No abstract

Purple membrane vesicles prepared by different techniques differ widely in their morphology and ability to establish a proton gradient in the light. The procedures used to prepare active vesicles do not completely dissociate the purple membrane and thus preserve a preferential orientation of the protein, while most of the lipid is exchanged for added lipid. Responses to illumination are largely determined by the size of the vesicles and the degree to which bacteriorhodopsin is preferentially oriented. Any attempt to compare the interaction of different lipids with bacteriorhodopsin by measuring the pH response must take these factors into account. With an improved technique we have obtained vesicles of rather uniform size and bacteriorhodopsin orientation, which accumulate protons with an initial rate of 160 ng H+ sec-1 mg-1 protein at light intensities of 10(6) erg cm-2 sec-1. The kinetics of the process are complex and at present insufficiently understood.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a potent lipid mediator of inflammation and asthma. Using a receptor preparation of rabbit platelet membranes, we identified a novel antagonist of PAF in the methylene chloride extract of a Chinese herbal plant, haifenteng (Piper futokadsura). The active antagonist, kadsurenone, was isolated and characterized in several in vitro and in vivo assays. It is a specific and competitive inhibitor of PAF binding to its receptor with a K; of 5.8x 10-8 M vs. a K; of 6.3 x 10-9 M for PAF itself. It inhibits PAF-induced aggregation of rabbit platelets and human neutrophils at 2.4-24 guM, without showing any PAF agonistic activity. It potently inhibits PAF-induced degranulation of human neutrophils at 2.5-50 #M, also without any agonist activity. Kadsurenone is active orally at 25-50 mg/kg of body weight in blocking PAF-induced cutaneous permeability in the guinea pig. It also inhibits PAF-induced increases of hematocrit and circulating N-acetylglucosaminidase in the rat at >10 mg/kg i.p. in a dose-dependent manner. Kadsurenone does not interfere with the function of several pharmacological mediators and receptors tested. Its structural specificity is evidenced by the poor PAF-antagonistic activities of three related structures isolated from the same haifenteng extract.

No abstract