scholarly journals PROTEIN DEGRADATION IN CULTURED CELLS

1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 430-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Wibo ◽  
Brian Poole

The degradation of cellular proteins in fibroblasts, both those of rapid and those of slow turnover rates, was inhibited by low concentrations of chloroquine or neutral red in the medium. Cells inhibited by chloroquine can be inhibited further by fluoride. Chloroquine was taken up by the fibroblasts and the concentration in the cells reached several hundred times that in the medium. Isopycnic fractionation studies showed that within the cells the chloroquine was concentrated in the lysosomes, and that these chloroquine-containing lysosomes had a lower equilibrium density than the lysosomes of untreated cells. Chloroquine, at concentrations attained inside the lysosomes, inhibited cathepsin B1 but not cathepsin D. It is concluded that chloroquine impairs the breakdown of cellular proteins after these have entered the lysosome system, probably through inhibition of cathepsin B1.

Author(s):  
Martin Reynders ◽  
Bryan Matsuura ◽  
Marleen Bérouti ◽  
Daniele Simoneschi ◽  
Antonio Marzio ◽  
...  

<p><i>PROTACs (proteolysis targeting chimeras) are bifunctional molecules that tag proteins for ubiquitylation by an E3 ligase complex and subsequent degradation by the proteasome. They have emerged as powerful tools to control the levels of specific cellular proteins and are on the verge of being clinically used. We now introduce photoswitchable PROTACs that can be activated with the temporal and spatial precision that light provides. These trifunctional molecules, which we named PHOTACs, consist of a ligand for an E3 ligase, a photoswitch, and a ligand for a protein of interest. We demonstrate this concept by using PHOTACs that target either BET family proteins (BRD2,3,4) or FKBP12. Our lead compounds display little or no activity in the dark but can be reversibly activated to varying degrees with different wavelengths of light. Our modular and generalizable approach provides a method for the optical control of protein levels with photopharmacology and could lead to new types of precision therapeutics that avoid undesired systemic toxicity.</i><b></b></p>


1992 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-143
Author(s):  
Maria Carrara ◽  
Lorenzo Cima ◽  
Roberto Cerini ◽  
Maurizio Dalle Carbonare

A method has been developed whereby cosmetic products which are not soluble in water or in alcohol can be brought into contact with cell cultures by being placed in a cell culture insert, which is then placed in the cell culture well. Preliminary experiments were carried out with L929 cells, and cytotoxicity was evaluated by measuring neutral red uptake and the total protein content of treated cultured cells. Encouraging results were obtained in comparisons of three cosmetic emulsions and of one emulsion containing a range of concentrations of two preservatives, Kathon CG and Bronopol.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3282-3290
Author(s):  
X Li ◽  
D C Beebe

Crystallins are proteins that accumulate to very high concentrations in the fiber cells of the lens of the eye. Crystallins are responsible for the transparency and high refractive index that are essential for lens function. In the chicken embryo, delta-crystallin accounts for more than 70% of the newly synthesized lens proteins. We used density labeling and gene-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine the mechanism regulating the expression of the two very similar delta-crystallin genes. Newly synthesized RNA was separated from preexisting RNA by incubating the lenses with 15N- and 13C-labeled ribonucleosides and then separating newly synthesized, density-labeled RNA from the bulk of light RNA by equilibrium density centrifugation in NaI-KI gradients. The relative abundances of the two crystallin mRNAs in the separated fractions were then determined by PCR. This method permitted the quantitation of newly synthesized processed and unprocessed delta-crystallin mRNAs. Additional studies used intron- and gene-specific PCR primers to determine the relative expression of the two delta-crystallin genes in processed RNA and unprocessed RNA extracted from different regions of the embryonic lens. Results of these tests indicated that the differential expression of the delta-crystallin genes was regulated primarily at the level of transcription. This outcome was not expected on the basis of the results of previous studies, which used in vitro transcription and transfection methods to evaluate the relative strengths of delta-crystallin promoter and enhancer sequences. Our data suggest that the cultured cells used in these earlier studies may not have provided an accurate view of delta-crystallin regulation in the intact lens.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganapathi Kandasamy ◽  
Ashis Kumar Pradhan ◽  
R Palanimurugan

AbstractDegradation of short-lived and abnormal proteins are essential for normal cellular homeostasis. In eukaryotes, such unstable cellular proteins are selectively degraded by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). Furthermore, abnormalities in protein degradation by the UPS have been linked to several human diseases. Ccr4 protein is a known component of the Ccr4-Not complex, which has established roles in transcription, mRNA de-adenylation and RNA degradation etc. Excitingly in this study, we show that Ccr4 protein has a novel function as a shuttle factor that promotes ubiquitin-dependent degradation of short-lived proteins by the 26S proteasome. Using a substrate of the well-studied ubiquitin fusion degradation (UFD) pathway, we found that its UPS-mediated degradation was severely impaired upon deletion of CCR4 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Additionally, we show that Ccr4 binds to cellular ubiquitin conjugates and the proteasome. In contrast to Ccr4, most other subunits of the Ccr4-Not complex proteins are dispensable for UFD substrate degradation. From our findings we conclude that Ccr4 functions in the UPS as a shuttle factor targeting ubiquitylated substrates for proteasomal degradation.


1978 ◽  
Vol 234 (3) ◽  
pp. E306
Author(s):  
E E Griffin ◽  
K Wildenthal

In fetal mouse hearts in organ culture the rate of protein synthesis was substantially reduced and the rate of protein degradation slightly increased by hydrocortisone in the absence of insulin, but in the presence of insulin the steroid caused a small increase in protein synthesis and a significant reduction in protein degradation. Hydrocortisone promoted the net uptake (or reduced the net release) of branched-chain amino acids independent of insulin and independent of simultaneous changes in protein balance. The specific activities of the lysosomal enzymes cathepsin D and glucosaminidase were reduced by hydrocortisone in all media, whereas the specific activity of creatine kinase increased when the medium contained insulin but decreased in the absence of insulin. It is concluded that hydrocortisone regulates cardiac protein balance via alterations both in synthesis and in degradation. Some of the hormone's myocardial effects are influenced by insulin so that hydrocortisone is anabolic in its presence but catabolic in its absence.


2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 421-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
P W Smet ◽  
T F Pauwels ◽  
P J Dierickx

The effect of macrocyclic ligands on cytotoxic concentrations of the transition metal ions of copper, zinc, and cadmium was investigated. For this purpose, a hexaaza-[3,6,9,17,20,23-hexaazatricyclo[23.3.1.111,15] triaconta–1(29),11(30),12,14,25,27–hexaene (L2)] and hexathia-chelating ligand [1,4,7,10,13,16-hexathiacyclooctadecane (L3)] were used in the human hepatoma-derived HepG2 cell line. The cytotoxicity was measured by the neutral red uptake inhibition assay. First, the NI50 of the ligands, i.e., the concentration of the ligand inducing a 50% inhibition in neutral red uptake compared to control cells, was determined. In several metal/ligand combination experiments, the effects for L2 were difficult to interpret, whereas for L3 in combination with copper ions, a severe increase–and for zinc ions, a significant decrease of cell toxicity–relative to the metal control was observed. To further examine the different effects observed with L3 in combination with, respectively, Cu2+ and Zn2+, the glutathione (GSH) content was measured. The relative GSH content decreased as the concentration of L3 increased. It was proposed that the increased toxicity of the combination Cu2+ /L3 could be caused by the depletion of GSH and a subsequent inability to scavenge the produced reactive oxygen species (ROS). This hypothesis was supported by experiments during which vitamin E or C was added to the Cu2+ / L3 system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 75 (4 suppl 2) ◽  
pp. 53-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Jaeger ◽  
J. P. Moraes ◽  
C. R. Klauck ◽  
G. Gehlen ◽  
M. A. S. Rodrigues ◽  
...  

The advanced oxidation process (AOP) is used to increase the treatment efficiency of effluents however, it is necessary to compare the toxicity of treated and untreated effluents to evaluate if the decontamination process does not cause any biological harm. Cultured cells have been previously used to assess the genotoxic and cytotoxic potential of various compounds. Hence, the aim of this work was to assess the applicability of cytotoxicity assays to evaluate the toxicity related to the AOP treatment. Samples of an industrial effluent were collected after their treatment by a conventional method. Cytotoxicity of standard and AOP treated effluents was assessed in CRIB and HEp-2 cell line using the MTT and neutral red assays. We observed decrease at cell viability in the both assays (50% MTT and 13% NRU) when cells were exposed to the AOP treatment in the highest concentration. Thus, cytotoxic assays in cultured cells can be explored as an useful method to evaluate toxicity as well as to optimize effluents treatment process.


1986 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Ingold ◽  
Hanns Ulrich Seitz

Particulate enzymes (14,000 g pellet) from suspension-cultured carrot cells (Daucus carota L.) incorporated glucose from UDP-glucose and GDP-glucose into ethanol-insoluble products which were characterized as glucans or glucoprotein. Based on the test system to assay glucansynthe- tases I and II four different enzymatic activities could be distinguished on the basis of their substrate and divalent cation requirements, the influence of active substances such as nucleotides, nucleotide sugars, cellobiose, and in vivo inhibitors of cell wall glucan synthesis, their distribution in linear sucrose gradient and the nature of their products. The enzymatic activities which incor­porated glucose from UDP-glucose or GDP-glucose at low substrate concentrations (10 -6 ᴍ) were both localized in membranes of a density of 1.129 g em-3 (Golgi membranes) and synthesized a β-1,4-glucan chain. Both showed similar properties in most of the characterization experiments. The glucosyltransferase that catalysed the formation of a β-1,3-glucan from UDP-glucose (0.48 mᴍ) was found in membranes which accumulated at a density of 1.170 g · cm-3 (plasma membrane) and differed in its properties from the Golgi-localized glucosyltransferase activities in many aspects. A soluble glucosyltransferase (175,000 × g supernatant) which was also active at low concentrations of UDP-glucose (10-6 ᴍ) but showed enhanced activity under conditions where the other glucosyltransferases were inactive incorporated glucose into a proteinase-sensi­tive product. In linear sucrose gradients this enzyme migrated to different gradient densities depending on conditions.


1989 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-NP ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Chaminadas ◽  
M. Alkhalaf ◽  
J. P. Rémy-Martin ◽  
A. Y. Propper ◽  
G. L. Adessi

ABSTRACT Patterns of induced protein synthesis and secretion in guinea-pig endometrial epithelial cell cultures in response to oestrone sulphate alone and oestrone sulphate plus progesterone were investigated. Epithelial cells were cultured for 3 days in growth medium, then washed three times in a steroid-free medium. For each experiment, anticytokeratin immunostaining was used to discriminate the epithelial cells from the stromal cells. Only experiments in which the control dishes displayed more than 80% of anticytokeratinimmunostained cells were further processed. After this period oestradiol-17β (20 nmol/l; control), oestradiol-17β (20 nmol/l) plus progesterone (0·5 μmol/l), oestrone sulphate (1 μmol/l) or oestrone sulphate (1 μmol/l) plus progesterone (0·5 μmol/l) were added to the medium for 48 h. An immunocytochemical progesterone receptor assay showed that oestradiol-17β increased the progesterone receptor content of cells, and progesterone added to cultured cells in the presence of oestradiol-17β induced a significant increase in oestrogen sulphotransferase activity assessing the hormone responsiveness of the cultured cells. In these culture conditions and after 16 h of incubation, oestradiol-17β induced a 1·7-fold increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA, and [35S]methionine incorporation into cellular proteins was linearly increased up to 8 h. Biochemical changes induced by the different hormone treatments were studied by labelling the proteins with a 6-h pulse of [35S]methionine. The proteins present in the medium and in cells were analysed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by fluorography. Addition of oestrone sulphate alone or with progesterone produced a change in the patterns of cellular and secreted proteins compared with those in cells cultured with either oestradiol-17β or oestradiol-17β plus progesterone. Three cellular proteins (Mr < 14 000, isoelectric point (pI) 5·2 and 5·3; Mr 75 000, pI 4·9) and one secreted protein (Mr 155 000, pI 5·6–5·9) were specifically induced and could serve as markers of oestrone sulphate action. Journal of Endocrinology (1989) 123, 233–241


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document