scholarly journals Glucagon and ammonia influence the long-term regulation of phosphate-dependent glutaminase activity in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes

1991 ◽  
Vol 274 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D McGivan ◽  
K Boon ◽  
F A Doyle

1. Glutaminase activity was measured in primary cultures of hepatocytes. 2. Enzyme activity decreased markedly after 24-40 h in culture, and this loss of activity was accompanied by loss of enzyme protein. 3. The loss of activity was delayed by high concentrations of glutamine, and was abolished by the continuous presence of NH4Cl in the culture medium. 4. In cells from rats fed on high-carbohydrate protein-free diet, glutaminase activity was increased by glucagon, but not by dexamethasone. This induction was observed only in the continuous presence of NH3 or high concentrations of glutamine. 5. It is concluded that NH3 and glutamine are essential for the stabilization and induction of glutaminase activity in hepatocytes. The inactivation of glutaminase in hepatocytes and in vivo under certain conditions may be due to lack of NH3 in the extracellular medium.

1995 ◽  
Vol 108 (8) ◽  
pp. 2771-2780 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Kojima ◽  
T. Mitaka ◽  
Y. Shibata ◽  
Y. Mochizuki

In the adult rat hepatocyte, the gap junction proteins consist of a major component, connexin32 (Cx32) and a minor component, connexin26 (Cx26). Although we recently reported our success in inducing and maintaining Cx32 in adult rat hepatocytes cultured in serum-free L-15 medium supplemented with epidermal growth factor and 2% dimethyl sulfoxide, it was very difficult to induce Cx26 in the primary hepatocytes. In the present study, we found that the addition of 10(−7) M glucagon into the culture medium could dramatically induce Cx26 mRNA and protein. Although the expression of Cx32 mRNA was also influenced by glucagon, the increase of the expression was small. Immunocytochemically, Cx26-positive spots were observed between most adjacent cells and were co-localized with the Cx32-positive spots. We also examined whether 0.5 mM dibutyl cyclic AMP could induce expression of Cx26 in the cells. The effect of dexamethasone on the expression of Cx26 mRNA compared to that of Cx32 mRNA was examined. For the induction and maintenance of Cx26 mRNA, more than 10(−7) M dexamethasone was necessary in this culture. These results suggest that expression of Cx26 in hepatocytes may be regulated by the concentrations of glucagon and glucocorticoid hormones.


1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 2502-2510 ◽  
Author(s):  
X R Pan-Zhou ◽  
E Cretton-Scott ◽  
X J Zhou ◽  
M Y Xie ◽  
R Rahmani ◽  
...  

AZT-P-ddI is an antiviral heterodimer composed of one molecule of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) and one molecule of 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI) linked through their 5' positions by a phosphate bond. The metabolic fate of the dimer was studied with isolated rat, monkey, and human hepatocytes and was compared with that of its component monomers AZT and ddI. Upon incubation of double-labeled [14C]AZT-P-[3H]ddI in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes in suspension at a final concentration of 10 microM, the dimer was taken up intact by cells and then rapidly cleaved to AZT, AZT monophosphate, ddI, and ddI monophosphate. AZT and ddI so formed were then subject to their respective catabolisms. High-performance liquid chromatography analyses of the extracellular medium and cell extracts revealed the presence of unchanged dimer, AZT, 3'-azido-3'-deoxy-5'-beta-D-glucopyranosylthymidine (GAZT), 3'-amino-3'-deoxythymidine (AMT), ddI, and a previously unrecognized derivative of the dideoxyribose moiety of ddI, designated ddI-M. Trace extracellular but substantial intracellular levels of the glucuronide derivative of AMT (3'-amino-3'-deoxy-5'-beta-D-glucopyranosylthymidine [GAMT]) were also detected. Moreover, the extent of the formation of AMT, GAZT, and ddI-M from the dimer was markedly lower than that with AZT and ddI alone by the hepatocytes. With hepatocytes in primary culture obtained from rat, monkey, and human, large interspecies variations in the metabolism of AZT-P-ddI were observed. While GAZT and ddI-M, metabolites of AZT and ddI, respectively, as well as AZT 5'-monophosphate (MP) and ddI-MP were detected in the extracellular media of all species, AMT and GAMT were produced only by rat and monkey hepatocytes. No such metabolites were formed by human hepatocytes. The metabolic fate of the dimer by human hepatocytes was consistent with in vivo data recently obtained from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (5) ◽  
pp. G954-G961 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Y. Chatton ◽  
H. Liu ◽  
J. W. Stucki

Single isolated rat hepatocytes were used to investigate the influence of intracellular pH (pHi) on hormone-induced cytosolic Ca2+ oscillations, using videofluorescence microscopy. Although pHi did not vary after alpha-adrenergic stimulation, manipulations of pHi induced pronounced alterations in the frequency of oscillations. Increasing the resting pHi with ammonium chloride (5-20 mM), trimethylammonium (2-10 mM), or triethylammonium (1.2-8 mM) reduced the frequency of oscillations. A change in pHi of > 0.25 was sufficient to reversibly inhibit oscillations. This effect could be overcome by increasing the agonist concentration or by adding 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, an agent known to potentiate the alpha-adrenergic response. Cellular acidification, obtained by the ammonium prepulse method as well as by application of acetate or the ionophore nigericin, in the continuous presence of agonist was accompanied by a modest frequency increase of the oscillations, leading in some cases to an overstimulated state. This study indicates that pHi, within a range of values expected to occur in vivo (0.1-0.2 pH units), exerts a chronotropic effect on phenylephrine-induced Ca2+ oscillations. In contrast, oscillations induced by ADP or vasopressin were pHi invariant.


1985 ◽  
Vol 230 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A Pittner ◽  
R Fears ◽  
D N Brindley

Rat hepatocytes were incubated in monolayer culture for 8 h. Glucagon (10nM) increased the total phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity by 1.7-fold. This effect was abolished by adding cycloheximide, actinomycin D or 500 pM-insulin to the incubations. The glucagon-induced increase was synergistic with that produced by an optimum concentration of 100 nM-dexamethasone. Theophylline (1mM) potentiated the effect of glucagon, but it did not affect the dexamethasone-induced increase in the phosphohydrolase activity. The relative proportion of the phosphohydrolase activity associated with membranes was decreased by glucagon when 0.15 mM-oleate was added 15 min before the end of the incubations to translocate the phosphohydrolase from the cytosol. This glucagon effect was not seen at 0.5 mM-oleate. Since glucagon also increased the total phosphohydrolase activity, the membrane-associated activity was maintained at 0.15 mM-oleate and was increased at 0.5 mM-oleate. This activity at both oleate concentrations was also increased in incubations that contained dexamethasone, particularly in the presence of glucagon. Insulin increased the relative proportion of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase that was associated with membranes at 0.15 mM-oleate, but not at 0.5 mM-oleate. It also decreased the absolute phosphohydrolase activity on the membranes at both oleate concentrations in incubations that also contained glucagon and dexamethasone. None of the hormonal combinations significantly altered the total glycerol phosphate acyltransferase activity. However, glucagon significantly increased the microsomal activities, and insulin had the opposite effect. Glucagon also decreased the mitochondrial acyltransferase activity. There was a highly significant correlation between the total phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity and the synthesis of neutral lipids from glycerol phosphate and 0.5 mM-oleate in homogenates of cells from all of the hormonal combinations. Phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity is increased in the long term by glucocorticoids and also by glucagon through cyclic AMP. In the short term, glucagon increases the concentration of fatty acid required to translocate the cytosolic reservoir of activity to the membranes on which phosphatidate is synthesized. Insulin opposes the combined actions of glucagon and glucocorticoids. The long-term events explain the large increases in the phosphohydrolase activity that occur in vivo in a variety of stress conditions. The expression of this activity depends on increases in the net availability of fatty acids and their CoA esters in the liver.


1987 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Gallo ◽  
A. Voci ◽  
P. E. Schwarze ◽  
E. Fugassa

ABSTRACT The effect of tri-iodothyronine (T3) on protein turnover was studied using primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Protein synthesis was significantly stimulated in cells cultured for 6 days in the presence of T3 (1 μmol/l). Protein secretion into the culture medium was not affected by the hormone. Breakdown of long-lived proteins, the bulk of cellular proteins which are preferentially degraded through the autophagic lysosomal pathway, was significantly stimulated by the hormone. It is concluded that T3 elicits a general stimulation of protein turnover in cultured hepatocytes. J. Endocr. (1987) 113, 173–177


1996 ◽  
Vol 319 (3) ◽  
pp. 843-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl H. REUNER ◽  
Anke van der DOES ◽  
Petra DUNKER ◽  
Ingo JUST ◽  
Klaus AKTORIES ◽  
...  

Treatment of hepatocyte-hepatoma hybrid cells with Clostridium botulinum C2 toxin led to a 167% increase in monomeric globular actin (G-actin) and to a 57% decrease in filamentous actin (F-actin) within 2 h. Simultaneously, the level of actin mRNA was specifically decreased to 49% and actin synthesis was significantly diminished. In contrast, treatment of hybrid cells with phalloidin led to a decrease in G-actin to 55% and to a reciprocal increase in actin mRNA to 244% and an increase in actin synthesis. These alterations of actin synthesis depending on the G-actin/F-actin ratio corresponded to the autoregulation of actin synthesis observed in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Microinjection of C2 toxin or of phalloidin into hepatocyte-hepatoma hybrid cells had the same effects on actin synthesis as incubation with either toxin in the culture medium. Microinjection of non-polymerizable ADP-ribosylated G-actin into hepatocyte-hepatoma hybrid cells specifically decreased the incorporation of [35S]methionine into newly synthesized actin within 1 h. This decrease continued for at least 19 h. Microinjection of ADP-ribosylated actin led to rounding of cells and obvious disaggregation of actin filaments, which might be due to capping of actin filaments by the ADP-ribosylated actin. Because stabilization of actin filaments by phalloidin before microinjection of ADP-ribosylated actin also resulted in decreased actin synthesis, the concentration of monomeric G-actin seems to be responsible for the regulation of actin synthesis in hepatocyte-hepatoma hybrid cells, which can be regarded as immortalized hepatocytes.


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