Takafumi Watanabe

Compartmentation of dicarboxylic acid β-oxidation in rat liver: importance of peroxisomes in the metabolism of dicarboxylic acids

Peroxisomal and mitochondrial beta-oxidation of dicarboxylic acids (DCAs) were investigated and compared. When isolated hepatocytes were incubated with DCAs of various chain lengths, H2O2 was derived from peroxisomal beta-oxidation, the rates of its generation being comparable to those seen with monocarboxylic acids (MCAs), whereas the rates of ketone body production, a measure of mitochondrial beta-oxidation, were much lower than those with MCAs. Peroxisomal beta-oxidation measured by cyanide-insensitive NAD reduction exhibited similar chain-length specificities for both dicarboxylyl-CoAs (DC-CoAs) and monocarboxylyl-CoAs (MC-CoAs), except that the activities for DC-CoAs with 10-16 carbon atoms were about half of those of the corresponding MC-CoAs. In contrast, mitochondrial beta-oxidation measured by antimycin A-sensitive O2 consumption had no activity for DCAs. In the study with purified enzymes, the reactivities of mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase for DC-CoAs were much lower than those for MC-CoAs, while the reactivity of peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase for DC-CoAs was comparable to that for the corresponding MC-CoAs. Accordingly, the properties of carnitine palmitoyltransferase and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase must be the rate-limiting factors for mitochondrial beta-oxidation, with the result that DCAs might hardly be oxidized in mitochondria. Comparative study of beta-oxidation capacities of peroxisomes and mitochondria in the liver showed that DC12-CoA was hardly subjected to mitochondrial beta-oxidation, and that the beta-oxidation of DCAs in rat liver, therefore, must be carried out exclusively in peroxisomes.

Characterization of mouse homolog of brain acyl-CoA hydrolase: molecular cloning and neuronal localization

Acyl-CoA hydrolase could provide a mechanism via its potency to modulate cellular concentrations of acyl-CoAs for the regulation of various cellular events including fatty acid metabolism and gene expression. However, only limited evidence of this is available. To better understand the physiological role of this enzyme, we characterized a mouse brain acyl-CoA hydrolase, mBACH. The cloned cDNA for mBACH encoded a 338-amino-acid polypeptide with >95% identity to the human and rat homologs, indicating that the BACH gene is highly conserved among species. This was supported by the similarity in genomic organization of the BACH gene between humans and mice. Bacterially expressed mBACH was highly active against long-chain acyl-CoAs with a relatively broad specificity for chain length. While palmitoyl-CoA hydrolase activity was widely distributed in mouse tissues, it was marked in the brain, consistent with mBACH being almost exclusively distributed in this tissue, where >80% of the enzyme activity was explained by mBACH present in the cytosol. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated a neuronal localization of mBACH in both the central and peripheral nervous systems. In neurons, mBACH was distributed throughout the cell body and neurites. Although four isoforms except mBACH itself, that may be generated by the alternative use of exons of a single mBACH gene, were cloned, their mRNA levels in the brain were estimated to be negligible. However, a 50-kDa polypeptide besides the major one of 43-kDa seemed to be translated from the mBACH mRNA with differential in-frame ATG triplets used as the initiation codon. These findings will contribute to the functional analysis of the BACH gene using mice including genetic studies.

A new colorimetric determination of d-amino acid oxidase and urate oxidase activity

Abstract A new method of colorimetric determination of d -amino acid oxidase and urate oxidase using catalase and 4-amino-3-hydrazino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole is reported. This method is based on the combination of two steps of enzyme reactions and colorimetric procedure. The values obtained by this method are satisfactorily correlated with those obtained by the dinitrophenylhydrazine method for d -amino acid oxidase activity and the ultraviolet method for urate oxidase activity and showed good reproducibility and accuracy. It is considered that the method can be useful as a method of activity determination for studying enzyme kinetics and the reaction mechanism.

Participation of peroxisomal β-oxidation system in the chain-shortening of a xenobiotic acyl compound

A drug, (E)-3-[4-(1-imidazolylmethyl)phenyl]-2-propenoic acid, was metabolized to 4-(1-imidazolylmethyl)benzoic acid in isolated hepatocytes of rats, which was enhanced markedly by the pretreatment of rats with clofibrate. With liver homogenates, the formation of the CoA-ester of this drug and its subsequent chain-shortening were demonstrated. In the series of these reactions, acyl-CoA synthetase, CoA, ATP and NAD were required, whereas cyanide did not inhibit the reaction. These results indicate that peroxisomes are capable of shortening the acyl side-chains of drugs by the beta-oxidation, giving an additional suggestion on the functions of peroxisomes.

Chain-shortening of a xenobiotic acyl compound by the peroxisomal β-oxidation system in rat liver

When 14C-labeled N-(alpha-methylbenzyl)azelaamic acid (C9), which is an intermediate in the metabolism of N-(alpha-methylbenzyl)linoleamide, a potent hypocholesterolemic agent, was administered to rats, 84% of the radioactivity was recovered in the urine in 24 hr, which contained 66.1% of N-(alpha-methylbenzyl)glutaramic acid (C5) and 8.6% of N-(alpha-methylbenzyl)pimelamic acid (C7) as major metabolites. While 14C-labeled C9 was incubated with isolated hepatocytes, similar metabolites were found, whereas none of the metabolites with an even number of carbon atoms in the acyl side chain was detected. The activity of the chain-shortening of C9 by hepatocytes isolated from clofibrate-treated rats was stimulated to about twice that of untreated hepatocytes, in parallel with the elevation of C9-dependent H2O2-generation. A subcellular fractionation study of the liver revealed that the subcellular distribution of cyanide-insensitive C9-oxidation activity was coincident with that of catalase and of cyanide-insensitive palmitoyl-CoA oxidation. In this reaction, C7 and C5 were produced. For this reaction, the formation of C9-CoA thioester was essential as an intermediary step. These results indicate that peroxisomes are capable of shortening the acyl side-chains of drugs by beta-oxidation and, thus, suggest an additional metabolic role for peroxisomes.

Long-term effects of peroxisome proliferators on the balance between hydrogen peroxide-generating and scavenging capacities in the liver of Fischer-344 rats

In order to clarify whether peroxisomal hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plays an important role in peroxisome proliferator-induced hepatocarcinogenesis, we examined the change in metabolism of peroxisomal H2O2 in vivo and in vitro using male Fischer-344 rats fed clofibrate, bezafibrate and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) for up to 78 weeks. Hepatic peroxisomal fatty acyl-CoA oxidase activity increased 12-20-fold after 2 or 4 weeks treatment; later this level gradually decreased toward controls, and at 78 weeks activity was 3-10-times of control. Although hepatic H2O2 levels were increased slightly by clofibrate, bezafibrate and DEHP, the changes did not correlate with the changes in peroxisomal fatty acyl-CoA oxidase activity. In isolated hepatocytes, the rate of leakage of peroxisomal H2O2 from peroxisomes into the cytosol and the hepatocellular H2O2 content was measured. The rate of leakage of peroxisomal H2O2 into cytosol increased 2.5-4-fold when peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity was induced by peroxisome proliferators, and the increases in this rate corresponded with changes in the peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity. In contrast, the hepatocellular H2O2 contents were not affected by induced peroxisomal beta-oxidation. These data show that H2O2 leaking from peroxisome into cytosol would be quickly decomposed, and thus peroxisomal H2O2 does not appear to play an important role in hepatocarcinogenesis by such an oxidative stress mechanism after the long-term treatment with peroxisome proliferators.

Involvement of calmodulin- and protein kinase C-related mechanism in an induction process of peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation-related enzymes by hypolipidemic peroxisome proliferators

Trifluoperazine, a calmodulin antagonist, suppressed the clofibric acid-evoked induction of the peroxisomal cyanide-insensitive fatty acyl-CoA oxidizing system and carnitine acetyltransferase in rat liver and also in cultured rat hepatocytes. H-7, a potent inhibitor of protein kinase C, also suppressed the induction of these enzymes by clofibric acid, bezafibrate, Wyl4,643 or mono(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in cultured rat hepatocytes. This suppressive effect was also confirmed by the protein composition of hepatocytes treated with clofibric acid and these antagonists, where the increase in the amount of peroxisomal bifunctional enzyme by peroxisome proliferator was markedly suppressed by above two antagonists. Profile of the time-dependent changes in the activities of the two enzymes after clofibric acid treatment showed that there might be two phases in the induction process. The initial phase (0-3 days after the treatment) showed a relative low inducing rate and subsequent phase (3-5 days after the treatment) showed an abrupt induction. The suppressive effect of the above two antagonists was significant in the later phase. In a time course study of the induction process of peroxisomal catalase, bifunctional enzyme or 69 kDa integral membrane protein using immunochemical detection, the induction of the membrane protein by clofibric acid was delayed compared with that of the bifunctional enzyme, where the induction was inhibited almost completely by nicardipine. These experimental results suggest that calmodulin- and protein kinase C-dependent processes play an important role in the process of marked induction of peroxisomal enzymes and membrane protein by drugs in rat liver.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUCTION OF PEROXISOMAL FATTY ACID OXIDATION-RELATED ENZYMES IN RAT LIVER BY DRUGS : RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND INDUCING ACTIVITY

To clarify the mechanism of induction of hepatic peroxisome-associated enzymes by drugs, we examined the interrelationship between the structures of fifteen drugs of two types (phenoxyacetic acid derivatives and perfluorinated compounds) and their inducing activities. Male Wistar rats were given the drugs at 150 mg/kg body weight daily for 2 weeks, and then hepatic activities of fatty acid metabolism-related enzymes were determined. The activity of the cyanide-insensitive fatty acyl-CoA oxidizing system located in peroxisomes was increased significantly in the following order: 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxypropionic acid (12.5-fold) greater than 2,4-dichlorophenoxypropionic acid (6.6-fold) greater than clofibrate (4.5-fold) greater than 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.6-fold) greater than 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.5-fold) greater than p-chlorophenoxypropionic acid (2.4-fold) greater than 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (1.7-fold). Treatment with perfluorinated compounds, perfluorobutyric acid, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorodecanoic acid and perfluorooctanol, also induced the activity by 2-, 4.3-, 3.1- and 2.0-fold respectively. The profile of the induction of carnitine acetyltransferase by these compounds was quite similar to that of cyanide-insensitive fatty acyl-CoA oxidizing system. Lipophilicity of these drugs was determined by the octanol-water partition method. Among these drugs, 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxypropionic acid showed the largest octanol/water partition coefficient (log P = 0.39). These results show a strong correlation among the number of chlor-substitutions on the phenyl moiety, the methyl-group on the alpha position of the acetic acid moiety, lipophilicity and the inducibility of peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation-related enzymes.

Lack of induction of hepatic DNA damage on long-term administration of peroxisome proliferators in male F-344 rats

In order to evaluate the relationship between hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generation and subsequent DNA damage caused by peroxisome proliferation, we examined DNA damage and changes in peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity in rat liver. Male F-344 rats were given orally clofibrate, bezafibrate or di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) for up to 78 weeks. In rats fed DEHP for 52 or 78 weeks hepatocarcinomas or neoplastic nodules were found. In rats treated for 2 weeks with peroxisome proliferators, peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity was increased 10-17 times over control levels. After long-term treatment (20-78 weeks), the level of peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity remained 3-13-times higher in each group. When single strand DNA breaks were measured by a DNA-alkaline elution technique, no increase in DNA damage was observed in livers from rats fed peroxisome proliferators for 2, 40 or 78 weeks. In rats bearing hepatocarcinomas induced by DEHP, the hepatic DNA showed significant breaks; the rate of DNA-alkaline elution was found to increase approximately 5-fold. No significant increase in hepatic lipid peroxide level was observed in each group. These results show that although prolonged treatment with peroxisome proliferators induces markedly peroxisomal beta-oxidation activity, the active oxygen species from peroxisomal beta-oxidation are not enough to give rise to significant DNA damage. Moreover, the change in the activity of peroxisomal beta-oxidation may not relate to hepatocarcinogenesis induced by peroxisome proliferators.

Immunohistochemical localization of acyl-CoA hydrolase/thioesterase multigene family members to rat epithelia

Abstract. Acyl-CoA hydrolases cleave acyl-CoA thioesters to free fatty acids and coenzyme A. The potency of these enzymes may serve to modulate cellular levels of acyl-CoAs to affect various cellular functions, including lipid metabolism. In this study, we investigated the tissue distribution of this multigene family of enzymes, focusing on cytosolic (CTE-I) and mitochondrial acyl-CoA thioesterases (MTE-I) in adult rats, using an anti-CTE-I antibody which recognizes both the isoforms. Western blotting detected them mainly in organs closely related to fatty acid oxidation, of which kidney contained the highest levels of both enzymes. Immunohistochemistry localized the enzymes primarily in the proximal tubules, where a large energy demand is expected and fatty acids represent a major fuel, correlating well with the intrarenal distribution of peroxisomal beta-oxidation. In situ hybridization suggested colocalization of CTE-I and MTE-I in the kidney. The immunoreactivity was also found in various epithelial tissues in the body, including Harderian gland and sebaceous gland. These results demonstrated the distribution of CTE-I and MTE-I in a wide variety of rat tissues, primarily characterized by an epithelial localization, being consistent with their involvement in fatty acid metabolism.