[Activation of bovine retinal rod outer segment cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase by the transducin-GTP complex in a physiologically significant range of free calcium ion concentrations].

The kinetic behavior of cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase in a totally bleached bovine retinal rod outer segment suspension was studied by the pH-metric method at high and low concentrations of free calcium ions (≈ 100 μM and 10 nM, respectively). The phosphodiesterase was activated by low GTP concentrations (about 1-2 μM) that were comparable with the concentration of G-protein transducin, its GTP-binding alpha-subunit was the intrinsic activator of photoreceptor phosphodiesterase. The results allow the suggestion that besides the earlier described system of RGS proteins, participating in the acceleration of GTP hydrolysis, rod outer segments also contain an additional Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism to inactivate so called "free transducin", i.

[The phosphorylation state of transducin beta-subunits].

The supposition that nucleoside diphosphate kinase is the enzyme that phosphorylates transducin beta-subunits on one of the histidine residues (His-266) has been analyzed. It stands the reason that 1) this enzyme is multifunctional and plays in particular the role of protein histidine kinase; and 2) the phosphorylated beta-subunit of transducin may activate transducin via the mechanism of transphosphorylation. Nevertheless, in our experiments, in which different forms of transducin preparations were incubated with α- and β-isoforms of recombinant rat NDP kinase in the presence of [γ32P]ATP or [γ32P]GTP (specific activity of about 1 Ci/mmol) followed by separation of proteins by electrophoresis and-gel radio-autography, the phosphorylation of the transducin beta-subunit wasn't succeeded to be found.

Solid-phase extraction on alkyl-bonded silica gels in inorganic analysis.

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is an effective tool for the preconcentration of trace elements and their separation from various sample constituents. Octadecyl and other alkyl-bonded silica gels are most widely used for these purposes. The fundamentals of the SPE of inorganic ions are reviewed and compared with those of related techniques (liquid-liquid extraction and reversed-phase liquid chromatography).

Quantitative structure-mobility relationship modelling of electrokinetic chromatography of metal complexes: approaches and limitations.

A charged surfactant or an ionic polymer added to the capillary electrolyte introduces micellar solubilization and ion-exchange interactions, respectively, as a supplementary separation principle for metal complexes among a great many other analytes. Acting as a pseudostationary phase, such electrolyte additives make the separation mechanism fairly different from that based only on differences in electrophoretic mobility. A range of quantitative structure-mobility relationships were developed to explain the migration behavior of metal complexes in micellar and ion-exchange electrokinetic chromatographic systems as a function of their primary structural parameters.