Faculty Bibliography

The distribution of neutral endopeptidase (NEP; EC 3.4.24.11) was examined in the alimentary tract of the rat. Immunoreactive NEP and NEP mRNA were localized to epithelial cells of the small intestine and to muscle cells in the stomach, small intestine, and colon by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization histochemistry. NEP antisera recognized a protein on Western blots of membranes from gastric, jejunal, and colonic mucosa and gastric muscle with an electrophoretic mobility identical to that of recombinant human NEP (approximately 95 kDa). An antisense cRNA probe to NEP hybridized to RNA of approximately 3.5 kb and approximately 6.5 kb, corresponding to the primary transcripts of rat NEP, on Northern blots of total RNA from the jejunal mucosa. NEP message was detected in mRNA from jejunal and colonic mucosa and gastric, jejunal, and colonic muscle using a ribonuclease protection assay. NEP enzymatic activity, assessed by DL-thiorphan-inhibitable degradation of glutaryl-Ala-Ala-Phe-4-methoxy-2-naphthylamine, was highest in homogenates of jejunal mucosa (868 +/- 98 pmol.h-1 x micrograms protein-1) and was between 49- and 413-fold lower in other gastrointestinal tissues. The cellular origin of NEP in the gastric and colonic mucosa could not be determined.

The objectives of this investigation were to characterize neuropeptide-degrading enzymes on the surface of gastric muscle cells and to determine their physiological function. Neutral endopeptidase (NEP, EC 3.4.24.11) activity was measured using the fluorogenic substrate glutaryl-Ala-Ala-Phe-4-methoxy-2-naphthylamine. The NEP inhibitors phosphoramidon and DL-thiorphan (1 microM) inhibited degradation of the substrate by gastric muscle membranes by 100% and by freshly dispersed gastric muscle cells by 55-60%. The phosphoramidon or DL-thiorphan-inhibitable activity, attributed to NEP, of membranes was 112 +/- 4.0 pmol h-1 (micrograms protein)-1 and of cells was 4.2 +/- 0.8 nmol h-1 (10(6) cells)-1. This activity was associated with membranes prepared from cells and was not detected in the cytoplasm or in the cell incubation solution. Gastric muscle membranes were fractionated by electrophoresis and analysed by Western blotting using two NEP antisera. Both antisera recognized a protein in membranes with an electrophoretic mobility identical to that of recombinant human NEP and an apparent molecular mass of approximately 95 kDa. Neuropeptides were degraded by membranes with specific activities in the order of [Leu5]enkephalin > [Met5]enkephalin > gastrin-releasing peptide-10 (GRP-10) > [D-Ala2][Leu5]enkephalin > somatostatin-14. Phosphoramidon and DL-thiorphan similarly inhibited the degradation of GRP-10 (mean of 35% inhibition), somatostatin-14 (57%) and the aminopeptidase-resistant analogue, [D-Ala2][Leu5]enkephalin (75%). When aminopeptidases were inhibited with amastatin (10 microM) phosphoramidon inhibited degradation of [Leu5]enkephalin (54%) and [Met5]enkephalin (100%). Phosphoramidon increased the potency of the contractile effects of neuropeptides on muscle cells by > 280-fold for somatostatin-14, 17-fold for GRP-10, 18-fold for [Met5]enkephalin and 14-fold for [Leu5]enkephalin. The results show that an NEP-like enzyme on the surface of gastric muscle cells degrades and inactivates enkephalins, GRP-10 and somatostatin-14 and acts in a manner analogous to that of acetylcholinesterase in the neuromuscular junction of skeletal muscle.

1. A protein A-rat substance P receptor (SPR) fusion protein was genetically engineered and used as an immunogen to raise a polyclonal antiserum to the SPR. The fusion protein was expressed in Escherichia coli driven by the heat-inducible lambda promoter (lambda Pr). 2. The fusion protein was purified using an IgG-Sepharose column, which specifically binds proteins containing the protein A moiety. The IgG fraction obtained after the immunization was cleaved to produce Fab fragments, which were subsequently purified using a fusion protein affinity column. The serum (anti-SPR Fab serum) was analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and immunohistochemistry on both a constitutive cell line for the SPR (AR42J) and a cell line transfected with the SPR (KNRKSPR). 3. Specificity of the antiserum for SPR was confirmed by immunohistochemistry on cells using antiserum that had been preincubated with the protein A fusion protein (blocked). 4. The Ca2+ signal normally observed on stimulation of SPR with SP in AR42J cells and SP binding to KNRKSPR cells was shown to be diminished in the presence of anti-SPR Fab serum. SPR from both cell lines was immunoprecipitated using the anti-SPR Fab serum. The antiserum itself did not induce intracellular Ca2+ mobilization normally observed when cells were incubated with SP. 5. This specific SPR antiserum will be a useful tool to investigate further the mechanisms of SP/SPR interactions.

Calcitonin gene-related peptide is a potent inhibitor of stimulated pancreatic exocrine secretion in vivo. The mechanism of this inhibitory action was studied in dogs and rats. The questions examined were: (1) is the inhibitory action of CGRP on pancreatic secretion mediated by somatostatin? (2) is the inhibition direct, via action on acinar cells, or indirect? and (3) is a neuronal mechanism involved, and, if so, by what pathway? In dogs with chronic pancreatic fistulae, CGRP caused significant inhibition of the outputs of pancreatic protein (63-68%) and of pancreatic bicarbonate (74-89%) and a simultaneous dose-related rise (40-102 fmol/ml) in plasma somatostatin-like immunoreactivity. A similar degree of inhibition was found when exogenous somatostatin was infused to achieve similar levels of plasma somatostatin-like immunoreactivity. More direct evidence of somatostatin mediation of CGRP action was sought in conscious rats with pancreatic fistulae using a potent and specific monoclonal antibody to somatostatin. The latter studies suggest that CGRP has both a somatostatin-dependent and a somatostatin-independent mechanism of action. In isolated rat acini, CGRP did not inhibit CCK-stimulated amylase release, suggesting that its in vivo action is indirect. In the isolated vascularly perfused rat pancreas, CGRP (10(-10)-10(-7) M) inhibited in a dose-dependent manner volume and protein output stimulated by a mixture of CCK-8 and secretin. The inhibitory action of CGRP was blocked by tetrodotoxin (10(-7) M) and by atropine (10(-7) M), but not by hexamethonium (10(-7) M). We conclude that CGRP action: (1) is partly explained by release of somatostatin; (2) is indirect; (3) is neurally mediated; and (4) involves cholinergic muscarinic neurons within the pancreas.

Aminopeptidase M (APM) was localized in the kidney and alimentary tract of guinea pigs and rats by indirect immunohistochemistry. APM was detected in the brush border of the epithelium of the proximal convoluted tubule of the kidney and of the small intestine, and it was localized to cells scattered throughout lymphoid tissue in the small intestine and colon. The gastric mucosa was unstained. APM was localized to numerous fibers supplying the myenteric plexus of the stomach, small intestine, and colon. The submucosal plexus was sparsely supplied by immunoreactive fibers. Occasional cell bodies were stained in the myenteric plexus. Staining was abolished by preabsorption of the primary antibody with APM. APM was characterized in membranes prepared from the muscle and mucosa of the guinea pig and rat stomach, small intestine, and colon by Western blotting. The major immunoreactive protein identified in membranes prepared from all tissues had an apparent molecular weight of 140, corresponding to the monomer of APM. In the brush border APM has a digestive function, whereas in neural tissue it may degrade and inactivate neuropeptides.

Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) and aminopeptidase M (APM) were identified in the pancreas by enzymatic assays and Western blotting. The NEP activity, assessed by the phosphoramidon- and DL-thiorphan-inhibitable degradation of glutaryl-Ala-Ala-Phe-4-methoxy-2-naphthylamine, was 28.8 pmol/h/micrograms of pancreatic membrane protein and 124 pmol/h/10(6) pancreatic acinar cells. The APM enzymatic activity, assessed by the actinonin- and amastatin-inhibitable degradation of Ala-4-methoxy-2-naphthylamine, was 633 pmol/h/micrograms pancreatic membrane protein and 17.4 nmol/h/10(6) pancreatic acinar cells. Proteins corresponding to NEP (95 kDa) and APM (140 kDa) were identified in membranes by Western blotting. Both NEP and APM on acinar cells may degrade neuropeptides and regulate their effects on exocrine secretion.

The effects of somatostatin-28, somatostatin-14, and a synthetic somatostatin octapeptide analogue, D-Phe-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Lys-Thr-Cys-Nal-NH2 (cyclo SS-8) were examined on contraction of dispersed gastric smooth muscle cells from guinea pigs. The somatostatins did not cause contraction of gastric smooth muscle cells, nor did they inhibit carbachol-stimulated contraction. However, they reversed vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-induced inhibition (relaxation) of carbachol-stimulated contraction. Somatostatin-28 had a half-maximal effect (EC50) at 1.6 +/- 0.8 nM, cyclo SS-8 at 0.6 +/- 0.3 nM, but somatostatin-14 had no effect even when used in concentrations as high as 1 microM. Incubation of muscle cells with peptidase inhibitors phosphoramidon (1 microM) plus amastatin (10 microM) had no effect on the EC50 of somatostatin-28 or cyclo SS-8 but increased the potency of somatostatin-14 greater than 1,000-fold. When peptides were incubated with muscle cells and the products applied to high-performance liquid chromatography, cyclo SS-8 was not degraded, but somatostatin-14 was rapidly degraded when present alone, and the addition of peptidase inhibitors partially inhibited the degradation. Cyclo SS-8 had its maximal effect at 0.5-1 min and inhibited relaxation induced by VIP, isoproterenol, glucagon, or dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (DBcAMP). Cyclo SS-8 partially inhibited the increase in VIP-stimulated cAMP. Preincubation with pertussis toxin blocked the inhibitory action of cyclo SS-8 on VIP or DBcAMP-induced relaxation. These results indicate that gastric smooth muscle cells rapidly degrade somatostatin-14 and suggest that muscle cell peptidases could have a major effect on the actions of somatostatin-14.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The aim of this investigation was to isolate and characterize a neuropeptide-degrading carboxypeptidase from the muscular and mucosal layers of the human stomach. The carboxypeptidase was solubilized from membrane preparations of gastric muscle and mucosa using Triton X-100. The detergent-solubilized enzyme was purified to apparent electrophoretic homogeneity by affinity chromatography using lisinopril or potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor as an affinity ligand. The enzyme had an apparent molecular weight of 34,300 and was bound by concanavalin A and is thus a glycoprotein. The carboxypeptidase removed C-terminal leucine, phenylalanine, or tryosine residues from peptides including angiotensin I, [Leu5]enkephalin, kinetensin, neuromedin N, neurotensin, and xenopsin. It had an alkaline pH optimum and was inhibited by lisinopril, potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, 1,10-phenanthroline, and 8-hydroxyquinoline. Immunoblotting indicated that the gastric carboxypeptidase cross-reacted with an antibody raised against a carboxypeptidase isolated from mast cells of human skin. The gastric carboxypeptidase released from gastric mast cells upon degranulation may act to degrade and inactivate neuropeptides in the stomach wall.

To determine the relative contributions of neural reflexes and intestinal hormones to the inhibition of gastric acid secretion by intestinal acidification, rats with an extrinsically denervated, transplanted segment of jejunum, and those with an innervated segment of jejunum, were studied. Postoperatively, meal-stimulated gastric acid secretion was measured. When the acid secretory response to intragastric liver extract reached a plateau, graded concentrations of hydrochloric acid or saline were instilled into the jejunal segments. Gastric acid secretion was inhibited by intrajejunal acid (pH 2.5) by 79% in the innervated rats and by 64% in the transplanted group. Thus at a pH of 2.5 there was a 15% greater maximum inhibition of plateau acid response in the innervated rats than in the transplanted rats, presumably because of the extrinsic neural contribution. To examine the hormonal mediators, the effects of a somatostatin monoclonal antibody and a CCK-A receptor antagonist (L 364718) on acid-induced inhibition of gastric acid secretion were studied in transplanted rats. Treatment with a somatostatin monoclonal antibody or with L 364718 reduced the acid-induced (pH 2.5) inhibition of gastric acid secretion by 93 and 27%, respectively. Jejunal acidification inhibits gastric acid secretion in the rat by both neural and hormonal mechanisms. The hormonal mechanism is mediated by somatostatin and CCK.

The effects of a specific cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor antagonist (L364,718) and a gastrin receptor antagonist (L365,260) on gastrin-releasing peptide-10 (GRP-10)-stimulated pancreatic secretion were investigated in the anesthetized rat. GRP-10 stimulated pancreatic exocrine secretion in a dose-dependent manner. A dose of 1.0 nmol/kg/h elicited a significant increase in pancreatic protein output. L364,718 (2.0 mg/kg/h), at a dose that completely inhibited the stimulatory effect of exogenous CCK-8 (3.0 nmol/kg/h) on pancreatic secretion, did not suppress the excitatory effect of GRP-10. L365,260 (5.0 mg/kg/h), at a dose that completely inhibited the stimulatory effect of exogenous gastrin (20 micrograms/kg/h) on gastric acid secretion, did not suppress the excitatory effect of GRP-10 either. We concluded that CCK or gastrin do not mediate the excitatory mechanism of bombesin/GRP on pancreatic secretion. Since CCK and gastrin are the most probable candidates for excitatory mediator of bombesin/GRP, these results support the hypothesis that bombesin/GRP directly stimulates the exocrine pancreas in the rat.