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R T Mayer

Publications and source records attributed to R T Mayer.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Quantitative fluorometric analysis of plant and microbial chitosanases.

A quantitative fluorometric assay for chitosanase activity in bacterial and plant tissues was developed. The assay can be conducted with either finely milled preparations of chitosan in suspension or dissolved chitosan; activity is based on measurements of glucosamine (GlcN) or oligomers of GlcN. GlcN is detected fluorometrically after reaction with fluorescamine with detection in the nanomole range. Fluorescence measurements of chitosanase activity and radioassay of chitinase in commercial preparations of chitinase from Streptomyces griseus revealed that both activities were present. Specific activities for the S. griseus chitosanase using suspended and soluble chitosans were respectively 1.24 and 6.4 mumol GlcN.min-1.mg protein-1. Specific activity of the S. griseus chitinase was 0.98 mumol GlcN.min-1.mg protein-1. Sweet orange callus tissue was tested for chitosanase and chitinase activity. It was necessary to remove small amine-containing molecules from the callus preparations before chitosanase activity could be assayed. The specific activity for chitinase and chitosanase in desalted extracts of nonembryogenic Valencia sweet orange callus tissue was determined to be 18.6 and 89.4 nmol GlcN.min-1.mg protein-1, respectively.

Chitin↗
PubMed1992

7-Alkoxyquinoline O-dealkylation by microsomes from human liver and placenta.

1. The O-dealkylation of seven 7-alkoxyquinoline derivatives by human hepatic and placental microsomes and the effect of maternal cigarette smoking on placental 7-alkoxyquinoline metabolism was studied. 2. None of several monoclonal antibodies to isoenzymes of cytochrome P450 had a clear effect on metabolism of the compounds by liver microsomes. 3. Maternal cigarette smoking induced the O-dealkylation of all of the 7-alkoxyquinoline derivatives, being greatest for 7-butoxy- and 7-benzyloxyquinoline. 4. Placental 7-alkoxyquinoline metabolism induced by smoking was partially inhibited by the monoclonal antibody 1-7-1 raised against 3-methylcholanthrene-induced rat liver P450. 5. None of the 7-alkoxyquinoline O-dealkylations could be assigned specifically to any known P450 isoenzyme in human liver or placenta.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Preparation of homogenous NADPH cytochrome c (P-450) reductase from house flies using affinity chromatography techniques.

NADPH-cytochrome c (P-450) reductase (EC 1.6.2.4) was purified to apparent homogeneity from microsomes of house flies, Musca domestica L. The purification procedure involves column chromatography on three different resins. The key step in the purification scheme is the chromatography of the enzyme mixture on an affinity column of agarose-hexane-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. The enzyme has an estimated molecular weight of 83,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and contains 1 mol each of FAD and FMN per mol of enzyme. The enzyme exhibited a Bi Bi ping-pong kinetic mechanism with NADPH and cytochrome c. The Vmax and Km for cytochrome c were 42.3 mumol min-1 mg-1 and 12.7 muM, respectively. Turnover numbers based on micromoles of enzyme were 2,600 min-1. NADP+ and 2'-AMP both inhibited the reductases with apparent Ki values of 6.9 and 187 muM, respectively. These preparations of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase were found to reduce purified house fly cytochrome P-450 in the presence of NADPH.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Ecdysone 3-epimerase from the midgut of Manduca sexta (L.).

Ecdysone 3-epimerase was partially purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation from the 100,000 g supernate of Manduca sexta midguts. The enzyme converts ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone to their respective 3-epimers, requires NADH or NADPH and O2 for this reaction, and has the following kinetic parameters: for ecdysone, Km = 17.0 +/- 1.4 microM, Vmax = 110.6 +/- 14.6 pmol min-1 mg-1; for 20-hydroxyecdysone, Km = 47.3 +/- 7.5 microM, Vmax = 131.0 +/- 3.5 pmol min-1 mg-1: for NADPH, Km = 85.4 +/- 10.6 microM; for NADH, Km = 51.3 +/- 1.3 microM. The reaction is irreversible and can be inhibited by various ecdysteroids.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Thin-layer chromatographic in situ analysis of insect ecdysones via fluorescence-quenching.

The possibility of quantitating insect ecdysones in situ on thin-layer chromatographic plates was examined. Two approaches were evaluated: 1) the induction of ecdysone fluorescence by sulfuric acid treatments and 2) the fluorescence-quenching of fluorescent thin-layer chromatographic plates by ecdysones. The fluorescence-quenching method was found to be most suitable and had a linear response range from 0.5 to 3 microgram for alpha-ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone. Fluorescence-quenching and high pressure liquid chromatographic analyses obtained from extracts of alpha-ecdysone 20-hydroxylase incubations gave similar results. New data concerning the acid-induced fluorescence of ecdysones showed alpha-ecdysone to be twice as fluorescent as 20-hydroxyecdysone.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Ecdysone 20-hydroxylase in midgut mitochondria of Manduca sexta (L.).

The conversion of alpha-ecdysone to 20-hydroxyecdysone in the midgut of Manduca sexta (L.) was found to be catalyzed by a mitochondrial, cytochrome P450-mediated monooxygenase. The reaction required oxygen and was inhibited by the presence of carbon monoxide. Tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, such as succinate, malate, and isocitrate, supported the hydroxylation as did NADPH, NADH, ATP, and ADP. Temperature and pH optima were 30 degrees C and 8.5, respectively. The apparent Km and V values for the ecdysone 20-hydroxylase were 18.3 +/- 6.8 micronM and 46.6 +/- 14.2 pmol per min per mg protein. The midgut mitochondria were found to contain malate dehydrogenase and NAD(P) transhydrogenase. The presence of these enzymes suggests that the tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates and NADH support the ecdysone hydroxylation indirectly by providing NADPH for the cytochrome P450 system. The content of cytochromes a + a3, b, c + c1, and P450 in midgut mitochondria was determined.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

3-methylcholanthrene-induced monooxygenase (O-deethylation) activity of human lymphocytes.

With a direct fluorescence assay, the levels of mixed-function oxidase activity were determined in mitogen-activated human lymphocytes. The O-deethylation of ethoxyresorufin to resorufin was used to quantitate mixed-function oxidase activity. Ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity was low to nondetectable in noninduced, mitogen-activated cells, but it was readily detected in 3-methylcholanthrene, mitogen-activated lymphocytes. The activity was: (a) dependent on assay time and number of lymphocytes; (b) dependent on the presence of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate; (c) stable to freezing at -80 degrees for at least 2 weeks; (d) reproducibly detected in duplicate samples of blood from one individual when cultured and assayed at the same time; but (e) quite variable in samples of blood from one individual at different times. Since in hepatic and pulmonary tissue of model animal systems ethoxyresorufin is a specific substrate for cytochrome P-448-associated monooxygenases, the use of this chemical could proffer an assay that specifically measures human cytochrome P-448-associated activity.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Characteristics of a microsomal cytochrome P-448-mediated reaction. Ethoxyresorufin O-de-ethylation.

Certain characteristics of ethoxyresorufin O-de-ethylation, as catalyzed by microsomes of liver, lung, and intestine of control and pretreated rats and hamsters, were studied. The results support previous suggestions that the reaction is catalyzed primarily by a 3-methyl-cholanthrene (MC)-inducible mono-oxygenase which has a 448-nm absorption maximum in the reduced-CO difference spectrum. Ethoxyresorufin exhibited a type I binding spectrum with liver microsomes from MC-induced rats, but there was no clear interaction with microsomes from control or phenobarbital (PB)-induced rats. Maximum MC-induction of type I binding and de-ethylase activity coincided with the appearance of a cytochrome P-450 spectrum whose absorption maximum was shifted to 448 nm. Low concentrations of alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF) or benzo[a]pyrene (BP) inhibited the de-ethylation with liver microsomes of MC-treated rats (150 approximately 10(-9)M) but not those of control rats. A kinetic analysis of BP inhibition of this reaction showed it to be competitive. Inhibition of the MC-induced liver microsomal reaction by low concentrations of BP or ANF diminished rapidly with time. MC-induced rat liver microsomal de-ethylation of ethoxyresorufin was less sensitive than the PB-induced reaction to inhibition by metyrapone or SKF 525-A (I50 approximately 10(-6) - 10(-4)M). However, microsomes from rat liver, lung, and intestine had very low constitutive activities (less than 0.1 nmol/min/mg of protein). MC greatly induced the de-ethylation reaction in liver (200 X), intestine (40 X) and lung (10 X). De-ethylation of ethoxyresorufin in microsomes from control and MC-induced rat lung was inhibited by low concentrations of either ANF or BP (I50 approximately 10(-8) M). Control hamster liver microsomes were several times more active in de-ethylation than control rat liver microsomes, but MC-induction of hamster liver was only 1/10 of that in rat liver. Control hamster lung activity was similar to that of control rat lung, but was not appreciably induced by MC.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Inherent specificities of purified cytochromes P-450 and P-448 toward biphenyl hydroxylation and ethoxyresorufin deethylation.

Liver microsomes from 3-methylcholanthrene-pretreated Long-Evans rats catalyzed the 2- and the 4-hydroxylation of biphenyl and the O-deethylation of ethoxyresorufin, sustained by either NADPH or cumene hydroperoxide. In contrast, the liver microsomes from corn oil- or phenobarbital-pretreated rats catalyzed the NADPH- or cumene hydroperoxide-sustained 4-hydroxylation of biphenyl, but the rates of 2-hydroxylation or ethoxyresorufin deethylation were negligible. A monooxygenase system reconstituted with partially purified NADPH-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome P-448 catalyzed NADPH-supported biphenyl 2- and 4-hydroxylation and ethoxyresorufin deethylation. A monooxygenase system reconstituted with the reductase and cytochrome P-450 catalyzed NADPH-supported biphenyl 4-hydroxylation but exhibited negligible 2-hydroxylation or ethoxyresorufin deethylation activites. Solubilized cytochrome P-448 catalyzed biphenyl 2- and 4-hydroxylation and ethoxyresorufin deethylation sustained by cumene hydroperoxide in the absence of both NADPH and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, whereas solubilized cytochrome P-450, under the same conditions, catalyzed only biphenyl 4-hydroxylation. It is concluded that the patterns of biphenyl hydroxylation and ethoxyresorufin deethylation observed with live- microsomes from untreated or inducer-treated rats are due largely to the inherent enzymic specificities of their cytochromes P-450 and P-448.

Animals↗