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Biomedical subjects

L Packer

Publications and source records attributed to L Packer.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Vitamin E radical reaction with antioxidants in rat liver membranes.

The Japanese herbal medicine Sho-saiko-to-go-keishi-ka-shakuyaku-to (TJ-960) has been demonstrated to have an antioxidant action by quenching free radicals. The effects of TJ-960 on the tocopheroxy radicals generated by an arachidonic acid and lipoxygenase oxidation system were compared with those of the ascorbate and glutathione in vitamin E-enriched rat liver microsomes and submitochondrial membrane particles (SMP). Using electron spin resonance spectrometry, the disappearance of the tocopheroxy radicals after addition of glutathione and ascorbate was detected in microsomes and SMP, with ascorbate displaying a more potent action than glutathione. Addition of TJ-960 demonstrated a similar effect on the tocopheroxy radicals in microsomes and SMP. In the presence of TJ-960, ascorbate, and glutathione, the loss of vitamin E in the vitamin E-enriched microsomes of rat liver undergoing oxidation was slowed down. In this paper, we introduced TJ-960 as another replenisher of vitamin E in membrane, increasing the membrane's resistance against oxidative damage.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Changes in membrane lipid composition during saline growth of the fresh water cyanobacterium Synechococcus 6311.

Growth of Synechococcus 6311 in the presence of 0.5 molar NaCl is accompanied by significant changes in membrane lipid composition. Upon transfer of the cells from a low salt' (0.015 molar NaCl) to high salt' (0.5 molar NaCl) growth medium at different stages of growth, a rapid decrease in palmitoleic acid (C16:1 delta 9) content was accompanied by a concomitant increase in the amount of the two C18:1 acids (C18:1 delta 9, C18:1 delta 11), with the higher increase in oleic acid C18:1 delta 9 content. These changes began to occur within the first hour after the sudden elevation of NaCl and progressed for about 72 hours. The percentage of palmitic acid (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0) remained almost unchanged in the same conditions. High salt-dependent changes within ratios of polar lipid classes also occurred within the first 72 hours of growth. The amount of monogalactosyl diacylglycerol (bilayer-destabilizing lipid) decreased and that of the digalactosyl diacylglycerol (bilayer-stabilizing lipid) increased. Consequently, in the three day old cells, the ratio of monogalactosyl diacylglycerol to digalactosyl diacylglycerol in the membranes of high salt-grown cells was about half of that in the membranes of low salt-grown cells. The total content of anionic lipids (phosphatidylglycerol and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol) was always higher in the isolated membranes and the whole cells from high salt-grown cultures compared to that in the cells and membranes from low salt-grown cultures. All the observed rearrangements in the lipid environment occurred in both thylakoid and cytoplasmic membranes. Similar lipid composition changes, however, to a much lesser extent, were also observed in the aging, low salt-grown cultures. The observed changes in membrane fatty acids and lipids composition correlate with the alterations in electron and ion transport activities, and it is concluded that the rearrangement of the membrane lipid environment is an essential part of the process by which cells control membrane function and stability.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1990

The antipsoriatic compound anthralin influences bioenergetic parameters and redox properties of energy transducing membranes.

Bioenergetic parameters and redox properties of energy transducing membranes in rat liver mitochondria and cyanobacteria were investigated in the presence of the antipsoriatic compound anthralin (1,8-dihydroxy-9-anthrone). Transmembrane pH and electrical gradients were determined using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. In mitochondria, ubiquinones 9,10 and other redox components of the electron transport chain are reduced by anthralin; the proton motive force is increased. In the absence of ADP, anthralin slightly stimulates mitochondrial cyanide-insensitive oxygen consumption. It is suggested that increased cyanide-insensitive respiration is due to enhanced autoxidation of mitochondrial components and/or catalyzed oxidation of anthralin. In the presence of ADP mitochondrial respiration is decreased, and ATP synthesis is inhibited. Uncoupler-induced mitochondrial respiration is also decreased by anthralin, indicating inhibition of the electron transport chain. In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC 6311 anthralin increases the pH gradient and decreases ATP levels. Thus, anthralin acts as an electron donor to membrane associated redox components and inhibits ATP synthesis in two different biologic systems. In human keratinocytes oxygen metabolism is influenced by anthralin in a similar pattern as in isolated mitochondria, and ATP content is decreased. Because anthralin reacts with redox components in different biologic membranes, alterations of subcellular/cellular redox status and energy metabolism might contribute significantly to its antiproliferative activity.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

pKa values and partition coefficients of nitroxide spin probes for membrane bioenergetics measurements.

Knowledge of pKa's is necessary to calculate intracellular/intravesicular pH values from nitroxide accumulation in cells or vesicles as detected with electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. pKa values were confirmed in lipid vesicles of known internal pH. To help select probes that do not accumulate in lipid membranes, octanol/buffer partition coefficients of uncharged nitroxides were determined. As an application of selected probes, pH gradients and internal aqueous volumes were analyzed in mitochondria (one internal compartment) and in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus 6311 (two internal compartments). The combination of 3-carboxy-, 3-amino- and 3-aminocarbonyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidin-1-yloxyl was found to be most satisfactory for determinations of internal pH and volumes.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Electron paramagnetic resonance in dermatologic research with particular reference to photodermatology.

The study of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra in isolated skin cells, skin biopsies and the intact skin is the most direct approach to determining the existence, role and importance of ultraviolet-mediated generation of free radicals and other reactive oxygen species in dermatopathological processes. By means of spin labeling, the physicochemical properties of skin, such as membrane fluidity and polarity, can be analyzed. Spin probes can also be employed in measuring one-electron transfer reactions, and oxygen concentration in skin. EPR imaging is an emerging new technique and can be used to investigate the spatial distribution of all these parameters. The more widespread application of the EPR method in photodermatologic research will significantly contribute to improve understanding of biologic free radical processes.

Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy↗
PubMed1989

Mitochondrial electron transport-linked tocopheroxyl radical reduction.

alpha-Tocopherol (vitamin E) is a lipophilic chain-breaking antioxidant which inhibits lipid peroxidation in isolated mitochondrial membranes and protects membranes from oxidative damage. The primary oxidation product of vitamin E is the tocopheroxyl radical. Reduction of the tocopheroxyl radical can occur by reactions with water-soluble anti-oxidants such as ascorbate or glutathione, resulting in the recycling of vitamin E. Physiological concentrations of vitamin E are too low to allow detection of tocopheroxyl radical by ESR. After dietary supplementation with vitamin E, a 10-20-fold increase in the rat liver mitochondrial membrane content of vitamin E was achieved and this allowed for direct detection of the tocopheroxyl radical by ESR, after treatment with an oxidizing system composed of lipoxygenase and arachidonic acid. By using submitochondrial particle membranes, it was shown that NADH, succinate, and reduced cytochrome c-linked oxidation reduce the tocopheroxyl radical, preventing both accumulation of the radical and vitamin E consumption. As the electron transport chain can reduce tocopheroxyl radical it may have an important physiological role in recycling vitamin E.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Electron spin resonance measurements of the effect of ionophores on the transmembrane pH gradient of an acidophilic bacterium.

The delta pH in ionophore-treated cells of an acidophile has been determined by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The values obtained were comparable to those obtained using the more conventional techniques involving radiolabeled probes. No binding of the spin-labeled probe was observed as determined by two independent control experiments and by the characteristics of the probe signal. These results led us to conclude that the delta pH measured in protonophore/ionophore-treated cells is a result of a Donnan potential, which may be a physical property of all intact bacterial cells at low pH values.

Bacillus↗
PubMed1989

Tocopheroxyl radical persistence and tocopherol consumption in liposomes and in vitamin E-enriched rat liver mitochondria and microsomes.

Substantial loading of rat liver mitochondrial and microsomal membranes with D-alpha-tocopherol was achieved by dietary supplementation with no adverse effects of this loading being apparent, e.g. on treadmill exercise endurance. The tocopheroxyl radical was readily detected by ESR in the enriched microsomes and mitochondria. Continuous enzymatic oxidation with horseradish peroxidase and a hydrophilic phenol, to favor selective oxidation of tocopherol without the involvement of lipid peroxidation, allowed the tocopheroxyl radical to be observed for up to 1 h in liposomes of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine and for about 15 min in the subcellular membranes. Total alpha-tocopherol decreased throughout this period, but a significant residual fraction remained after all the ESR signal of tocopheroxyl had disappeared. Decay kinetics of the tocopheroxyl radical ESR signal produced by a burst of intense UV irradiation consisted of a rapid initial phase and a slower exponential decay. A more narrow and more persistent ESR signal, not yet chemically identified, was observed after the tocopheroxyl radical had disappeared under prolonged oxidation. Ascorbic acid prevented formation of the tocopheroxyl radical until the ascorbyl radical ESR signal had decayed, whereas uric acid, up to saturating concentration in phosphate buffer, had no effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Iron binding to alpha-tocopherol-containing phospholipid liposomes.

Tocopherols (vitamin E) located in the hydrophobic domains of biological membranes act as chain breaking antioxidants preventing the propagation of free radical reactions of lipid peroxidation. The naturally occurring form, d-alpha tocopherol is an exquisite molecule in that it is intercalated in the membrane in such a way that the hydrophobic tail anchors the molecule positioning the chromanol ring containing the hydroxyl group, which is the essence of its antioxidant function, at the polar hydrocarbon interface of phospholipid membranes. The interaction of this group with water soluble substances is not very well understood. In the present study, an investigation was made of the interaction of ascorbate and ferrous ions (Fe+2) initiators of lipid peroxidation with alpha tocopherol. The results show that tocopherol increases membrane associated iron. The formation of a tocopherol iron complex in the presence of phospholipid liposomes and ascorbate in its reduced form is indicated. These results suggest a new way in which tocopherols act to inhibit lipid peroxidation.

Ascorbic Acid↗
PubMed1989

Characterization of the cytochrome c oxidase in isolated and purified plasma membranes from the cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans.

Functionally intact plasma membranes were isolated from the cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) Anacystis nidulans through French pressure cell extrusion of lysozyme/EDTA-treated cells, separated from thylakoid membranes by discontinuous sucrose density gradient centrifugation, and purified by repeated recentrifugation. Origin and identity of the chlorophyll-free plasma membrane fraction were confirmed by labeling of intact cells with impermeant protein markers, [35S]diazobenzenesulfonate and fluorescamine, prior to membrane isolation. Rates of oxidation of reduced horse heart cytochrome c by purified plasma and thylakoid membranes were 90 and 2 nmol min-1 (mg of protein)-1, respectively. The cytochrome oxidase in isolated plasma membranes was identified as a copper-containing aa3-type enzyme from the properties of its redox-active and EDTA-resistant Cu2+ ESR signal, the characteristic inhibition profile, reduced minus oxidized difference spectra, carbon monoxide difference spectra, photoaction and photodissociation spectra of the CO-inhibited enzyme, and immunological cross-reaction of two subunits of the enzyme with antibodies against subunits I and II, and the holoenzyme, of Paracoccus denitrificans aa3-type cytochrome oxidase. The data presented are the first comprehensive evidence for the occurrence of aa3-type cytochrome oxidase in the plasma membrane of a cyanobacterium similar to the corresponding mitochondrial enzyme (EC 1.9.3.1).

Cell Fractionation↗
PubMed1989

Mitochondria and microsomal membranes have a free radical reductase activity that prevents chromanoxyl radical accumulation.

Enzyme-dependent mechanisms which prevent accumulation of chromanoxyl radicals derived from the vitamin E analogue, 2,2,5,7,8-pentamethyl-6-hydroxycromane (PMC), were characterized in rat liver microsomal and mitochondrial membranes. The free radical oxidation product of PMC (chromanoxyl radical) was generated in membranes using either photochemical (uv light) or enzymatic (lipoxygenase and arachidonic acid) methods and detected by ESR. Substrates (NADH or NADPH) prevented accumulation of chromanoxyl radicals until the substrate was fully consumed. In microsomes, reduced glutathione increased the efficacy of NADPH in preventing the accumulation of the chromanoxyl radical, but was without effect in the absence of NADPH. Ascorbate also prevented accumulation of the chromanoxyl radical. It is concluded that rat liver microsomes and mitochondria have both enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms for reducing chromanoxyl radicals.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Role of carboxyl residues and membrane lipids in cation binding to bacteriorhodopsin.

To investigate the site specificity of cation binding to bacteriorhodopsin, carboxyl groups were chemically modified in purple membrane preparations from Halobacterium halobium. Cation binding followed by EPR and visible spectroscopy has led us to the conclusion that two cations bind to the surface regions and that at least one cation binds to carboxyl groups in the protein interior. Conformational freedom is necessary for the cooperative conversion of deionized blue species to cation-reconstituted purple species. Studies of white membranes from the JW-5 strain showed that a higher content of charged lipids results in the binding of approximately 100 more color-regulating cations and in negative cooperativity in the blue-to-purple species conversion. A greater dependence of protein structure on these bound cations suggests a role for cations in the modulation of opsin-lipid interaction.

Bacteriorhodopsins↗
PubMed1989

Impairment of enzymic and nonenzymic antioxidants in skin by UVB irradiation.

Antioxidants may play a significant role in ameliorating or preventing photobiologic damage in skin that could lead to cutaneous disorders such as cancer and premature aging. The objective of this study was to assess the acute cutaneous enzymic and nonenzymic antioxidant response to a single exposure of large fluence (300 mJ/cm2) ultraviolet radiation (greater than 280 nm) in hairless mice. This treatment caused an immediate and statistically significant inhibition of glutathione reductase and catalase activity. Glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were not affected. Glutathione levels decreased and, conversely glutathione disulfide concentrations increased. A slight depletion of the total glutathione was observed, while the content of total ascorbic acid did not change. The lipophilic antioxidants alpha-tocopherol, ubiquinol 9 and ubiquinone 9 also decreased significantly, and the concentration of malondialdehyde remained constant. The free radical scavenging activity of epidermis, as assessed by reduction of the stable, cationic nitroxide radical [2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinoxy-4-(2',4',6'-trimethyl) methylpyridinium perchlorate] was considerably inhibited. The study indicates that immediately after exposure to a large fluence of ultraviolet radiation the enzymic and nonenzymic antioxidant capacity of skin decreases significantly.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Free radical reduction mechanisms in mouse epidermis skin homogenates.

Scavenging mechanisms for persistent free radicals were investigated using nitroxide-type radicals as model compounds. The free radical reducing activity of a) isolated thioredoxin reductase, a flavin containing oxidoreductase, b) skin homogenates, and c) the epidermis of hairless mice was studied by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. In all three systems, reduction rates of different classes of nitroxide free radicals exhibited the following order: oxazolidinoxy greater than piperidinoxy greater than dihydropyrroloxy. The main reductant for piperidinoxy radicals in mouse skin homogenate is ascorbic acid. Other reducing activities were stimulated by NAD(P)H and could be inhibited by N-ethyl maleimide, suggesting involvement of thiol-dependent processes. Mammalian thioredoxin, a competitive inhibitor of nitroxide reduction by thioredoxin reductase, significantly stimulates nitroxide scavenging in skin homogenate. Thioredoxin reductase did not significantly participate in nitroxide reduction in skin homogenates. At the surface of mouse epidermis a cationic dihydropyrroloxy nitroxide, which was stable in the presence of mammalian thioredoxin reductase was readily reduced. The epidermal reduction was inhibited by zinc, N-ethyl maleimide, and by heat (70 degrees C, 5 min). At least for mouse epidermis, reduction of a variety of nitroxides is a complex phenomenon involving enzymatic and nonenzymatic mechanisms and cannot be used as a specific assay for an enzyme, e.g., thioredoxin reductase. The study indicates the epidermis contains an effective antioxidant system that scavenges ascorbate-sensitive piperidinoxy nitroxides as well as more reducing radicals exemplified by dihydropyrroloxy nitroxides.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Investigations of anthralin free radicals in model systems and in skin of hairless mice.

The antipsoriatic compound anthralin (1.8-dihydroxy-9-anthrone) is converted in skin into several oxidized products, including persistent free radicals that are not well characterized. Anthralin oxidation was investigated by electron spin resonance spectroscopy in a biological system and in a chemical system. Free radical formation in the skin of hairless mice is reduced by the antioxidant tocopherol. The data indicate that tocopherol acts by interfering with free radical formation rather than by scavenging persistent anthralin radicals directly. The skin radicals do not correspond to 10-anthranyl, the initial paramagnetic anthralin oxidation product. Similar radicals obtained in skin are formed by anthralin exposed to ultraviolet light or alkaline solution and by mitochondria and microsomes. The pertinent skin radical is attributed to products derived from anthralin dark structures, the final oxidation products of anthralin. It is suggested that resonance stabilized, paramagnetic polycyclic hydrocarbons are the compounds detected. Their stability and low reactivity indicate a low potential for cutaneous irritation and tumor promotion. Reactive oxygen species, which have been reported to be formed concomitantly during oxidation of anthralin, and the initially formed highly reactive 10-anthranyl radical are more potent candidates for mediating tumor promotion and inflammation.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Vitamin E: introduction to biochemistry and health benefits.

Free radical-mediated damage has been implicated in cellular changes that occur over time in the aging process and in development of degenerative diseases. Research results to date have demonstrated that vitamin E and the other antioxidants function to prevent or minimize peroxidative damage in biological systems and suggest that adequate antioxidant defense can protect the body from the high free radical concentrations that are unavoidable at the present time.

Animals↗