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Immunoglobulin-producing Merwin plasma cells, MPC-11, have been found to contain proplyl hydroxylase (prolyl-glycyl-peptide,2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase; EC 1.14.11.2) activity and its crossreacting protein, as well as hydroxyproline and a collagenous protein that could not be classified as type I, II, or III collagen. Friend leukemic cells, on the other hand, contained only prolyl hydroxylase. Thymus-derived (T) lymphocytes and bone-marrow-derived (B) lymphocytes freshly isolated from BALB/c mice expressed low but significant prolyl hydroxylase activity. Upon stimulation with phytohemagglutinin, the enzyme activity in T cells increased 22- to 29-fold. Crossreacting protein was also increased and appeared more stable than the prolyl hydroxylase. The effect of lipopolysaccharide stimulation on B cells uas similar but not as pronounced. Thus, even when not accompanied by other collagen biosynthetic activities, prolyl hydroxylase is present in all cells of hematologic origin.

Collagen synthesis is increased in the aortas, mesenteric arteries, and to a lesser extent, in the hearts of rats either made hypertensive with desoxycorticosterone acetate-salt or that are spontaneously hypertensive. Several markers of collagen biosynthesis were shown to be increased, including prolyl hydroxylase (EC 1.14.11.2; proline, 2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase), prolyl hydroxylase-related antigen, total collagen content, and the incorporation of [(3)H]proline into total protein and into collagen. The antihypertensive agents chlorothiazide and reserpine, when administered before the onset of hypertension in the rats treated with desoxycorticosterone acetate-salt, prevented or diminished the increase in collagen biosynthesis. When reserpine was given after the onset of hypertension, prolyl hydroxylase activity was decreased concomitant with the decrease in blood pressure. Treatment with reserpine is particularly effective in diminishing arterial prolyl hydroxylase activity.

beta-Aminopropionitrile, a specific inhibitor of lysyl oxidase prevented the rise in blood pressure induced by deoxycorticosterone-salt in rats. In addition, after the onset of hypertension, administration of beta-aminopropionitrile lowered the blood pressure. Concomitant with the lowering of blood pressure, there was a reduction in the more highly crosslinked form of vascular collagen. These findings would indicate that increases in vascular connective tissue are not only sequelae of hypertension, but may also contribute to the maintenance of elevated blood pressure.

Isolated bovine retinal and brain microvessels, exhibiting a patent lumen, were used to study the contribution of the microvasculature to the blood-brain and blood-retina barriers. The diffusion marker, sucrose, was taken up slowly by the isolated microvessels in contrast to leucine, tyrosine, and valine which were taken up at a considerably faster rate. Uptake of leucine was temperature dependent but resistant to inhibition by ouabain and sodium azide. The large neutral amino acids exhibited stereospecificity and cross-competition for uptake by the isolated microvessels. The apparent Kms for uptake for tyrosine, leucine, and valine were III micron,133 micron, and 500 micron, respectively.

The turnover of total collagen in several tissues of 12-week-old normotensive and hypertensive rats was estimated by using tritium-labeled proline as a precursor. The effect of reutilization of the label was minimized by treatment with large doses of unlabeled proline subsequent to administering the radioactive imino acid. The collagen from skin, tail tendon, aorta, and mesenteric artery in normotensive animals had a half-life of about 60--70 days. In hypertensive animals the half-lives of skin and tail tendon collagen were unchanged but the half-lives of collagen in the aorta and mesenteric artery were reduced to 17 days.

A protein, enzymatically inactive but immunologically related to prolyl hydroxylase (prolyl-glycyl-peptide, 2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase; EC 1.14.11.2) (cross-reacting protein), has been purified to near homogeneity from skin of newborn rats. The purified protein has a molecular weight of 60,000 on gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis, corresponding to that of the smaller of the two dissimilar subunits of the enzyme. The two subunits of prolyl hydroxylase differ markedly from one another in their amino acid compositions, but crossreating protein and the smaller subunit are very similar in composition. On antibody-affinity chromatography both subunits reacted with the antibody developed against the intact enzyme. Neither crossreacting protein nor the 60,000 molecular weight subunit was adsorbed onto concanavalin A, which adsorbed the intact enzyme as well as the larger subunit. It would appear that crossreacting protein is identical to one of the subunits of prolyl hydroxylase or metabolically related to it.

Synthesis of collagen in the vasculature and other tissues of normotensive rats is markedly reduced by reserpine. Hypophysectomy produces similar effects. The effects of reserpine on collagen biosynthesis may be mediated through the hypothalamus.

Prolyl hydroxylase (proline,2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase, EC 1.14.11.2) is a mixed-function oxygenase that hydroxylates peptidyl proline with the simultaneous and stoichiometric decarboxylation of alpha-ketoglutarate to succinate and CO2. It has been found that highly purified preparations of the enzyme can decarboxylate alpha-ketoglutarate in the absence of a peptidyl proline substrate. The uncoupled decarboxylation proceeds at only a fraction of the rate of the whole reaction and for study requires substrate quantities of the pure enzyme, as well as oxygen, ferrous ion, and ascorbate. No hydroxyproline is formed under these conditions. Immobilized antiserum to prolyl hydroxylase was found to remove both activities from enzyme preparations. However, addition of free antiserum during incubation inhibits only the complete reaction. Poly(L-proline), a specific inhibitor of prolyl hydroxylation, enhances the uncoupled decarboxylation of alpha-ketoglutarate without itself being hydroxylated. All of these findings prove that alpha-ketoglutarate can serve as substrate in the absence of peptidyl proline and is most likely the initial site of attack by oxygen. In the coupled reaction an oxidized form of the keto acid, perhaps a peroxy acid, then attacks prolyl residues in the unhydroxylated substrate.

The addition of ascorbate to the culture medium of early log-phase mouse fibroblasts (L-929 cells) resulted in a 5-fold increase of prolyl hydroxylase activity. Maximal activity was reached within 2 hr after addition of 5 muM ascorbate. The total amount of enzyme-related antigen did not change on treatment with ascorbate and the activation was shown to be independent of RNA and protein synthesis. The increase in activity caused by ascorbate is therefore due to the activation of a preformed precursor. Enzyme (molecular weight 260,000-300,000) and putative precursor (molecular weight 85,000-105,000) were separated by chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex. Treatment of intact cells with dithiothreitol resulted in an almost quantitative conversion of the enzyme to the smaller inactive protein. When these cells were treated with ascorbate or incubated overnight in fresh medium the enzyme reappeared and precursor concentrations decreased proportionately. Ascorbate may act by bringing about aggregation of enzymatically inactive subunits.

A cell-free system that actively synthesizes collagen was prepared from L-929 fibroblasts. Chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques were used to demonstrate that the only collagenous products are pro alpha(1) and pro alpha(2) chains. The collagen synthesized by the cell-free system was also compared to the collagen extracted from the cells. The cellular collagen was composed of aggregates of pro-alpha chains, while no alpha chains were found. Procollagen peptidase activity could not be detected in the cells, and the activity present in the medium was low, comparable to that in dermatosparaxic cell cultures. These properties indicate that L-929 cells may be a model system for dermatosparaxis.

Methylmalonic acidemia is an inherited metabolic disorder thus far found in children and characterized by the excessive excretion of methylmalonate in the urine. Typically these children exhibit vomiting, lethargy, ketoacidosis, and failure to grow. Many of the patients are mentally retarded and die early in life. Two variants of this disease are known. In one, the administration of vitamin B(12) will reverse or prevent these clinical findings, whereas in a second variant vitamin B(12) therapy is of no value. This paper presents the first enzymatic evidence (obtained with cell-free liver extracts) that bears on two important aspects of the disease. It has been found that methylmalonylCoA carbonylmutase activity is essentially absent in the livers of patients suffering from one variant (vitamin B(12)-unresponsive) of the disease. Secondly, it has been found that the livers of patients with the second variant (vitamin B(12)-responsive) of the disease show normal enzymatic behavior in the presence of the coenzyme form of vitamin B(12), but are identical to the vitamin B(12)-unresponsive variant in the absence of the added coenzyme. Thus the enzyme studies fully support the clinical observations that two types of this disease exist.