The stimulation of reactive oxygen metabolite production from human polymorphonuclear leucocytes by chemotactic peptide (fMet-Leu-Phe) was inhibited by adenosine with a K0.5 of 0.6 microM. Dipyridamole (0.1 microM), an inhibitor of adenosine uptake, did not prevent the effect of adenosine. Non-metabolizable analogues could substitute for adenosine in the potency order N-ethoxycarboxamideadenosine greater than 2-chloroadenosine greater than adenosine greater than L-N6-(phenylisopropyl)adenosine = D-N6-(phenylisopropyl)adenosine, which is characteristic of an A2 adenosine receptor. The effects of adenosine, 2-chloroadenosine and N-ethoxycarboxamideadenosine were reversed by 8-phenyltheophylline. When endocytosis was inhibited with cytochalasin B, cells were still susceptible to adenosine receptor agonists. 2-Chloroadenosine (10 microM) reduced the activation of respiration in response to chemotactic peptide from 3.3-fold to 1.4-fold. Activation of reactive oxygen metabolite production in response to latex beads was not reversed by adenosine or its analogues. It was concluded that adenosine acts at an A2 adenosine receptor to antagonize the activation of polymorphonuclear leucocytes by those stimuli, such as chemotactic peptide, which cause an increase in the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration.

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1. Bovine, porcine and chicken liver glutamate dehydrogenases were irreversibly inhibited by a tenfold excess of radioactive 4-iodoacetamidosalicylic acid at pH7.5. 2. Inhibition was accompanied by the covalent incorporation of 1.1 mol of labelled inhibitor/mol of polypeptide chain. Acid hydrolysis yielded N(epsilon)-carboxymethyl-lysine as the sole labelled amino acid. No labelled S-carboxymethylcysteine was recovered from the bovine or porcine enzymes. 3. The labelled bovine enzyme was hydrolysed with trypsin. The radioactivity was found at lysine-126 in a peptide comprising residues 119-130 of the sequence. 4. The amino acid compositions of the tryptic peptides containing labelled lysine from the porcine and chicken enzymes were similar to that of the bovine peptide.

The interaction of rat mammary gland medium‐chain thioesterase with yeast fatty acid synthetase has been investigated. Medium‐chain thioesterase interacts with yeast fatty acid synthetase causing premature chain termination of the fatty acids synthesized from acetyl‐CoA and malonyl‐CoA. This effect is most marked under conditions of rate‐limiting malonyl‐CoA availability. Immobilized yeast fatty acid synthetase specifically binds rat mammary gland medium‐chain thioesterase. This interaction has been used to purify medium‐chain thioesterase to near homogeneity from samples of rat mammary gland cytosol. The stoichiometry of binding of medium‐chain thioesterase to yeast fatty acid synthetase has been investigated. Yeast fatty acid synthetase binds 5.7 ± 1 mol medium‐chain thioesterase/mol yeast fatty acid synthetase. It is concluded that yeast fatty acid synthetase has a medium‐chain thioesterase binding site.