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Biomedical subjects

J Forstner

Publications and source records attributed to J Forstner.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Mucin depletion in the intestine of malnourished rats.

The effects of malnutrition on mucosal goblet cell mucin levels were studied in rats deprived of 50% of their daily intake, as judged by pair-fed, age-matched control animals, for 5 wk. Average daily weight gain was 0.7 g/day compared with 5.8 g in age-matched (AM) rats; final weight was 246 +/- 9 g compared with 406 +/- 4 g. Immunoassayable mucin, sucrase, protein, and DNA were assayed in mucosal scrapings from the proximal, middle, and distal segments of the small intestine in malnourished rats, AM rats, and a third group of low-weight, less mature (LM) rats. Total protein, total DNA, and protein-to-DNA ratios in malnourished rats were unchanged compared with AM control rats and often higher than levels in LM control rats. In malnourished animals, mucin concentration per milligram protein was significantly decreased below AM control animals in the upper two segments and below LM control animals in all segments. Mucin concentration per milligram DNA was significantly lower in malnourished rats than in all segments of both control groups. In contrast, sucrase activity per milligram protein or DNA was either unchanged or increased in the malnourished rats, indicating that the reduction in mucin concentration was selective and did not reflect all surface glycoproteins. Isolated mucins from malnourished and AM control rats were chemically similar, and the affinity and number of antigenic determinants were the same. Malnutrition therefore leads to an absolute decrease in intestinal mucin rather than reduced molecular antigenicity. Impaired capacity to maintain mucosal mucin content may be a factor in reducing intestinal resistance to enteric infection in malnutrition.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Acute and chronic models for hypersecretion of intestinal mucin.

Mucin secretion was examined in three functional models relevant to human disease, using rat small intestinal rings or in situ loops, [3H]glucosamine precursor labelling, gel chromatography and a specific radioimmunoassay for mucin. As a model for acute bacterial secretory diarrhoea, tissues were exposed to cholera toxin for up to 4 h. Both stored and newly synthesized radioactive glycoproteins were secreted in amounts twofold to threefold above control levels. Immunoreactive mucin secretion increased fivefold to eightfold. Other agents known to raise cAMP levels did not stimulate mucin secretion, suggesting that cholera may release mucin by a non-cAMP-dependent mechanism. Sepharose 2B chromatography indicated that secreted mucin was smaller in size than intracellular mucin and had compositional differences suggestive of 'immaturity' or protein contamination. In chronically (seven days) reserpinized rats, used as a model of glycoprotein abnormalities relevant to cystic fibrosis, mucin secretion increased twofold to threefold, but the most prominent abnormality was a marked increase in [3H]glucosamine incorporation into all tissue glycoproteins. On purification, the intracellular mucin of reserpine-treated rats had the same composition as mucin from control rats, but the former was smaller in size and had a higher specific radioactivity. Mucin hypersecretion in reserpinized rats may therefore be secondary to a primary and chronic hyperstimulation of mucin biosynthesis. A model of intestinal 'anaphylaxis' or immune-mediated diarrhoea was created in Hooded Lister rats by immunizing with egg albumin (10 micrograms) and challenging with the same antigen in intestinal loops 14 days later. After 4 h, total protein, DNA and brush border sucrase were increased in the lumen. Enhancement of mucin secretion did not occur, however, and therefore does not seem to be a particular feature of the pathophysiology of this model.

Anaphylaxis↗
PubMed1984

Cholera-induced mucin secretion from rat intestine: lack of effect of cAMP, cycloheximide, VIP, and colchicine.

Purified cholera enterotoxin (20-50 micrograms) and dialyzed cholera filtrate (50-125 mg) increased net glycoprotein synthetic and secretory rates in rat intestinal epithelium. Specific goblet cell mucin secretion was increased 5- to 10-fold. However, other agents that increase intestinal cAMP and accelerate glycoprotein synthesis did not enhance mucin secretion. This was true for dibutyryl cAMP (10(-3) and 10(-2) M) with or without theophylline (10(-3) M) and isoproterenol (10(-4) M) with or without dibutyryl cAMP (10(-3) M). Hyperosmotic mannitol (450 mosmol/l), which increases fluid secretion but does not affect cAMP, and vasoactive intestinal peptide (2 X 10(-7) M), which increases both fluid secretion and cAMP, both failed to increase mucin secretion, implying that fluid "washout" of mucin adherent to the mucosal surface is not responsible for cholera-induced mucin secretion. Cycloheximide, an inhibitor of cholera diarrhea in vivo (20 mg/kg) or in vitro (1 mM), effectively abolished [3H]leucine incorporation into protein but did not affect cholera-induced mucin secretion. Colchicine (10-50 mg/kg) given to block microtubule assembly was similarly without effect on mucin secretion. These findings suggest that there is a dissociation of electrolyte/fluid and mucin secretory processes and cast doubt on the widely accepted notion that all cholera effects are mediated via the well-known adenylate cyclase-cAMP mechanism.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Abnormal mucus: nominated but not yet elected.

Mucus secretions of the intestine may contribute to plug formation in CF, through several mechanisms acting alone or simultaneously. Excessive mucin secretion and relative dehydration of secretions would elevate mucin concentration and enhance mucus gel formation. Deficient pancreatic enzymes combined with intrinsic hyperglycosylation of mucin or an increase in covalently bound fatty acid groups on mucins, would retard normal proteolytic degradation of mucins. Excessive calcium ions in the ducts would tend to decrease mucin solubility, while excessive hydrogen ions and protein (especially albumin) together with mucins, may be responsible for the appearance of proteinaceous ductal 'plugs' characteristic of CF pathology.

Albumins↗
PubMed1983

Human intestinal mucin in cystic fibrosis.

Human intestinal mucins from six subjects with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and eight subjects without CF were prepared from tissue obtained at surgery (one case) and postmortem. Subjects were not age-matched, but the nonCF mucin was obtained from subjects with ages which bracketed those of the CF subjects. Cesium chloride analytical gradient ultracentrifugation showed that CF mucins were generally denser than nonCF mucins. Sedimentation coefficients were also higher in the CF samples. CF mucins were enriched in fucose, galactose, N-acetylglucosamine and total carbohydrate per mg protein and per oligosaccharide chain (mole/mole GalNAc). Fucose/sialic acid molar ratios were significantly higher in CF mucins, and the average oligosaccharide chain length was approximately three residues greater in CF as compared with nonCF mucins. There was no difference in amino acid profiles or the number of side chains per molecule. The mean sulfate content was higher in the CF mucins but not to a level of significance; however, in the eight mucins, sulfate content correlated positively with total carbohydrate, N-acetylglucosamine and galactose, and therefore increased with oligosaccharide chain length. CF intestinal mucin was therefore denser and more highly glycosylated than nonCF musin and probably contained more sulfate. The increase in glycosylation resulted from a rise in fucose, galactose, and N-acetylglucosamine without a concomitant rise in sialic acid.

Acetylglucosamine↗
PubMed1982

Clinical aspects of gastrointestinal mucus.

In such a bird's eye view of a very complicated and complex literature it is inevitable that significant contributions, particularly from earlier investigators, will have been overlooked. We have tried, however, to provide a reasonable framework for the many presentations and discussions which will take place at this conference. As in the past, it is evident that much needs to be done to reconcile the excellent histochemical studies of gastrointestinal mucus in many diseases with the increasing knowledge of mucin structure and composition. This will only be achieved by extraction of highly pure mucin from diseased bowel. In this regard, post mortem material provides an opportunity for mucin researchers which is not available to workers in other fields because of relative freedom from decomposition. The wedding of mucin technology with immunology is also a major priority. Immunoassay techniques provide the answer to quick and accurate product identification in secretion studies. Specific monoclonal antibodies will provide the route to structural differentiation of antigens in complex mixtures. It is also evident that we must seek to develop a variety of controllable models for the study of functional parameters of mucus in physiological conditions, parasite rejection, neoplasia and inflammatory states. Promising initiatives have been touched upon in this review, but these must only be the beginning. One must conclude, however, by recognizing that advances in knowledge have been truly remarkable since the last conference in 1976. One senses that some of the keys which will one day unlock the gates of this "ill-defined" kingdom are already in hand, while the remainder are at least within reach.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1982

Soluble neutral maltase--glucoamylase from the small intestine: separation and characterization of components with differing affinity for concanavalin A.

Intestinal maltase with a neutral pH optimum exists in both a brush border membrane-bound form and a soluble form in suckling rat intestine. Previous experiments in our laboratory have shown that the soluble enzyme contains a component which binds much more tightly to concanavalin A (ConA) than solubilized forms of the membrane enzyme. We studied the origin of this component by subjecting neutral, soluble maltase activity to chromatography on Sepharose 4B at age 13, 18 (preweaning), and 25 (postweaning) days. At 13 days, two maltase peaks were obtained with approximate molecular weights of 400 000 (peak I) and 150 000 (peak II). Peak II was less prominent at 18 days and was absent at 25 days. At 13 days, the majority of peak I consisted of material which was bound between 0.025 and 0.05 M alpha-methyl mannoside on gradient elution chromatography of ConA-Sepharose. Peak II contained material which eluted between 0.075 and 0.3 M alpha-methyl mannoside. At 25 days, all of the soluble maltase eluted between 0.025 and 0.04 M alpha-methyl mannoside. Peak I and peak II maltases had similar pH optima and Km's for maltase. Peak II maltase had a fourfold greater activity toward glycogen than peak I maltase with approximately the same activity for palatinose, turanose, and trehalose. Both maltases were precipitated by an antibody raised against adult membrane-bound maltase. Soluble maltase with neutral pH activity in the suckling rat intestine, therefore, consists of two immunologically related isozymes which differ in their molecular weight, their binding by ConA, and their specificity for glycogen. The small isozyme disappears at or about the time of weaning.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Intestinal secretion of mucin in chronically reserpine-treated rats.

Intestinal glycoprotein synthesis and secretion were measured in vivo and in vitro in rats treated for 7 days with reserpine. Goblet cell mucin was measured by radioimmunoassay. Reserpine-treated rats contained 1.4 times more mucin in intestinal tissue than control rats (P less than 0.05) and incorporated [1-14C]glucosamine in vivo at 1.52 times the rate of controls (P less than 0.01). Intestinal slices incubated for 90 min in vivo incorporated 1.4 times more [14C]glucosamine (P less than 0.001) and 3.0 times more [3H]threonine (P less than 0.01) into protein of reserpine-treated tissue than controls. The extra 14C was localized to mucin and to smaller components that had affinity for Concanavalin-A-Sepharose, did not bind to mucin antibody, and were therefore nonmucin glycopeptides. In vitro secretion of mucin was three times greater for reserpine-treated tissue than for control tissue (P less than 0.0001). There was an impairment in the mucin secretory response of reserpine-treated tissue to the addition of cholera toxin. Thus, chronic reserpine treatment results primarily in a generalized increase in the rate of intestinal glycoprotein synthesis, subsequent accumulation in tissues, and an increased (but not fully proportional) secretion of mucin. We speculate that in cystic fibrosis a similar sequence of glycoprotein abnormalities may be responsible for the gradual obliteration of exocrine gland ducts with viscous mucus.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Mucin degradation in the intestine.

Rat intestinal mucin was labelled biologically by intraperitoneal injection of radioactive amino acids and monosaccharides 3--6 h prior to killing, followed by isolation and purification of the mucin from mucosal scrapings. The labelled product was then introduced into intestinal segments of rats under ether anesthesia for periods up to 3 h, removed by washing and assessed for evidence of degradation. In segments containing the pancreatic ducts the total mucin precipitable by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide fell from 80% to 5% in 3 h. At 3 h, chromatography on Sephadex G-100 and Sepharose 4B revealed multiple products, including very small molecular weight fragments deficient in carbohydrate label. With the introduction of neomycin sulfate into the segments to reduce bacterial growth, only two products were found, one corresponding in size to the original mucin and one somewhat smaller, although still in excess of 200,000 daltons. These products occurred independently of the presence of the pancreatic ducts in the segments, and in chronically pancreatectomized rats. The smaller product could not be produced by incubation with trypsin or elastase. Both products were altered antigenically as compared with the original mucin. Both products also retained the same ratio of carbohydrate and protein label as the original. It is concluded that mucins undergo early degradative changes in the intestine which do not involve deglycosylation but which involve partial loss of antigenicity and a fall in molecular weight. The pancreas is not responsible for these changes.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Isoelectric focusing of serum in cystic fibrosis: failure to distinguish between homozygote and heterozygote sera.

Thin-layer isoelectric focusing was performed on samples of sera from patients with Cystic Fibrosis, siblings and obligate heterozygotes (parents), and children without cystic fibrosis (controls). The protein band with an isoelectric point of pH 5.48, previously reported to be absent in homozygote cystic fibrosis sera, was found to have a pI of 5.25. It was present in approximately one-half of the homozygote and heterozygote sera tested, and absent from 18 percent of control sera. The presence of this band is not therefore a reliable marker for the normal gene, and cannot be used to identify the heterozygous carrier for cystic fibrosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Human intestinal goblet cell mucin.

Goblet cell mucin (GCM) has been purified for the first time from mucosal scrapings of human small intestine. Proteolytic enzymes and organic solvents were avoided during the isolation procedure. The mucin was purified by Sepharose 4B and 2B column chromatography of high-speed supernatant fractions. The most purified fraction was compared with rat intestinal GCM. The two were similar with respect to chemical composition, antigenic features, and polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The major chemical differences included a higher hexosamine-fucose and hexosamine-sialic acid ratio in human mucin. The two mucins showed strong concentration dependence in sedimentation velocity studies. Human mucin at a concentration of 0.2 to 1.5 mg protein per millilitre gave multiple associated peaks with variable So values (10.8-36.6). Rat mucin, in contrast, gave a constant (although polydisperse) pattern with So = 15.15. To explore these differences both mucins were stained with periodic acid - Schiff reagent and subjected to band ultracentrifugation at concentrations of 0.6-1.9 mug protein per millilitre. At this low concentration, rat mucin did not change in its sedimentation characteristics. In contrast, human GCM produced a single peak with So = 37.9. Thus dilution abolished polydispersity in the human but not the rat mucin, suggesting that intermolecular bonding forces in the human mucin are weaker.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1971

Calcium binding by human erythrocyte membranes.

1. The characteristics of Ca(2+) binding to haemoglobin-free human erythrocyte membranes were investigated by using (45)Ca and centrifugation partition of ;ghosts' from their external incubation medium. Equilibrium of ;ghosts' with external Ca(2+) required less than 15min. 2. The binding did not vary with temperature in the range 0-37 degrees C. 3. At pH7.4 ;ghosts' bound a maximum of 283mumol of Ca(2+)/g of ;ghost' protein, equivalent to 6.85x10(7) Ca(2+) ions per cell. 4. Increasing the ionic strength from 0.01 to 0.46 diminished Ca(2+) binding, as did ATP in concentrations ranging from 0 to 15mm in the incubation medium. 5. An increase of the pH from 3.0 to 9.3 caused a marked increase in the amount of Ca(2+) bound. 6. Extraction of (45)Ca-labelled ;ghosts' with chloroform-methanol showed that the distribution of Ca(2+) was: 79% protein-bound, 16% lipid-bound, 5% in the aqueous phase, presumably non-bound. Most of the lipid-bound Ca(2+) (about 80%) was associated with a phospholipid fraction containing phosphatidylserine, phosphoinositides and phosphatidylethanolamine, giving a molar Ca(2+): phosphorus ratio of about 1:2.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1971

Calcium binding by human erythrocyte membranes. Significance of carboxyl, amino and thiol groups.

1. The role of the ionized carboxyl groups of proteins of the erythrocyte membrane as Ca(2+) receptor sites was investigated. A water-soluble carbodi-imide [1-cyclohexyl-3-(2-morpholinoethyl)carbodi-imide methotoluene-p-sulphonate], referred to as carbodi-imide reagent, and glycine methyl ester were used to modify the free carboxyl groups of the membrane. The degree of modification was estimated from amino acid analyses, which showed the amount of glycine incorporated. As the concentration of carbodi-imide reagent was raised (0.1-0.4m) incorporation of glycine increased and Ca(2+) binding decreased by about 77%. At 0.4m-carbodi-imide reagent all of the binding of Ca(2+) to protein was abolished and it was estimated that about 37% of the side-chain carboxyl groups of aspartic acid plus glutamic acid had been blocked by glycine. 2. Acetylation of all of the free amino groups was achieved by incubating the erythrocyte ;ghosts' at pH10.3 with acetic anhydride (10-15mg/10mg of ;ghost' protein). Acetylation increased by 1.5-fold the capacity of the ;ghost' to bind Ca(2+), indicating that the remaining carboxyl groups of aspartic acid and glutamic acid were made available for Ca(2+) binding by this procedure. These findings support the concept that in normal ;ghosts', at pH7.4, Ca(2+) binding to free carboxyl groups is partially hindered by the presence of charged amino groups. 3. Treatment of ;ghosts' with N-acetylneuraminidase, which removed 94% of sialic acid residues, and treatment with 1mm-p-chloromercuribenzoate did not alter Ca(2+) binding. The major effect of 5.8mm-p-chloromercuribenzoate upon ;ghosts' was to cause a solubilization of a calcium-membrane complex, which included about one-third of the ;ghost' protein. The molar ratio of Ca(2+): protein in the solubilized material was the same as that in the intact (untreated) ;ghosts'.

Amino Acids↗