Biomedical subjects

R Deana

Publications and source records attributed to R Deana.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1995

Type IIB von Willebrand factor induces phospholipase A2 activation and cytosolic Ca2+ increase in platelets.

Von Willebrand factor (vWF) is a large glycoprotein which plays a central role in thrombus formation and blood clotting. The type IIB variant of vWF is characterized by an abnormally high affinity for the platelet receptor GPIb. Type IIB vWF purified from plasma and added to a platelet suspension induced a rapid, dose-dependent (1.2-9 micrograms/ml) increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. ATP secretion and platelet aggregation also occurred with type IIB vWF concentrations higher than about 5 micrograms/ml, which corresponds to the original plasmatic level. The IIB vWF-evoked (3 micrograms/ml) cytosolic Ca2+ increase was negligibly affected by ADP scavengers or protein kinase C inhibitors; it was drastically reduced by EGTA, La3+, Ni2+ or acetylsalicylate and abolished by the phospholipase A2 inhibitors ONO-RS-082 or oleolyloxyethyl-phosphocholine. Platelet exposure to IIB vWF caused arachidonic acid release, thromboxane B2 and inositoltrisphosphate formation. LJIB1, a monoclonal antibody against GPIb, completely suppressed all platelet responses, whereas LJCP8, an antibody against the receptor GPIIb-IIIa (alpha IIb beta 3 integrin), or the tetrapeptide RGDS, caused a complete inhibition of the aggregation but a partial inhibition of the activation-linked parameters. It is concluded that type IIB vWF-binding to GPIb induces phospholipase A2 activation, arachidonic acid release and GPIIb-IIIa dependent cellular Ca2+ influx. These events may lead to platelet secretion and aggregation.

Arachidonic Acid↗

PubMed1993

Platelet aggregation induced by plasma from type IIB von Willebrand's disease patients is associated with an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration.

The effect of type IIB von Willebrand's factor (vWF) on platelet cytosolic Ca2+ ion concentration, measured by means of the probe fura 2, was investigated. Seven patients with type IIB von Willebrand disease (vWD) were studied. Addition of type IIB vWD plasma to platelet suspensions induced a cytosolic calcium increase accompanied by platelet aggregation. Both processes were completely abolished by addition of the calcium-chelating agent EGTA, indomethacin, peptide RGDS, and monoclonal antibodies blocking the vWF binding site on GPIb-IX (LJIB1) or the cytoadhesive receptor on GPIIb-IIIa (LJCP8). The ADP-scavenger apyrase and the protein kinase C-inhibitor staurosporine partially inhibited the rate of the cytosolic calcium increase. No direct correlation between the extent of Ca2+ rise and the phenotypic expression of IIB vWD, such as the degree of spontaneous platelet aggregation or thrombocytopenia was apparent. It is suggested that aggregation and cytosolic Ca2+ increase in platelets exposed to plasma from type IIB vWD patients is mediated by a self-potentiating mechanism involving both GPIb and GPIIb-IIIa receptors as well as the thromboxane biosynthetic pathway.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1993

Staurosporine-independent platelet aggregation induced by the calcium ionophore ionomycin is inhibited by prostacyclin and sodium nitroprusside and stimulated by adrenaline.

Preincubation of platelets with the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine is known to abolish the calcium ionophore-induced ATP secretion but to decrease aggregation only partially. This indicates that, while exocytosis is necessarily connected to protein phosphorylation, a Ca(2+)-dependent aggregation occurs independently of protein phosphorylation. This aggregation pathway was inhibited by prostacyclin and sodium nitroprusside, which increase the endogenous synthesis of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP, respectively. The effect of the cyclic nucleotides was linked to the protein phosphorylation induced by them. The staurosporine-insensitive aggregation was strongly potentiated by adrenaline, an alpha 2-adrenergic agonist; adrenaline also counteracted the inhibition induced by prostacyclin and nitroprusside, with no appreciable effect on the cAMP levels and on the cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein phosphorylation. Its effect was reversed by the alpha 2-antagonist yohimbine.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine↗

PubMed1992

The antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) inhibits the dioctanoylglycerol-evoked platelet response but potentiates that elicited by ionomycin.

Preincubation of aspirin-treated human platelets with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) inhibits secretion, aggregation, and protein phosphorylation induced by dioctanoylglycerol or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). BHT alone elicits a rapid and transient phosphorylation of a 47-kDa protein, which is indistinguishable from the well-recognized major substrate of protein kinase C (PKC). Inhibition of diacylglycerol- or PMA-induced platelet activation is also observed after decay to the basal level of the BHT-evoked phosphorylation of the 47-kDa protein. By contrast BHT potentiates platelet responses elicited by the calcium ionophore ionomycin. In the presence of the PKC inhibitor staurosporine BHT fails to increase the ionomycin-promoted platelet aggregation, indicating that its effect occurs through a PKC activation, even if no correlation with the 47-kDa protein phosphorylation is observed. BHT does not significantly modify the affinity of protein kinase C purified from calf brain for Ca2+ or dioctanoylglycerol. It is concluded that: (a) a short exposure of platelets to BHT induces an activation, whereas a long exposure an inhibition of PKC, (b) at variance with diacylglycerols BHT decreases the platelet responses promoted by subsequent challenge with PKC activators themselves, and (c) similarly to other PKC activators BHT potentiates the cellular response elicited by calcium ionophores most likely by activating the phospholipase A2.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1992

Fructose-1,6-diphosphate inhibits platelet activation.

Fructose-1,6-diphosphate (FDP) is a physiological product which exhibits pharmacological properties. This study shows that FDP (1-3 mM) inhibits platelet aggregation induced by the agonists thrombin, vasopressin, platelet activating factor, ADP, adrenaline, arachidonate and the stable thromboxane analogue U 44069. Thrombin-promoted ATP secretion and cytosolic Ca2+ rise are also drastically inhibited by FDP, which decreases, although to a lesser extent, the protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation of the 47 kDa protein. The inhibition on thrombin-induced aggregation is shared, albeit less efficiently, by glucose-1,6-diphosphate and fructose-2,6-diphosphate but not by other phosphorylated monosaccharides (fructose-1:2 cyclic,6-diphosphate, glucose-1- and glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-1- and fructose-6-phosphate, mannose-6-phosphate and 5-phosphoryl ribose-1-pyrophosphate). FDP does not affect platelet activation induced by the protein kinase C activators dioctanoylglycerol or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. No increase of cAMP concentration is observed in FDP-treated platelets. Altogether, these results indicate that FDP inhibits platelet activation at a level preceding phospholipase C. The data are consistent with a general inhibitory action of FDP on signal transmission.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1992

Purification and characterization of two casein kinases from ejaculated bovine spermatozoa.

Two protein kinases active on casein and phosvitin were partially purified from the soluble fraction of ejaculated bovine spermatozoa. They were operationally termed casein kinase A and B based on the order of their elution from a phosphocellulose column. CK-A showed an approximate molecular mass of 38 kDa, and it phosphorylated serine residues of casein and phosvitin utilizing ATP as a phosphate donor (Km 19 microM). Enzyme activity was maximal in the presence of 10 mM MgCl2, whereas it decreased in the presence of spermine, polylysine, quercetin, and NaCl (20-250 mM). CK-B seemed to have a monomeric structure of about 41 kDa; it underwent autophosphorylation and cross-reacted with polyclonal antibodies raised against recombinant alpha, but not beta, subunit of human type 2 casein kinase. It phosphorylated both serine and threonine residues of casein and phosvitin, utilizing ATP (Km 12 microM) but not GTP as a phosphate donor. Threonine was more affected in the phosphorylated phosvitin than in the partially dephosphorylated substrate. CK-B was active toward the synthetic peptide Ser-(Glu)5 and calmodulin (in the latter case, in the presence of polylysine), and it was activated by spermine, polylysine, MgCl2 (30 mM), and NaCl (20-400 mM). The activity of the enzymes was not affected by cAMP, or the heat-stable inhibitor of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase, or calcium.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Inhibition of thrombin-induced platelet activation by dioctanoylglycerol pretreatment is not correlated with the 47 kDa protein phosphorylation.

The effect of platelet pretreatment with moderate amounts of 1,2-dioctanoylglycerol on subsequent thrombin-induced activation and its correlation with the degree of protein phosphorylation is studied. Protein kinase C preactivation (treatment with 1 microM dioctanoylglycerol for 20 min) significantly reduces thrombin-promoted platelet aggregation, cytosolic calcium-rise, ATP-secretion and, albeit to a lesser extent, protein phosphorylation. Exposure of platelets to dioctanoylglycerol brings about a transient phosphorylation of a 47 kDa protein and a slight but more persistent phosphorylation of proteins of approximate molecular mass 26 and 68 kDa. It is hypothesized that the latter phosphoproteins are responsible for the inhibition of the thrombin-promoted platelet activation. Agonist-evoked aggregation is more affected by a long (20 min) rather than a short (1 min) pretreatment with dioctanoylglycerol, showing no correlation with the phosphorylation of the major substrates of protein kinase C.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1992

Substrate specificity of a dicarboxyl-CoA: dicarboxylic acid coenzyme A transferase from rat liver mitochondria.

Substrate specificity of a dicarboxyl-CoA: dicarboxylic acids coenzyme A transferase purified from rat liver mitochondria was assayed. In addition to the previously identified substrates succinyl-CoA, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA and malonyl-CoA (Francesconi et al.(1989) Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 999, 163-170) also methylmalonyl-CoA, glutaryl-CoA and adipyl-CoA acted as enzyme substrates, with the latter thioester showing the highest apparent affinity. All corresponding dicarboxylic acids, but not oxaloacetic, citric, alpha-ketoglutaric, malic, fumaric and glutamic acids, acted as coenzyme A acceptor substrates. None of the tested monocarboxylic acids, or the corresponding coenzyme A esters, were enzymatically transformed by the here described coenzyme A transferase.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Platelet activation by diacylglycerol or ionomycin is inhibited by nitroprusside.

Experiments were performed to elucidate the role of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) on platelet activation induced by protein kinase C (PKC) activators and calcium ionophore. Human platelets were pretreated with acetylsalicylic acid and with hirudin and apyrase. Aggregation and ATP secretion in response to the PKC activators 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and 1-oleoyl 2-acetylglycerol (OAG) were inhibited by the nitrovasodilator sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an activator of guanylate cyclase, and by 8-bromo-cyclic GMP (8-Br-cGMP). The experiments were performed in the presence of M&B 22948, an inhibitor of cGMP phosphodiesterase. SNP and 8-Br-cGMP also inhibited platelet aggregation and secretion evoked by the ionophore ionomycin. In fura-2 loaded platelets SNP did not affect basal cytosolic Ca2+ level nor the rise induced by low concentrations of ionomycin, both in the presence and absence of extracellular Ca2+. The phosphorylation of the 47 and 20 kDa protein induced by ionomycin or PMA were not significantly decreased by SNP or 8-Br-cGMP. The present results suggest that cGMP is able to inhibit both the PKC and the Ca(2+)-dependent pathways leading to platelet activation by interfering, similarly to cAMP, with processes following protein phosphorylation, close to the effector systems.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1991

The antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene stimulates platelet protein kinase C and inhibits subsequent protein phosphorylation induced by thrombin.

The phenolic antioxidant 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethyl ethyl)-4-methylphenol (BHT) evokes a transient phosphorylation of two platelet proteins of Mr 20,000 and 47,000 that are well-known substrates of protein kinase C (PKC) and, similarly to phorbol esters, a slight but persistent phosphorylation of a protein of Mr 26,000. These effects are observed both in the presence and in the absence of extracellular calcium, but are abolished in the presence of the protein kinase C inhibitor staurosporine. The phosphorylation of the 47 kDa protein takes place mostly at the serine and, to a lesser extent, at threonine residues. BHT induces an increased binding of tritiated phorbol dibutyrate to platelets indicating a PKC translocation from cytosol to plasma membrane. Addition of BHT (20 microM) a few min prior to thrombin causes inhibition of both agonist-evoked protein phosphorylation and increase in the Ca2+ concentration, the latter inhibition being counteracted by staurosporine. The inhibitory effect lasts for several minutes even after removal of BHT from the cellular suspending medium. Similar results are obtained with nordihydroguaiaretic acid, whereas 2- and 3-tert-butyl-4-methoxyphenol (BHA) produce only slight effects. BHT activates the protein kinase C purified from pig brain in a concentration-dependent manner (up to 200 microM), whereas it does not affect the activity of other purified protein kinases such as type 1 and 2 casein kinases, type II A, II B and III tyrosine protein kinases from rat spleen and the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. It is concluded that, similarly to diacylglycerols and phorbol esters, these phenolic antioxidants activate the protein kinase C, which in turn desensitizes platelets towards subsequent phospholipase C activation.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

A procedure allowing measurement of cytosolic Ca2+ in rat platelets. Inhibition of a plasma lipoprotein on fura 2-AM loading.

Loading of the fluorescent Ca2+ probe fura 2 in rat platelets is highly inhibited by a plasmatic factor that is removed by gel filtration through a Sepharose C-2B column. Rat plasma also inhibits fura 2 loading in human platelets. The inhibitory effect is abolished by perchloric acid-deproteinization or heat denaturation of plasma suggesting a proteic nature of the inhibitory compound. Indeed the 10,000 x g supernatant of the heat denaturated plasma shows a positive effect on fura 2 accumulation, most likely by partially inhibiting its cellular effux. These effects are only negligibly shown by the corresponding fractions of human plasma. Results obtained by fractionation of rat plasma proteins by means of ion exchange DEAE Sepharose C-6B chromatography and ultracentrifugation through high density saline solutions indicate that the inhibition of cellular fura 2 loading is due to the HDL fraction of rat plasma.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Platelet responses promoted by the activation of protein kinase C or the increase of cytosolic Ca2+ are potentiated by adrenaline. Effects of cAMP and staurosporine.

We studied the action of the alpha 2 adrenergic agonist adrenaline on the platelet responses evoked by the activation of protein kinase C or by the ionophore induced increase of cytosolic Ca2+. Both the phorbol ester and ionomycin-induced aggregation are strongly potentiated by adrenaline which per se does not behave as an activating agonist. The potentiation by adrenaline is observed both when added before and after the aggregating agent; in the latter case the effect increases on increasing the delay of adrenaline addition. Adrenaline also reverses the inhibition by cAMP of the PMA (or ionomycin) induced aggregation. It also has a strong potentiating effect (over 100%) on the phorbol ester induced ATP secretion and a weaker effect on the secretion induced by ionomycin. The effect on secretion is visible only when adrenaline is added prior to the stimulus. The inhibition by cAMP of the PMA or ionomycin induced secretion is also counteracted by adrenaline. In no case adrenaline modifies the pattern of platelet phosphoproteins. Ionomycin induces some platelet aggregation also in the presence of the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine; also this phosphoprotein independent aggregation is strongly stimulated by adrenaline.

Alkaloids↗

PubMed1991

Effect of Silibinin on biliary lipid composition. Experimental and clinical study.

The effect of Silymarin, a natural flavonoid, on biliary lipid composition, was studied in rats and humans. Bile flow, biliary cholesterol, phospholipid and total bile salt concentrations were measured in 23 control rats and in 27 rats treated with Silibinin, the active component of Silymarin, at the dose of 100 mg/kg body weight i.p. (n = 21) or 50 mg/kg body weight i.p. (n = 6) for 7 days. Biliary cholesterol and phospholipid concentrations were significantly reduced after the higher Silibinin dose (60.9 and 72.9% of the control values), whereas bile flow and biliary total bile salt concentration were unchanged. After the lower Silibinin dose all parameters remained unchanged. Total liver cholesterol content was not affected by Silibinin. On the other hand, in vitro determination of rat liver microsomal 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase activity showed a significant dose-dependent inhibition by Silibinin (0.5-8 mg/kg). Biliary lipid composition was also assayed in four gallstone and in 15 cholecystectomized patients before and after Silymarin (420 mg per day for 30 days) or placebo administration. In both groups, biliary cholesterol concentrations were reduced after Silymarin treatment and the bile saturation index significantly decreased accordingly. These data suggest that Silibinin-induced reduction of biliary cholesterol concentration both in humans and in rats might be, at least in part, due to a decreased synthesis of liver cholesterol.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Nitrovasodilators and cGMP inhibit human platelet activation.

Endothelial relaxing factor has been identified as nitric oxide, formed from L-arginine by the soluble enzyme nitric oxide synthase. Nitric oxide inhibits platelet aggregation and adhesion by stimulating a soluble guanylate cyclase and increasing the intracellular concentration of cyclic GMP. Nitrovasodilators, such as sodium nitroprusside, release the active moiety, nitric oxide. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of sodium nitroprusside and of a permeable cGMP derivative on the aggregation and ATP secretion of human platelets stimulated with the protein kinase C activators 1-oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol or 4 beta-phorbol-12- myristate-13-acetate. Human platelets were treated with lysine acetylsalicylate, washed and resuspended in Tyrode-buffered solution. ATP secretion was evaluated by luciferin-luciferase luminescence. Nitroprusside (4-40 microM) or 8-Br-cGMP (0.1-2.4 mM) inhibited both platelet aggregation and ATP secretion evoked by 1-oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol (40 microM) or 4 beta-phorbol-12-myristate-13- acetate (4 nM) in a dose-dependent manner, in the presence of the selective inhibitor of cGMP phosphodiesterase, M&B 22948 (5 microM). The inhibitory effect of nitroprusside was reversed by hemoglobin, known to bind and inactivate nitric oxide. To study the calcium-dependent pathway, we treated platelets with the ionophore ionomycin. The ensuing aggregation and ATP secretion were rapid and were dependent on agonist concentration. Nitroprusside (4-40 microM) inhibited the aggregation evoked by ionomycin (0.4 microM) as well as ATP release, in a dose-dependent manner. We conclude that cGMP is able to inhibit both the protein kinase C-dependent and the calcium-dependent pathways leading to platelet activation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1990

The action of the glutathione transferase substrate, 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene on synaptosomal glutathione content and the release of hydrogen peroxide.

We studied the action of the glutathione transferase substrate, 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) on the synaptosomal production of H2O2. We found that CDNB (30-40 microM) readily depletes the cytosolic glutathione but is almost without effect on the mitochondrial fraction. The depletion of the cytosolic glutathione induced by CDNB affords the detection in the extracellular space of H2O2 produced intrasynaptosomally upon increasing the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration that is otherwise destroyed by glutathione peroxidase. Higher concentrations of CDNB induce a H2O2 production which is not related to the glutathione content. This H2O2 is of mitochondrial origin and requires that NAD be reduced. The primary product of the mitochondrial CD-NB-dependent oxygen reduction is at least in part the superoxide anion.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Reversibility of the ionomycin promoted synaptosomal hydrogen peroxide production.

We previously reported on the release of hydrogen peroxide from guinea pig cerebral cortex synaptosomes (13). An important finding was that in glutathione depleted synaptosomes a linear release of hydrogen peroxide is rapidly induced on addition of the Ca++ -ionophore ionomycin (in the presence of Ca++) or upon depolarization of the plasma membrane. We report here that the ionomycin induced hydrogen peroxide is reversed following the addition of bovine serum albumin which strongly binds the ionophore, to be reactivated by further addition of excess ionomycin, or of the depolarizing agent KC1. Similarly, the effect of ionomycin is removed on decreasing the concentration of free Ca++. Bovine serum albumin, which counteracts the effect of ionomycin on the release of H2O2, also counteracts the effect of the ionophore on the movements of Ca++ and the release of gamma-aminobutyrate. These findings support the idea that the synaptosomal production of H2O2 is a carefully controlled important physiological event.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Further purification and characterization of the succinyl-CoA:3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarate coenzyme A transferase from rat-liver mitochondria.

Succinyl-CoA:3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarate coenzyme A transferase, previously identified in rat-liver mitochondria (Deana et al. (1981), Biochim. Biophys. Acta 662, 119-124), was purified to near homogeneity and further characterized. After the last purification steps consisting of Ultrogel AcA-44 filtration and agarose-hexane-coenzyme A chromatography, the enzyme was apparently tetrameric with a mass of 48-52 kDa determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, ultracentrifugation through a sucrose gradient and SDS-gel electrophoresis. By means of a HPLC technique developed for measuring the CoA esters we could determine the enzyme activity in both forward and reverse directions and show that the kinetic constants, i.e., Km of reactants and Vmax, are not too different for the two reactions. Double-reciprocal plots of the enzyme velocities versus the concentration of one substrate at different fixed concentrations of the other substrate gave families of straight lines converging below the substrate-abscissa for both forward and backward reactions, indicating a kinetic mechanism of rapid equilibrium random Bi-Bi type. The competitive inhibition of the product succinate with respect to both reactants, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarate and succinyl-CoA, as well as the Haldane relationships are consistent with this conclusion. An inhibitory effect on CoA transferase activity by acetate, acetoacetate, acetyl-CoA, acetoacetyl-CoA, coenzyme A, carnitine, ZnCl2 and high concentrations of the monovalent anions ClO4-, F-, I- and Cl- was also found.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Cyclic GMP and nitroprusside inhibit the activation of human platelets by fluoroaluminate.

Sodium nitroprusside, an activator of the soluble guanylate cyclase, inhibits the intracellular Ca2+ mobilization, ATP secretion and aggregation of human platelets evoked by fluoroaluminate. Similar results are obtained with 8-bromo-cyclic GMP (8-Br-cGMP). Both nitroprusside and 8-Br-cGMP inhibit the protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation of the 47 and 20 kDa proteins induced by fluoroaluminate, but not by the protein kinase C activators phorbol ester and diacylglycerol. Since fluoroaluminate interacts directly with a G protein, the present results suggest that the cGMP interferes with platelet activation at the level of G protein-phospholipase C.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗