Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H G Mautner.
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The 10-thia analogs of pteroic acid, folic acid, their esters, and their 4-amino analogs were synthesized through a reaction sequence involving, as a key step, the condensation of 2-amino-3-cyano-5-chloromethylpyrazine with appropriately substituted thiols. The abilities of the products to inhibit the growth of methotrexate (MTX)-sensitive and MTX-resistant microorganisms were investigated as were their abilities to inhibit dihydrofolic acid reductase and thymidylic acid synthetase. Several compounds had high activity.
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The substrate specificity of choline acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.6) isolated from squid ganglia was investigated. The enzyme catalyzed the acetylation of choline and aminocholine but not of homocholine. In D(2)O solution there was considerable slowing of the transacetylation reaction. Photo-oxidation in the presence of methylene blue or rose bengal rapidly inactivated the enzyme, suggesting involvement of a histidine residue in the catalytic site. It seems likely that general-base catalysis by imidazole enhances the ability of enzyme-bound choline (or ammoniumcholine) to react with a thiolester group. Attempts to isolate an acetylthio-enzyme intermediate after incubation with [(14)C]acetylcoenzyme A were unsuccessful. A possible mechanism for the action of choline acetyltransferase is proposed.
Choline acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.6) isolated from the head ganglia of squid could be purified by use of mercurial-Sepharose columns as well as Sepharose columns to which the enzyme inhibitor p-(m-bromophenyl)vinyl pyridinium had been attached. These columns, in conjunction with 30-55% ammonium sulfate precipitation, 40-30% ammonium sulfate extraction, chromatography on sulfopropyl-Sephadex and on cellulose phosphate and hydroxylapatite columns, led to the isolation of three factions of choline acetyltransferase ranging in activity from 1000 to 4000 mumole/mg of protein/per hr. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis suggests that two of these fractions are homogeneous. The squid choline acetyltransferase is different from the mammalian-brain enzymes in having a larger molecular weight under the conditions used and in being relatively poorly inhibited by styryl pyridinium compounds.
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Conformations of analogs of acetylcholine and of related local anesthetics, in which either of the oxygen atoms had been replaced by other heteroatoms, were studied in solution by nuclear magnetic resonance. Several correlations between structure and conformation could be made.
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p-Nitrobenzene diazonium fluoroborate (NDF) is a potent inhibitor of the carbamylcholine-induced depolarization of the electroplax and of acetylcholinesterase. It probably forms covalent bonds with the acetylcholine-receptor and -esterase at the active site of the proteins. Its inhibitory strength is at least the same as that of trimethylammonium diazonium fluoroborate (TDF). The p-acetoxy analog, with its weaker electron-withdrawing group, is about ten times weaker as an inhibitor than the trimethylammonium or p-nitro analogs, both of which have strong electron-withdrawing groups. After treatment of the electroplax preparation with dithiothreitol, NDF remains an irreversible receptor-inhibitor, while TDF becomes a potent reversible receptor-activator. TDF is self-inhibitory: applied before reduction, it no longer depolarizes. Although the first observations on TDF suggested that the compound labels both proteins by virtue of the steric complementary of its trimethylammonium group to a negative subsite in the proteins, the present study indicates that it is the positively charged diazonium group that reacts with the active sites of the proteins to form a covalent bond with an appropriate amino-acid residue.
The crystal structures of acetylthiolcholine bromide and propionylthiolcholine iodide were elucidated. Acetylthiolcholine was found to be essentially isosteric with acetylselenolcholine, while the conformation of these compounds was quite different from that of acetylcholine. The importance of conformation and electron distribution in the biological actions of choline esters is discussed.