A B S T R A C T Previous in vitro studies of the metab-olism of the peripheral nerve have been based on incorporation of radioactive precursor into components isolated from whole nerve. In this study we have determined incorporation specifically into myelin components of peripheral nerve by isolating myelin after incubating whole nerves with lipid or protein precursors and by determining the specific activity of the components of that membrane. The effect of diabetes on such incorporation was also studied.In the rat, in vitro incorporation of DL-[1-1'C]leucine into protein components of myelin was decreased by 30-88% in diabetic animals as compared to controls. The major polypeptide constituent of rat sciatic nerve myelin (mol wt 28,000; 58.5% of total mass of proteins) was not labeled in either the diabetic or the control group. In diabetes incorporation rate into a polypeptide of mol wt 23,000, which constitutes 21% of total mass, was approximately one half that of controls. In polypeptides of mol wt 38,000-49,000, which are heavily labeled in normal animals, but constitute only about 5% of total mass of proteins, depression of incorporation was even more marked in the diabetics. While these marked differences in incorporation between diabetic and control animals were observed, the amount of protein and its distribution among the constituent polypeptides was the same in both groups.In young rats made diabetic with streptozotocin and young rabbits made diabetic with alloxan, there was a lower rate of incorporation of the lipid precursors, [1-1'C]sodium acetate or [8H]water, into myelin components. In older animals of both species incorporation in the controls was considerably lower than in the Published previously, in part, in abstract form (1).
Previous studies of the amount of peripheral nerve myelin have been based on histologic examination. In this study, myelin content was measured directly after quantitative isolation from sciatic nerve. There was a decrease in the amount of myelin beginning at nine months, the time of maximal myelin content in normal rabbits, and beginning at six months, the amount was decreased in diabetic as compared with control animals. Composition of myelin isolated from young (age three to four months) and old (age nine to thirteen months) rabbit sciatic nerves was also determined and is similar to that of other species. Although the composition was not affected by diabetes, with aging there was a significant decrease in the amount of cholesterol and an increase in glycolipid.
To investigate abnormalities in peripheral nerve myelin in experimental diabetes, we studied the effects of the proteolytic enzymes trypsin and alpha-chymotrypsin on the proteins of this membrane, obtained from the sciatic nerves of normal rats and from animals made diabetic with streptozotocin. The dominant effect of the proteolytic enzymes was to incompletely degrade the major membrane protein (mol. wt. 28,000), with the appearance of new protein (mol. wt. 20,000). Using myelin isolated from the nerves of diabetic animals, the reaction was approximately one-half that of the controls (P less than 0.01) for both enzymes. When, however, the myelin protein affected by trypsin and chymotrypsin was isolated from the membrane and then incubated with the proteolytic enzyme, its proteolysis was complete and took place at the same rate in the diabetic animals and controls. These findings suggest that, in this model of experimental diabetes, there is an alteration in the structure of peripheral nerve myelin that inhibits interaction between the protein in the membrane bilayer and two water soluble proteolytic enzymes. This alteration could not be demonstrated in protein isolated from the membrane, suggesting that the change relates to the interaction of the protein and other components of myelin, rather than to chemical alteration in the protein per se.
Etintidine HCl is a potent H2-blocker. The effect of clinical doses of etintidine on the disposition of a single oral dose of propranolol was investigated in 12 normal subjects. This was a double-blind, two-way crossover study. Each subject received etintidine (400 mg) or placebo twice a day with meals for 4 days on two occasions (separated by 4 days). On each occasion, the subjects were fasted overnight on Day 3 and were given an oral dose of Inderal (40 mg propranolol hydrochloride) 30 min following the administration of the morning dose of etintidine or placebo on Day 4. Blood samples were collected prior to and up to 24 hr following the administration of propranolol. The plasma samples were analyzed for propranolol and 4-hydroxypropranolol by HPLC. Comparison of the pharmacokinetic parameters of propranolol between etintidine and the placebo groups indicates that etintidine significantly increased the AUC0-infinity values (573.5 vs. 146.4 ng.hr/ml, p = 0.0001) and prolonged the elimination half-life (4.61 vs. 2.33 hr) of propranolol. Statistical evaluation of the pharmacokinetic parameters of 4-hydroxypropranolol indicates that etintidine also increased the AUC0-24 values (43.8 vs. 16.4 ng.hr/ml, p = 0.0028) and prolonged the elimination half-life (4.87 vs. 1.97 hr) of 4-hydroxypropranolol. The data suggest that etintidine, like cimetidine, impaired the elimination of propranolol. Etintidine also protracted the elimination of 4-hydroxypropranolol, an active metabolite of propranolol.
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