Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Bienz.
Subjecting bacteria to a high-voltage electric discharge renders the cells permeable to DNA. This powerful method allows the genetic manipulation of bacterial species that cannot easily be transformed by conventional techniques.
Glycoprotein Ia (GP Ia) is a relatively minor component of human blood platelets thought to be a receptor involved in collagen-induced platelet activation. However, some difficulties exist with the definition of this glycoprotein. The expression of GP Ia on resting (prostacyclin analogue-treated) and thrombin-activated platelets was compared by surface labeling with 125I-lactoperoxidase. Intact platelets or platelets solubilized in sodium dodecyl sulfate were labeled with periodate/[3H]NaBH4. Analysis on two-dimensional isoelectric focusing/sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gels showed that GP Ia is very poorly labeled in resting platelets. After activation a new spot (GP Ia*) appears with the same relative molecular mass as GP Ia under reducing conditions. GP Ia and Ia* can be clearly separated by two-dimensional nonreduced/reduced gel electrophoresis. Therefore, two glycoproteins which have been termed GP Ia exist in platelets with similar molecular weight and pI under reducing conditions. One of these (GP Ia*) is only surface-labeled when platelets are activated, indicating that it is only exposed on the surface of activated platelets. Supernatant from activated platelets contains this glycoprotein as well as other granule components. This glycoprotein is missing in platelets from two patients with collagen-response defects.
We report the case of a 38-year-old woman with hemorrhagic diathesis. Since early childhood she has suffered from epistaxis, gingival bleeding, ecchymoses and, since puberty, very frequent menorrhagia. Prolongation of bleeding time and thrombocytopenia (100,000 platelets/microliter) with giant platelets were observed. Since idiopathic thrombopenic purpura was suspected, splenectomy was performed. Neither this nor steroid treatment caused any improvement. The patient was able to give birth to an unaffected child, but delivery was followed by a major hemorrhage. In 1986, hysterectomy was considered because of frequent menorrhagia and, therefore, the patient's hemostasis was reinvestigated. The aforementioned abnormalities were confirmed and complementary examinations by electron microscope revealed giant platelets without granular abnormalities. While von Willebrand factor was normal, ristocetin agglutination was defective and analysis of platelet membrane glycoproteins showed absence of glycoprotein Ib. - These observations prompted the diagnosis of Bernard-Soulier syndrome. The study of the family demonstrated that 6 family members were heterozygote. This is believed to be the first large Bernard-Soulier family reported in Switzerland.
Platelets were metabolically labelled with 32P and the phosphoproteins examined by two-dimensional non-reduced/reduced gel electrophoresis and isoelectric-focusing/gel electrophoresis. Comparison with similar separations of surface-labelled platelets showed that the only major glycoprotein which is phosphorylated is the beta-subunit of glycoprotein Ib, indicating that this subunit contains a cytoplasmic segment. The identification was confirmed using immunoblotting with an antibody to the beta-subunit. Phosphoserine was the principal phosphorylation site, with some phosphothreonine, but phosphotyrosine was absent. No quantitative or qualitative differences could be detected in the phosphorylation of glycoprotein Ib beta from resting or activated platelets. These results exclude changes in phosphorylation of the major platelet membrane glycoproteins as a method of signal transmission by these receptors.
Thrombin activation of platelets involves two receptors: glycoprotein Ib (GPIb), which affects the kinetics of the response; and, as a strong candidate for the second, essential receptor, GPV, a hydrophobic, 82-kd glycoprotein with an isoelectric point (pI) of pH 5.85 to 6.55. Whole platelets were treated with endogenous platelets calcium-activated proteases, yielding a major fragment, GPV8, with molecular weight (mol wt) of 79 kilodaltons (kd). The fragment was purified by affinity chromatography on wheat germ agglutinin followed by ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel using first a 0 to 0.7-mol/L and then a 0 to 0.3-mol/L NaCl gradient. A rabbit was immunized with the purified GPV8 for preparation of polyclonal antibodies. Crossed immunoelectrophoresis and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) electrophoretic blotting with the separate phases of a Triton X-114 phase partition of human platelets showed the characteristic pattern of GPV in the hydrophobic phase. During thrombin-induced platelet aggregation GPV is hydrolysed, releasing a fragment, GPVf1, to the supernatant. The fragment GPVf1 still contains a thrombin-binding site. Anti-GPV antibodies blocked GPV proteolysis, but did not inhibit platelet activation induced by thrombin. We conclude that proteolysis of GPV by thrombin is not essential for platelet activation.
A panel of monoclonal antibodies was produced against purified microvillus membranes of human small intestinal enterocytes. By means of these probes three disaccharidases (sucrase-isomaltase, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase, and maltase-glucoamylase) and four peptidases (aminopeptidase N, dipeptidylpeptidase IV, angiotension I-converting enzyme, and p-aminobenzoic acid peptide hydrolase) were successfully identified as individual entities by SDS PAGE and localized in the microvillus border of the enterocytes by immunofluorescence microscopy. The antibodies were used to study the expression of small intestinal hydrolases in the colonic adenocarcinoma cell line Caco 2. This cell line was found to express sucrase-isomaltase, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase, aminopeptidase N, and dipeptidylpeptidase IV, but not the other three enzymes. Pulse-chase studies with [35S]methionine and analysis by subunit-specific monoclonal antibodies revealed that sucrase-isomaltase was synthesized and persisted as a single-chain protein comprising both subunits. Similarly, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase was synthesized as a large precursor about twice the size of the lactase subunits found in the human intestine. Aminopeptidase N and dipeptidylpeptidase IV, known to be dimeric enzymes in most mammals, were synthesized as monomers. Transport from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the trans-Golgi apparatus was considerably faster for the peptidases than for the disaccharidases, as probed by endoglycosidase H sensitivity. These results suggest that the major disaccharidases share a common biosynthetic mechanism that differs from that for peptidases. Furthermore, the data indicate that the transport of microvillus membrane proteins to and through the Golgi apparatus is a selective process that may be mediated by transport receptors.
Platelets, either unlabelled, surface-labelled by the periodate NaB3H4 method or metabolically labelled with 32P were solubilized in Triton X-114 and partitioned into aqueous and detergent phases. The phases were analysed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by silver-staining, fluorography or indirect autoradiography. Each of the phases contains a distinct set of proteins. The surface-labelled glycoproteins partition into the hydrophobic phase with the notable exceptions of glycoproteins Ib and GP17(5.8-6.5) and minor amounts of a few others. The phosphoproteins which undergo increased phosphorylation on platelet activation in general separate in the hydrophobic phase, while higher molecular weight phosphoproteins were principally in the hydrophilic phase. This method might be used as a first step in purifying many platelet components.