MT-SP1 (membrane-type serine protease 1)/matriptase is an epithelial-derived integral membrane enzyme. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the enzyme exists on the basolateral side of simple columnar epithelial cells, such as enterocytes, of normal adult animals. Using COS-1 monkey kidney cells transiently transfected with rat MT-SP1/matriptase expression plasmids, we found ...

The degradation of the enkephalin-containing octapeptide Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met-Arg-Gly-Leu (YGGFMRGL) was systematically investigated by incubating the peptide with synaptic membranes from rat striatum or with purified peptidases. The degradation products were derivatized with 4-dimethylamino-azobenzene-4'-isothiocyanate and then analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography and by amino-termin...

BACKGROUND The antifungal posaconazole concentrates within host cells and protects against Aspergillus fumigatus. The specific subcellular location of posaconazole and the mechanism by which cell-associated posaconazole inhibits fungal growth remain uncharacterized. METHODS Posaconazole was conjugated with the fluorophore boron-dipyrromethene (BDP-PCZ). A549 pulmonary epithelial cells and A. ...

The localization of non-specific alkaline phosphatase activity during cleavage and blastocyst formation has been investigated in the mouse by electron microscopy. The activity is detectable for the first time at the two-cell stage and is localized on the surface of the interblastomeric plasma membranes and on small cytoplasmic inclusions. It increases in the following stages, predominantly on t...

The enzyme-membrane relationship in phenobarbital induction of synthesis of drug-metabolizing enzyme system and proliferation of endoplasmic membranes has been further studied. Ultrastructural observations suggest that newly formed endoplasmic membranes in rat liver parenchymal cells arise through continuous outgrowth and budding off from pre-existing cisternae and tubules of rough-surfaced end...

The membranes of kidney cells of 3-spined sticklebacks were examined in freeze-etch replicas. The numbers of particles adhering to surfaces and fracture faces of the outer cell membranes and the membranes of the basal labyrinth were determined. The latter membranes probably are the main location of ion-transporting enzyme complexes. The total number of particles per cell in freshwater fish exce...

Plasma membranes were isolated from both unfrozen and frozen tissues of Jerusalem artichoke tubers (Helianthus tuberosus L.) in high purity utilizing an aqueous two-polymer phase partition system. Although the recovery of the plasma membranes was decreased significantly by freezing of tissues even at the nonlethal temperature (-5 degrees C), the isolated plasma membrane samples were considered ...

The localization of non-specific alkaline phosphatase activity during cleavage and blastocyst formation has been investigated in the mouse by electron microscopy. The activity is detectable for the first time at the two-cell stage and is localized on the surface of the interblastomeric plasma membranes and on small cytoplasmic inclusions. It increases in the following stages, predominantly on t...

PURPOSE Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is characterized by the development of epi- and subretinal fibrocellular membranes containing modified retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells among others. In the present study, the role of transglutaminases in accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in these membranes was investigated. Transglutaminases are enzymes capable of cross-link...

Glucocorticoids appear to play an integral role in stimulating surfactant synthesis by activating the rate-regulatory enzyme for phosphatidylcholine synthesis, CTP:cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase (CT). The activity of liver CT, in vitro, has been shown to be inhibited by the sphingomyelin hydrolysis product, sphingosine. In order to investigate the mechanisms by which glucocorticoids alte...