillary closure process observed in diabetic patients. Furthermore, it could represent an index of a general impairment of enzyme function arising in cells chronically exposed to high glucose levels.

Vanadate inhibition of active Ca2+ transport across human red cell membranes

(1) Vanadate (pentavalent vanadium) inhibits with high affinity (K0.5 = 3 microM) the ATP-dependent Ca2+ efflux in reconstituted ghosts from human red cell. (2) To inhibit Ca2+ efflux vanadate has to have access to the inner surface of the cell membrane (3) The inhibitory effect of vanadate is potentiated by intracellular Mg2+ and by intracellular K+. (4) Ca2+ in the external medium antagonizes the inhibitory effect of vanadate.

Effects of phosphatidylethanolamine glycation on lipid-protein interactions and membrane protein thermal stability

Non-enzymatic glycation of biomolecules has been implicated in the pathophysiology of aging and diabetes. Among the potential targets for glycation are biological membranes, characterized by a complex organization of lipids and proteins interacting and forming domains of different size and stability. In the present study, we analyse the effects of glycation on the interactions between membrane proteins and lipids. The phospholipid affinity for the transmembrane surface of the PMCA (plasma-membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase) was determined after incubating the protein or the phospholipids with glucose. Results show that the affinity between PMCA and the surrounding phospholipids decreases significantly after phosphospholipid glycation, but remains unmodified after glycation of the protein. Furthermore, phosphatidylethanolamine glycation decreases by approximately 30% the stability of PMCA against thermal denaturation, suggesting that glycated aminophospholipids induce a structural rearrangement in the protein that makes it more sensitive to thermal unfolding. We also verified that lipid glycation decreases the affinity of lipids for two other membrane proteins, suggesting that this effect might be common to membrane proteins. Extending these results to the in vivo situation, we can hypothesize that, under hyperglycaemic conditions, glycation of membrane lipids may cause a significant change in the structure and stability of membrane proteins, which may affect the normal functioning of membranes and therefore of cells.

Thermal stability of the plasma membrane calcium pump. Quantitative analysis of its dependence on lipid-protein interactions.

Abstract. Thermal stability of plasma membrane Ca2+ pump was systematically studied in three micellar systems of different composition, and related with the interactions amphiphile-protein measured by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Thermal denaturation was characterized as an irreversible process that is well described by a first order kinetic with an activation energy of 222 ± 12 kJ/mol in the range 33–45°C. Upon increasing the mole fraction of phospholipid in the mixed micelles where the Ca2+ pump was reconstituted, the kinetic coefficient for the inactivation process diminished until it reached a constant value, different for each phospholipid species. We propose a model in which thermal stability of the pump depends on the composition of the amphiphile monolayer directly in contact with the transmembrane protein surface. Application of this model shows that the maximal pump stability is attained when 80% of this surface is covered by phospholipids. This analysis provides an indirect measure of the relative affinity phospholipid/detergent for the hydrophobic transmembrane surface of the protein (KLD) showing that those phospholipids with higher affinity provide greater stability to the Ca2+ pump. We developed a method for directly measure KLD by using fluorescence resonance energy transfer from the membrane protein tryptophan residues to a pyrene-labeled phospholipid. KLD values obtained by this procedure agree with those obtained from the model, providing a strong evidence to support its validity.

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF THE GLYCATED PLASMA MEMBRANE CALCIUM PUMP

Abstract. We have previously demonstrated (Diabetes39:707–711, 1990) that in vitro glycation of the red cell Ca2+ pump diminishes the Ca2+-ATPase activity of the enzyme up to 50%. Such effect is due to the reaction of glucose with lysine residues of the Ca2+ pump (Biochem. J.293:369–375, 1993). The aim of this work was to determine whether the effect of glucose is due to a full inactivation of a fraction of the total population of Ca2+ pump, or to a partial inactivation of all the molecules. Glycation decreased the Vmax for the ATPase activity leaving unaffected the apparent affinities for Ca2+, calmodulin or ATP. The apparent turnover was identical in both, the glycated and the native enzyme. Glycation decreased the Vmax for the ATP-dependent but not for the calmodulin-activated phosphatase activities. Concomitantly with the inhibition, up to 6.5% of the lysine residues were randomly glycated. The probabilistic analysis of the relation between the enzyme activity and the fraction of nonmodified residues indicates that only one Lys residue is responsible for the inhibition. We suggest that glucose decreases the Ca2+-ATPase activity by reacting with one essential Lys residue probably located in the vicinity of the catalytic site, which results in the full inactivation of the enzyme. Thus, Ca2+-ATPase activity measured in erythrocyte membranes or purified enzyme preparations preincubated with glucose depends on the remaining enzyme molecules in which the essential Lys residue stays unglycated.

Oligomerization of the plasma membrane calcium pump involves two regions with different thermal stability

Ca2+ pump dimerization was studied by using a combined approach of thermal denaturation and fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The measurement of calcium pump ability to dimerize after the unfolding of individual functional domains of the enzyme demonstrated the existence of two different regions involved in the self‐association process. One of these regions is highly susceptible to thermal unfolding and was identified as the calmodulin (CaM)‐binding domain. The other region whose thermal stability is higher than those of the catalytic and CaM‐binding domains could be related with the previously found C28W‐binding regions.

Reversal of the calcium pump in human red cells

SummaryHuman red cells containing low ATP and high Pi concentrations were suspended in media with and without 2mm Ca2+, and the incorporation of (32P)Pi into ATP was measured. There was some incorporation whatever the medium, but in every experiment there was an extra incorporation when the cells were in the Ca2+-containing medium. This extra incorporation was abolished by the ionophore A23187, which collapses the Ca2+ concentration gradient across the membranes, or by LaCl3, which blocks the Ca2+ pump. Starved and phosphate-loaded cells also show an uptake of Ca2+ which is not apparent in fresh cells. Results are consistent with the idea that Ca2+-dependent incorporation of Pi into ATP is catalyzed by the Ca2+ pump using energy derived from the Ca2+ concentration gradient.

Stoichiometry of lipid–protein interaction assessed by hydrophobic photolabeling

Here we undertook a comparative study of the composition of the lipid annulus of three ATPases pertaining to the P‐type family: plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA), sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump (SERCA) and Na,K‐ATPase. The photoactivatable phosphatidylcholine analogue [125I]TID‐PC/16 was incorporated into mixtures of dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and each enzyme with the aid of the nonionic detergent C12E10. After photolysis, the extent of the labeling reaction was assessed to determine the lipid:protein stoichiometry: 17 for PMCA, 18 for SERCA, 24 for the Na,K‐ATPase (α‐subunit) and 5.6 mol PC/mol protein for the Na,K‐ATPase (β‐subunit).

Determination of the Dissociation Constants for Ca2+ and Calmodulin from the Plasma Membrane Ca2+ Pump by a Lipid Probe That Senses Membrane Domain Changes

The purpose of this work was to obtain information about conformational changes of the plasma membrane Ca2+-pump (PMCA) in the membrane region upon interaction with Ca2+, calmodulin (CaM) and acidic phospholipids. To this end, we have quantified labeling of PMCA with the photoactivatable phosphatidylcholine analog [125I]TID-PC/16, measuring the shift of conformation E2 to the auto-inhibited conformation E1I and to the activated E1A state, titrating the effect of Ca2+ under different conditions. Using a similar approach, we also determined the CaM-PMCA dissociation constant. The results indicate that the PMCA possesses a high affinity site for Ca2+ regardless of the presence or absence of activators. Modulation of pump activity is exerted through the C-terminal domain, which induces an apparent auto-inhibited conformation for Ca2+ transport but does not modify the affinity for Ca2+ at the transmembrane domain. The C-terminal domain is affected by CaM and CaM-like treatments driving the auto-inhibited conformation E1I to the activated E1A conformation and thus modulating the transport of Ca2+. This is reflected in the different apparent constants for Ca2+ in the absence of CaM (calculated by Ca2+-ATPase activity) that sharply contrast with the lack of variation of the affinity for the Ca2+ site at equilibrium. This is the first time that equilibrium constants for the dissociation of Ca2+ and CaM ligands from PMCA complexes are measured through the change of transmembrane conformations of the pump. The data further suggest that the transmembrane domain of the PMCA undergoes major rearrangements resulting in altered lipid accessibility upon Ca2+ binding and activation.

Differential Effects of G- and F-Actin on the Plasma Membrane Calcium Pump Activity

We have previously shown that plasma membrane calcium ATPase (PMCA) pump activity is affected by the membrane protein concentration (Vanagas et al., Biochim Biophys Acta 1768:1641–1644, 2007). The results of this study provided evidence for the involvement of the actin cytoskeleton. In this study, we explored the relationship between the polymerization state of actin and its effects on purified PMCA activity. Our results show that PMCA associates with the actin cytoskeleton and this interaction causes a modulation of the catalytic activity involving the phosphorylated intermediate of the pump. The state of actin polymerization determines whether it acts as an activator or an inhibitor of the pump: G-actin and/or short oligomers activate the pump, while F-actin inhibits it. The effects of actin on PMCA are the consequence of direct interaction as demonstrated by immunoblotting and cosedimentation experiments. Taken together, these findings suggest that interactions with actin play a dynamic role in the regulation of PMCA-mediated Ca2+ extrusion through the membrane. Our results provide further evidence of the activation–inhibition phenomenon as a property of many cytoskeleton-associated membrane proteins where the cytoskeleton is no longer restricted to a mechanical function but is dynamically involved in modulating the activity of integral proteins with which it interacts.