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R Parvin

Publications and source records attributed to R Parvin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

gamma-butyrobetaine in tissues and serum of fed and starved rats determined by an enzymic radioisotopic procedure.

A method for the determination of picomole quantities of gamma-butyrobetaine and its application for the determination of gamma-butyrobetaine distribution in tissues are described. The method is based on the quantitative conversion of gamma-butyrobetaine into carnitine by using a 50-60%-satd.-(NH4)2SO4 fraction of rat liver supernatant as the source of gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase [4-trimethylaminobutyrate,2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating), EC 1.14.11.1]; the carnitine formed is then measured enzymically. The mean gamma-butyrobetaine content, as nmol/g wet wt. of tissue, ranged from a low of 4.6 in livers to a high of 12.3 in hearts of normal fed male adult rats. Starvation for 48 h did not affect the gamma-butyrobetaine concentration in serum, liver and brain, but that in skeletal muscles, kidney and heart was increased. These data are in line with the present views that most tissues are able to produce gamma-butyrobetaine, and show that starvation enhances the synthesis and/or the retention of this compound in many tissues. The observed high affinity of gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase for gamma-butyrobetaine (Km 7 microM), the high activity of this enzyme and the low concentration of gamma-butyrobetaine in liver indicate that gamma-butyrobetaine availability is one of the factors that normally limit carnitine synthesis.

Animals↗

Protective role of adenine nucleotide translocase in O2-deficient hearts.

At subsaturating concentrations of palmitoyl-CoA, the carnitine-dependent oxidation of the palmitoyl portion by uncoupled rat heart mitochondria was stimulated by ADP or ATP. This effect was traced to the prevention of acyl-CoA binding to adenine nucleotide translocase and the consequent sparing of acyl-CoA for acylcarnitine formation. Palmitoyl-CoA oxidation was stimulated by ITP also although ITP served neither as a transportable substrate nor as an inhibitor of ADP transport. ITP and other nontransportable nucleoside di(tri)phosphates prevented octanoyl-CoA binding to mitochondria. ITP was bound to mitochondria, and this binding was reversed by ADP, octanoyl-CoA, and carboxyatractyloside. Thus, besides a substrate site, there is a site on the translocase that binds nucleoside di(tri)phosphates, CoA and its esters, and atractylosides; inhibition of the translocase results, however, only from the binding of CoA esters of fatty acids and of atractylosides. We suggest that in O2-deficient hearts, when nucleotides decline and fatty acyl-CoA rises, the binding of the latter to the translocase becomes operational to slow fatty acylcarnitine production. By retarding the rise in amphipathic burden, this mechanism could protect heart against irreversible damage during brief periods of ischemia or hypoxia.

Acetylcarnitine↗

Carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase catalyzes an equilibrating unidirectional transport as well.

Besides carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase-catalyzed exchange diffusions, a relatively much slower unidirectional transport of carnitines also proceeds in mitochondria. The latter proceeds in the direction of the concentration gradient of carnitines and leads to the equilibration of carnitine concentration across the inner membrane. The same translocase that catalyzes exchange diffusion appears to catalyze unidirectional transport inasmuch as the two processes showed similar substrate specificity, sensitivity to inhibitors, high temperature coefficients, apparent affinity for carnitine, and a lack of energy requirement. The unidirectionally imported carnitine readily exchanged against medium carnitine, indicating that the two transport processes share the same pool of mitochondrial carnitine. Unidirectional transport appears to be functional in vivo; its operation seems not only to allow mitochondria to acquire carnitine but to adjust the rates of their faster exchange-diffusion reactions with changes in total tissue carnitine concentrations. The carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase was found to be about 15 times as active in mitochondria of rat liver as in those of heart.

Acyltransferases↗

Clofibrate enhancement of mitochondrial carnitine transport system of rat liver and augmentation of liver carnitine and gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase activity by thyroxine.

The possibilities that the hypotriglyceridemic effect of clofibrate involves activation of carnitine-dependent oxidation of fatty acids in liver and that this may be partially mediated through thyroxine have been examined. 0.25% clofibrate in diet for 10-15 days, was found to increase carnitine 3-fold in livers of male as well as female rats. Liver carnitine was nearly doubled by L-thyroxine, 6 mg/kg of diet fed for 10 days, and so was the activity of gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase. Clofibrate decreased carnitine in heart and urine; thyroxine did not affect these parameters but increased serum carnitine by 26%. Clofibrate feeding doubled the concentration of hepatic long-chain acyl(-)carnitine, mitochondrial carnitine, and the rate of mitochondrial carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase reaction, and enhanced acetoacetate production in liver homogenates as well as mitochondrial oxidation of palmitoylcarnitine in the presence of malonate. The ratio of esterified to free carnitine in urine and serum was also increased by clofibrate. These results suggest that clofibrate and thyroxine may exert their hypotriglyceridemic effect, in part, through the activation of carnitine-mediated transport of fatty acids in liver mitochondria.

Acetoacetates↗

Inhibition of mitochondrial carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase by sulfobetaines.

Sulfobetaines (N-alkyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonates) have been identified as relatively specific and selective inhibitors of mitochondrial carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. Thus, sublytic concentrations of sulfobetaines (alkyl = octyl to tetradecyl) inhibit the respiration of rat heart mitochondria supported by added acylcarnitines or pyruvate plus malonate and carnitine. Both exchange efflux and unidirectional net efflux of mitochondrial carnitine are also inhibited; the half-maximal inhibition of the former occurs at micromolar concentrations of sulfobetaines and the inhibitory effect is reversible and competitive with respect to carnitine. As a stop-inhibitor, 20 mM sulfobetaine, (alkyl = octyl), is useable at near 0 degrees C but is less effective than 2 mM mersalyl when transport rates are very rapid as at higher temperatures especially with liver mitochondria. The loss of mitochondrial carnitine that normally occurs owing to the progress of net efflux during the isolation of mitochondria is prevented by the inclusion of 20 mM sulfobetaine in the isolation medium and this enables a better estimate of the mitochondrial carnitine content. Sulfobetaines inhibit the activities of mitochondrial carnitine acetyltransferase and carnitine palmitoyltransferase but only at concentrations severalfold higher than those inhibitory for the translocase. This observation supports the belief that carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase is an entity distinct from that of carnitine acyltransferases.

Acyltransferases↗

Carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. Inhibition by alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate and evidence for separate identity from the pyruvate transporting system of mitochondria.

Some of the known inhibitors of pyruvate transport inhibited the activity of carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. Their order of effectiveness with millimolar concentration required for 50% inhibition given in parentheses, was: Compound UK-5099 (alpha-cyano-beta-(1-phenylindol-3-yl)acrylate) (0.1); alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate (0.17); alpha-cyano-3-hydroxycinnamate (1); alpha-cyanocinnamate (1); alpha-fluorocinnamate (7); transcinnamate (10); p-hydroxycinnamate (10); phenylpyruvate (22); p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate (25). Kinetically, the alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate inhibition was mixed and the p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate inhibition was noncompetitive with respect to external (-)-carnitine. The alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate inhibition was reversible and resulted from its ability to act as a thiol reagent. In general, alpha-cyanocinnamate and its derivatives inhibit carnitine transport at concentrations 100 to 5000 times as high as those known to pyruvate transport. At millimolar concentrations, alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate inhibited the mitochondrial transport of molecules other than carnitine as well as the activity of carnitine acyltransferases. Pyruvate and carnitine did not complete for transport into and out of mitochondria. These results establish that transmitochondrial transport mechanisms for carnitine and pyruvate involve different carriers.

Acyltransferases↗

Characterization of carnitine acylcarnitine translocase system of heart mitochondria.

Mersalyl inhibited the respiration of heart mitochondria under conditions that required the transport of (-)-carnitine and acyl(-)-carnitines. The exchange of external carnitine and acylcarnitines for intramitochondrial carnitine was also inhibited by mersalyl and 1 mM mersalyl proved suitable for the inhibitor-stop assay of carnitine acylcarnitine translocase. The carnitine-carnitine and (-)-carnitine-acetyl(-)-carnitine exchanges involved a mole to mole exchange. The carnitine-carnitine exchange did not require energy. The carnitine acylcarnitine translocase resembles the Pi transport system in inhibition by mersalyl and N-ethylmaleimide and in lack of a cation requirement for activity; yet the two are not identical inasmuch as operation of only the former transport system was inhibited by long chain acyl(+)-carnitines. Additional results render it improbable that the transport of carnitine and acylcarnitines is catalyzed by any other known mitochondrial transport systems. The carnitine acylcarnitine translocase activity is unlikely to be shared by one of the carnitine acyltransferases because the mersalyl inhibition of carnitine palmitoyltransferase and carnitine acetyltransferase was noncompetitivcase. Rapid acetylation of intramitocondrial free (-)-carnitine occurred when acetyl-CoA was generated intramitochondrially but not with exogenous acetyl-CoA. Theese observations substantiate the view (Pande, S. V. (1975) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 883-887) that a system exists in mitochondria for the transport of carnitine and its esters and that the matrix has a pool of carnitine compounds which has access to that carnitine acyltransferase which is localized on the inner side of the inner mitochondrial membrane.

Acetyltransferases↗