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1. After dimethylnitrosamine (DMNA) administration to mice, the content of poly(A)-containing RNA decreases rapidly in the postmicrosomal fraction of the liver. We report here that the loss of free mRNA is not a result of increased nucleolytic activity. On the contrary, a decreased activity of microsomal endonuclease, assayed by its effect on polyribosomal mRNA, was demonstrated already 15 min after the administration of DMNA at 37.5 mg/kg body wt. The loss of activity was more pronounced in the rough than in the smooth membranes. Total detergent-released microsomal nucleases, as assayed by use of labelled poly(U) as substrate, showed a less rapid decline. No corresponding increase in enzyme activities was observed in the postmicrosomal fraction. 2. The dimethylnitrosamine effect on the microsomal endonuclease was not accounted for by altered lysosomal contamination of the microsomal fraction. 3. No early effect of dimethylnitrosamine administration was found on the cytoplasmic ribonuclease inhibitor.

1. Dimethylnitrosamine (37.5 mg/kg body wt.) was administered to mice by a single intraperitoneal injection, and the early effects on protein synthesis and related functions were studied in a liver S-30 system. 2. The incorporation of [14C]leucine into protein decreased rapidly after dimethylnitrosamine administration. The effect was associated with a decreased ability of the system to utilize methionyl-tRNAfMet and formyl-methionyl-tRNAfMet for 80 S ribosomal initiation-complex formation (primary initiation), and a loss of poly(A)-containing RNA from the postmicrosomal fraction. All the three effects developed simultaneously, and were clearly demonstrable within 15 min. 3. Initiation-complex formation in the polyribosomal fraction (re-initiation) was decreased to the same extent as the primary initiation, indicating that the initiation defect was not a result of the decrease in free mRNA. 4. The inhibition of initiation was only manifest at the joining of the 40 S pre-initiation complex to 60 S ribosomal subunits. It was not a result of methionyl-tRNAfMet deacylation. The functions between the formation of the methionyl-tRNAfMet-containing 80 S ribosomal complex and the first translocation on the ribosome were not involved, since the incorporation of formylmethionine into N-terminal polypeptides decreased to the same extent as the 80 S initiation-complex formation. 5. Inhibitors of protein synthesis (cycloheximide and pactamycin) decreased poly(A)-containing RNA in the postmicrosomal fraction in a similar way to dimethylnitrosamine.

Unfractionated rabbit liver tRNA, charged with [3H]methionine by use of rat liver enzymes, was separated into two [3H]methionine-containing fractions by column chromatography on Sepharose 4B. The two fractions were identified as Met-tRNAmMet and Met-tRNAfmet by (a) their different ability to form a GTP- -dependent ternary complex with IF-MP, and (b) the absence of the first fraction after selective charging of the tRNA with E. coli amino acyl tRNA synthetase. The methionine residue was without noticeable influence on the separation.

N-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)retinamide (4-HPR) is considered to be the most effective chemopreventive retinoid for chemically induced mammary carcinogenesis in rats. However, the mechanism of 4-HPR action in mammary cells is poorly understood. In the present study we examined the metabolism of 4-HPR in the mouse mammary gland in organ culture. Mammary glands excised from BALB/c mice were incubated with 4-HPR in the presence of insulin, prolactin and steroid hormones for 6 days. The glands were extracted with chloroform/methanol (2:1, v/v), and the metabolites were separated on a reversed-phase h.p.l.c. column. Three metabolites were separated in addition to 4-HPR; one of the metabolites, M2, was co-eluted with 13-cis-4-HPR, M3 was co-eluted with N-(4-methoxyphenyl)retinamide (4-MPR) and M1 remains unidentified. There appeared to be some hormonal regulation in the distribution of metabolites in the glands. Increased levels of 4-MPR and M1 were observed in insulin-plus-prolactin-treated glands as compared with the glands incubated with steroid hormones. Furthermore, it was observed that M1 isolated from the livers of 4-HPR-treated rats competed for the cellular retinoic acid-binding protein (CRABP) sites; however, 4-HPR did not bind to CRABP. These results indicate that mouse mammary gland can metabolize 4-HPR and that the metabolites which compete for CRABP sites may have physiological significance in the retinoid inhibition of mammary carcinogenesis.

A particle fraction has been isolated from mouse-melanoma tissue by differential centrifugation. This particle fraction differs in several biochemical respects from tumor mitochondria or tumor microsomes. The energy requirements for the incorporation of valine are met in an integrated manner by glycolytic enzymes associated with the particles, and the addition of exogenous ATP and ATP-generating system does not stimulate the incorporation process. Agents that deplete mitochondria of ATP and uncouple phosphorylation (dinitrophenol, dicoumarol, cyanide or anaerobiosis) do not inhibit the incorporation of amino acids. Amino acid-activating enzymes and soluble RNA are present in the particles. The particles contain melanin granules in various stages of synthesis, and this suggests that the particle fraction may participate in the formation of the protein matrix of the mature melanin granules.

Slices of rat livers were incubated with 14C amino acids, homogenized, and subjected to differential centrifugation. The microsomes were further extracted with the non-ionic detergent Lubrol W and with EDTA. These extracts and the microsome free "cell sap," freed from the pH 5 precipitable fraction, were subsequently reacted with antisera using agar diffusion techniques. The antisera employed were obtained from rabbits injected with different subcellular fractions of rat liver or with rat serum proteins. When the agar diffusion plates were autoradiographed it was found that some of the precipitates were radioactive while others were not. Control experiments indicated that this labeling was due to the specific incorporation of 14C amino acids into various rat liver antigens during incubation of the slices rather than to a non-specific adsorption of radioactive material to the immunological precipitates. When the slices were incubated with the isotope for up to 30 minutes, the serum proteins which could be extracted from the microsomes with the detergent were strongly labeled, as were a number of additional microsomal antigens of unknown significance. In contrast, the serum proteins present in the cell sap were only weakly labeled. Most of the typical cell sap proteins, both those precipitable and those soluble at pH 5, seemed to remain unlabeled. No consistently reproducible results were obtained with the EDTA extracts of the ribosomal residues remaining after extraction of the microsomes with the detergent. Incubation of the liver slices for longer periods (up to 120 minutes) led to a strong labeling of the serum proteins in the cell sap as well as to the appearance of labeling in additional cell sap proteins. The results are discussed with regard to the subcellular site of synthesis and the metabolism of the different antigens.