scholarly journals TWO ACTIONS OF CYCLIC AMP ON MELANOSOME MOVEMENT IN FROG SKIN

1973 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 845-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Magun

Photomicrography and reflectance microphotometry were used to monitor melanosome movement in frog skin melanocytes in vitro in response to hormonal stimulation and cytochalasin B (CB). Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), theophylline, and dibutyryl cyclic AMP (DiBcAMP) induced melanosome dispersion (darkening) which was promptly arrested by cytochalasin B in concentrations of 5–20 µg/ml. Melanosome aggregation (skin lightening) occurred only after removal of the darkening agent (MSH, theophylline, or DiBcAMP) and proceeded in the presence or absence of CB. When CB was added to darkened skins, they did not lighten and melanosomes remained in the dispersed state. Use of CB has permitted the dissection of cyclic AMP-mediated melanosome dispersion into two distinct events. The first, induction of melanosome dispersion, is CB sensitive. The second action of intracellular cyclic AMP involves an uncoupling of the centripetal motive force, and is CB insensitive. In the latter process, production of cyclic AMP appears to produce the same result as application of microtubule-disrupting agents.

1976 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIDGET I. BAKER

SUMMARY Various agents were tested for their ability to oppose the stimulatory effect of dibutyryl cyclic AMP on the release of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone from the rat neuro-intermediate lobe in vitro. Only dopamine exhibited an inhibitory effect; serotonin, γ-aminobutyric acid, tocinoic acid, tocinamide, the tripeptide Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2 and dibutyryl cyclic GMP were all ineffective.


1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIDGET I. BAKER

SUMMARY A method for measuring melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) in rat neurointermediate lobe in vitro and in incubation medium, using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, is described. Using this technique, it was shown that dibutyryl cyclic AMP increased the release of MSH in vitro, the degree of stimulation depending on the concentration of the nucleotide. The effect of low concentrations of the nucleotide was potentiated by theophylline.


1966 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Halvor Möller ◽  
Aaron B. Lerner

ABSTRACT The mechanism of aggregation induced in MSH-dispersed dermal melanocytes was studied in Rana pipiens by reflectance photometry in vitro and by microscopy in vivo. Acetylcholine inhibits MSH strongly and irreversibly in one third of all frogs tested in vitro and has almost no effect on the remaining animals. No lightening action occurs in vivo. Different skin samples from the same animal give the same response to acetylcholine. An individual response to acetylcholine implies similar responses to other cholinergics. The lightening action of acetylcholine is inhibited by atropine. Noradrenaline induces a reversible MSH-inhibition in all frogs in vitro as well as in vivo. The lightening action of noradrenaline, inhibited by sympatholytics, is ten times stronger than that of acetylcholine. The l-isomer has only twice the lightening potency as the d-isomer. Both lightening agents work if given at the maximum of MSH-dispersion or before the addition of MSH. Fundamental differences between the mechanisms of dispersion and aggregation, and between the lightening induced by acetylcholine and by noradrenaline, are emphasized.


1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-545
Author(s):  
P.M. Wassarman ◽  
W.J. Josefowicz ◽  
G.E. Letourneau

In vitro studies of meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes have been carried out in the presence of several drugs. The individual steps of nuclear progression, including dissolution of the nuclear (germinal vesicle) membrane, condensation of dictyate chromatin into compact bivalents, formation of the first metaphase spindle, and extrusion of the first polar body, are each susceptible to one or more of these drugs. Germinal vesicle breakdown, the initial morphological feature characteristic of meiotic maturation, is inhibited by dibutyryl cyclic AMP. However, even in the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP, the nuclear membrane becomes extremely convoluted and condensation of chromatin is initiated but aborts at a stage short of compact bivalents. Germinal vesicle breakdown and chromatin condensation take place in an apparently normal manner in the presence of puromycin, Colcemid, or cytochalasin B. Nuclear progression is blocked at the circular bivalent stage when oocytes are cultured continuously in the presence of puromycin or Colcemid, whereas oocytes cultured in the presence of cytochalasin B proceed to the first meiotic metaphase, form an apparently normal spindle, and arrest. Emission of a polar body is inhibited by all of these drugs. The inhibitory effects of these drugs on meiotic maturation are reversible to varying degrees dependent upon the duration of exposure to the drug and upon the nature of the drug. These studies suggest that dissolution of the mouse oocyte's germinal vesicle and condensation of chromatin are not dependent upon concomitant protein synthesis or upon microtubules. On the other hand, the complete condensation of chromatin into compact bivalents apparently requires breakdown of the germinal vesicle. Failure of homologous chromosomes to separate after normal alignment on the meiotic spindle in the presence of cytochalasin B suggest that microfilaments may be involved in nuclear progression at this stage of maturation. Cytokinesis, in the form of polar body formation, is blocked when any one of the earlier events of maturation fails to take place.


1981 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN WEATHERHEAD ◽  
ANN LOGAN

In short-term (48 h) cultures of hair follicles α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) and cyclic AMP stimulated melanogenesis through an increase in tyrosinase activity. In contrast cyclic GMP mimicked the effects of melatonin by inhibiting melanin production without causing a concomitant decrease in tyrosinase activity. Both cyclic GMP and melatonin blocked the stimulatory effects of cyclic AMP and α-MSH on melanin production but they left the increased levels of tyrosinase activity unaffected. Phosphodiesterase inhibitors (3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine and papaverine) simultaneously stimulated tyrosinase activity and inhibited melanin production, presumably by allowing endogenous cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP to accumulate intracellularly. It is suggested that whereas MSH stimulates melanogenesis through a cyclic AMP-dependent mechanism there must also be an inhibitory cyclic GMP-dependent mechanism, perhaps activated by melatonin, which operates at some post-tyrosinase step in the melanin biosynthetic pathway.


1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1651-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixtus Hynie ◽  
Jiří Smrt

3'-Oleolyl-2,3-dihydroxypropyl-AMP, 3'-stearoyl-2,3-dihydroxypropyl-AMP, octadecyl-AMP and palmitamidoethyl-AMP inhibited in comparison with adenosine or fatty acids much stronger the lipolysis in rat epididymal fat pads in vitro stimulated by isoproterenol, theophylline and dibutyryl cyclic AMP. The inhibition of the effects of the two latter drugs suggest that the described effect is caused not only by the inhibition of the cyclic AMP production but also by the inhibition of its effect on the following steps in process of lipolysis.


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