II - Insulin processing in mitochondria.

Our objective was to know how insulin is processing in mitochondria; if IDE is the only participant in mitochondrial insulin degradation and the role of insulin degradation on IDE accumulation in mitoplasts. Mitochondria and its fractions were isolated as described by Greenwalt. IDE was purified and detected in immunoblot with specific antibodies.

Low-protein diet disrupts the crosstalk between the PKA and PKC signaling pathways in isolated pancreatic islets.

Protein restriction in the early stages of life can result in several changes in pancreatic function. These alterations include documented reductions in insulin secretion and in cytoplasmic calcium concentration [Ca(2+)]i. However, the mechanisms underlying these changes have not been completely elucidated and may result, in part, from alterations in signaling pathways that potentiate insulin secretion in the presence of glucose.

I - insulin transfer to mitochondria.

The aim of this study was to determine if insulin is transferred to mitoplasts by insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE).Hepatic mitochondria were isolated and controlled by electron microscopy. IDE was obtained from rats muscle by successive chromatography steps.

Foetal exposure to Panax ginseng extract reverts the effects of prenatal dexamethasone in the synthesis of testosterone by Leydig cells of the adult rat.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of maternal exposure to Panax ginseng extract (GE) on the prenatal dexamethasone (DEXA)-induced increase in testosterone production by isolated Leydig cells in adult rats. Pregnant rats were treated with (i) GE (200 mg/kg) or vehicle on days 10-21; (ii) DEXA (100 μg/kg) or vehicle on days 14-21; or (iii) a combination of GE plus DEXA at the same doses and with the same regimen. Testosterone production was induced either by the activator of protein kinase A (dbcAMP) or substrates of steroidogenesis [22(R)-hydroxycholesterol (22(R)-OH-C)] and pregnenolone.

Effect of dexamethasone and testosterone treatment on the regulation of insulin-degrading enzyme and cellular changes in ventral rat prostate after castration.

Insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) has been shown to enhance the binding of androgen and glucocorticoid receptors to DNA in the nuclear compartment. Glucocorticoids cause hyperglycaemia, peripheral resistance to insulin and compensatory hyperinsulinaemia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of dexamethasone (D), testosterone (T) and dexamethasone plus testosterone (D + T) on the regulation of IDE and on the remodelling of rat ventral prostate after castration (C).

Effect of chronic treatment with Rosiglitazone on Leydig cell steroidogenesis in rats: in vivo and ex vivo studies.

Background: The present study was designed to examine the effect of chronic treatment with rosiglitazone - thiazolidinedione used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus for its insulin sensitizing effects - on the Leydig cell steroidogenic capacity and expression of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) and cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc) in normal adult rats.

Methods: Twelve adult male Wistar rats were treated with rosiglitazone (5 mg/kg) administered by gavage for 15 days. Twelve control animals were treated with the vehicle.

Green tea polyphenols inhibit testosterone production in rat Leydig cells.

This study investigated the acute effects of green tea extract (GTE) and its polyphenol constituents, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and (-)-epicatechin (EC), on basal and stimulated testosterone production by rat Leydig cells in vitro. Leydig cells purified in a Percoll gradient were incubated for 3 h with GTE, EGCG or EC and the testosterone precursor androstenedione, in the presence or absence of either protein kinase A (PKA) or protein kinase C (PKC) activators. The reversibility of the effect was studied by pretreating cells for 15 min with GTE or EGCG, allowing them to recover for 1 h and challenging them for 2 h with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH), 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol or androstenedione.

Chronic propranolol treatment causes desensitization of the steroidogenic response in testicular interstitial cells but does not alter protein kinase C.

We investigated effects of chronic propranolol treatment on the secretory response of rat testicular interstitial cells (testosterone secretion) to subsequent in vitro stimulation with activators of protein kinase-C (PK-C) (L-propranolol, phorbol 12, 13-dibutyrate (PDBu), LHRH) or activators of protein kinase A (PK-A), (hCG or dibutyryl cAMP (dbcAMP)). We determined [3H]PDBu binding and PK-C activity in these cells. Treatment of rats with propranolol (Inderal 500 mg/L of water for 5 weeks) reduced by 48%, 50% and 29% the L-propranolol-, LHRH- or PDBu-induced testosterone secretion, respectively, when compared to cells from controls.

Androgen- and estrogen-dependent regulation of insulin-degrading enzyme in subcellular fractions of rat prostate and uterus.

Innumerous data support the fact that insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) is the primary enzymatic mechanism for initiating and controlling cellular insulin degradation. Nevertheless, insulin degradation is unlikely to be the only cellular function of IDE, because it appears that some cellular effects of insulin are mediated by IDE as a regulatory protein. Insulin-degrading enzyme shows a significant correlation with various cellular functions, such as cellular growth and differentiation, and the expression of IDE is developmentally regulated.

ATP inhibits insulin-degrading enzyme activity.

We studied the ability of ATP to inhibit in vitro the degrading activity of insulin-degrading enzyme. The enzyme was purified from rat skeletal muscle by successive chromatographic steps. The last purification step showed two bands at 110 and 60 kDa in polyacrylamide gel.

Propranolol stimulates histone phosphorylation by a putative PK-C in partially purified homogenate of rat testicular interstitial cells. A possible mechanism for increased testosterone secretion by propranolol.

The beta-adrenoceptor blocker propranolol stimulated testosterone secretion by rat testicular interstitial cells (Leydig cell-enriched preparation) in vitro at concentrations ranging from 10(-5) M to 10(-4) M. Treatment of these cells with H7 (20 microM), an inhibitor of protein kinase C, reduced the stimulatory effect of L-propranolol on testosterone secretion by about 5-fold. At concentrations ranging from 31.

Propranolol stimulates testicular interstitial fluid formation and testosterone secretion in rats.

We investigated the effect of intratesticularly injected propranolol on testicular interstitial fluid (TIF) formation and on testosterone levels in the TIF of intact adult male Wistar rats (4-9 rats per group). dl-propranolol at doses of 0.6, 1.

Inhibitory action of in vitro ethanol and acetaldehyde exposure on LHRH-and phorbol ester-stimulated testosterone secretion by rat testicular interstitial cells.

Ethanol and acetaldehyde have been shown to inhibit testicular steroidogenesis. However the mechanism(s) of signal transduction involved in their action is still unclear. We examined the possible involvement of phospholipid-sensitive, calcium-dependent protein kinase (protein Kinase C, PK-C) in the intracellular mechanism of action of ethanol and acetaldehyde by stimulating testosterone production in rat testicular interstitial cells with LHRH and the phorbol ester PDBu, both of which activate PK-C at receptor (LHRH) and post-receptor (PDBu) sites.

Fluoride and phosphatidylserine induced inhibition of cytosolic insulin-degrading activity.

Cytosol (C) (100,000 x g/60 min, supernatant) from liver, brain and testis (Wistar male rats) are shown to contain insulin degrading activity (C-IDA). The regulation of C-IDA in these fractions by ligands that activate G protein and PKC were examined C-IDA from liver, brain and testis was inhibited 76%; 64% and 50% by 50 mM F- respectively. Chromatography of C fraction from liver on Sephadex G-50 in presence of 1 M (NH4)2SO4 and 20% (v/v) glycerol (experimental condition to remove guanine nucleotides from G proteins) decreased in about 3-fold aluminum fluoride effect on C-IDA.

Microsomal and cytosolic fractions of guinea pig hepatocytes contain 100-kilodalton GTP-binding proteins reactive with antisera against alpha subunits of stimulatory and inhibitory heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins.

Guinea pig hepatocytes fractionated by differential centrifugation into plasma membrane-enriched, microsomal, and cytosolic fractions were examined for their content of alpha and beta subunits of heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins (G proteins) involved in signal transduction. alpha subunits of stimulatory (Gs) and inhibitory (Gi) proteins were detected by immunoblots with antisera reactive with the carboxyl-terminal decapeptide regions of these proteins. Unexpectedly, antisera (including immunopurified) to the alpha subunit but not the beta subunit reacted with a band of 100-kDa proteins in both the microsomal and cytosolic fractions.

Insulin processing. Its correlation with glucose conversion to CO2.

Insulin-receptor binding, insulin degradation and biologic response (14C-glucose conversion into 14CO2) were studied in adipocytes of control (CG), fasted (FG-88 hr) and hyperinsulinic rats (HG-exogenous hyperinsulinism). The number of cells normalized to 3.5 X 10(5) cells/tube in all three groups.

Liver cells binding with high insulin doses at 37 C.

Insulin binding and receptor mediated insulin degradation were studied in isolated rat hepatocytes under physiological conditions (37 C, 100% oxygen, Krebs improved Ringer III with glutamate, pyruvate and fumarate, 150 mg% glucose, 1% bovine albumin). 10(6) rat hepatocytes/tube were incubated with various doses of insulin. Steady state binding with low insulin doses (0.

Isolation of liver cells with Ca2+ and K+ chelating agents. Biochemistry and cell morphology.

Cell morphology, glutamic pyruvic (GTP) and glutamic oxalacetic transaminases (GOT) concentrations, and the ability to produce glucose or urea from different substrates (pyruvate, alanine, fructose, lactate and glutamine) were studied in isolated mouse and rat liver cells in the presence of Ca2+ and K+ chelating agents (0.1 M sodium perchlorate and 0.027 M sodium citrate with 1 mg/ml bovine albumin; ionic strength: 0.

Insulin binding in mouse liver cells isolated with chelating agents.

Mouse liver cells were isolated with Ca2+ and K+ chelating agents. Cell concentrations in all experiments ranged from 2.5 X 10(5) to 1.

Increase of ionic strength for charcoal separation of B/F fractions in radioimmunoassays.

The increase in protein adsorption by charcoal as ionic strength increases (salting-out adsorption), was used to separate the bound and free fractions of glucagon, insulin, hGH, hLH and hPRL in the radioimmunoassay. The hormones were labelled with 125I and to express the immunocomplex, gamma-globulin was labelled with 125I. The charcoal used to produce the separation was suspended in magnesium sulfate 3 M (charcoal-SO4Mg).

Preparation of biologically active mono-125I-insulin of high specific activity.

Pork insulin was labeled by the chloramine T technique (phosphate buffer 0.25 M; pH 7.5; EDTA 0.

The influence of pentoxyfylline [1-(5-oxohexyl-) 3,7-dimethylxanthine] (BL 191) on the insulin secretion induced by glibenclamide and by arginine/glucose in the perfused pancreas.

Pharmacodynamic characteristics of pentoxyfylline (BL 191) related to insulin secretion by the isolated perfused rat pancreas are studied. The results obtained show that: 1) BL 191 (5 mM) is capable of stimulating insulin secretion, even in the presence of another stimulator; 2) BL 191 increases both phases of the secretion produced by constant arginine 20 mM/glucose 5 mM perfusion; 3) BL 191 significantly increases and turns biphasic the monophasic insulin secretion pattern produced by 1 microgram/ml glibenclamide; 4) the effects mentioned in points 2) and 3) are inhibited if the phosphodiesterase activator imidazole (300 mg/100 ml) is present in the perfusion medium; 5) the phosphodiesterase inhibitor theophylline has the same effects as BL 191, except for its inability to stimulate insulin release in the absence of another stimulator; 6) somatostatin (100 ng/ml) significantly inhibits insulin secretion produced by arginine/glucose or glibenclamide, as well as by arginine, glucose plus theophylline or BL 191, and by glibenclamide plus theophylline or BL 191, in both cases the inhibitory effect of somatostatin is reduced by the presence of BL 191 or theophylline.