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L-Carnosine is a bioactive dipeptide present in mammalian tissues including the central nervous system. We have recently shown that L-carnosine is involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis through the autonomic nervous system, but the mechanisms for its biosynthesis and degradation have not yet been fully elucidated. Here we report the biochemical and immunohistochemical characterization of a mammalian protein that has a 17% overall amino acid sequence homology with a Lactobacilus carnosinase, PepV. A recombinant protein expressed in E. coli has the enzymatic ability to digest L-carnosine and various other dipeptides, and this activity is inhibited by bestatin. It requires Mn 2 + for enzymatic activity and its effect is reversible. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that a few neuronal populations express this protein at very high levels. It is highly expressed in the parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus, tuberomammillary nucleus of the hypothalamus and the mitral cell layer of the olfactory bulb. In addition, neuronal processes, but not cell bodies, are stained in the striatum. In all these areas, the protein did not colocalize with the glial fibrilary acidic protein. These results suggest that a peptidase that digests L-carnosine is enriched in several specific neuronal populations in the central nervous system.

Circadian rhythms in behaviors and physiological phenomena of plants and animals have long been well known, but the frameworks of the molecular mechanism of circadian clocks have become clearer only within the last decade. A transcription-translation feedback loop has been shown to be an essential component of the clock, and this mechanism seems to be conserved over a wide range of species. The transcriptional activation by a Clock:Bmall heterodimer and the inhibition by Cryptochrome and Period are believed to provide the framework of the feedback loop in mammals. Post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, nuclear entry and degradation have also been demonstrated to be necessary for the oscillation. Complex auxiliary loops have also been found, and these are thought to contribute to the stabilization of the feedback loop. The molecular mechanisms by which the circadian clock is adjusted to external conditions such as daily light-dark cycles, and by which the oscillation of the feedback loop is transferred to the peripheral organs are also discussed.

KCl-treatment of PC12 cells induces depolarization of the plasma membrane and Ca2+ influx into the cells. We have previously shown that KCl induced tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins of 120, 110, 68, 44, and 42 k, and that the 68 k protein was paxillin. In the present study, we found that the 120 k protein was a Crk-associated Src substrate, p130(cas). KCl-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of p130(cas) was not observed in EGTA-containing medium, suggesting that it was due to Ca2+ influx into the cells. Time course experiments showed that tyrosine phosphorylation of p130(cas) peaked at 5 min after stimulation and returned to the basal level at 60 min, while mobility shift of p130(cas) was observed within 2 min and lasted over 60 min, indicating that serine or threonine residues, in addition to tyrosine, were phosphorylated on KCl stimulation. In vitro kinase assay of immunoprecipitates with anti-p130(cas) antibody suggested that some protein-tyrosine kinases were associated with p130(cas). Using the substrate region of p130(cas) as the substrate, we found that Fyn and Src were activated on stimulation with KCl. These results indicate that tyrosine phosphorylation of p130(cas) may be involved in Ca2+-dependent events in neuronal and neuroendocrine cells.

We previously reported that p72syk, a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, was activated maximally at 10 s after thrombin or thromboxane A2 stimulation, even in platelets that were not allowed to aggregate [Taniguchi et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 2277-2279; Maeda et al. (1993) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 197, 62-67]. Then, the change in the shape of porcine platelets induced by the thromboxane A2 analogue, STA2, and the role of protein-tyrosine kinases including p72syk in this response were evaluated, using the shape-change parameter. We show that p72syk activation is correlated with the disc-sphere change in a time- and dose-dependent manner following stimulation by STA2. Tyrphostin B44, a potent protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, reduced the thromboxane A2-evoked p72syk activation and the disc-sphere change in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the translocation of p72syk to the cytoskeleton-rich fraction and an increase in the tyrosine phosphorylation of an about 120 kDa protein were observed during the disc-sphere change induced by STA2. These lines of evidence suggest that the activation of protein-tyrosine kinases such as p72syk may be involved in the disc-sphere change response in thromboxane A2-stimulated porcine platelets.

Protein-tyrosine kinase p72syk exists abundantly in various hematopoietic cells and is activated by physiological or non-physiological agents. In this study we used vanadate, which is well known as a protein-tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, to investigate the activity of p72syk and a downstream substrate for p72syk. Treatment with vanadate plus H2O2 caused tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple cellular proteins and platelet activation, i.e. aggregation and secretion. During aggregation induced by this stimulant, p72syk was activated and GTPase activating protein (GAP) was phosphorylated on tyrosine residue(s). The activation of p72syk was time- and dose-dependent. Also, the time course of activation of p72syk preceded that of tyrosine phosphorylation of GAP, and GAP was actually phosphorylated on tyrosine residue(s) by p72syk in vitro. These results suggest that p72syk is activated by treatment with vanadate plus H2O2, and that GAP is one of the possible substrates for p72syk in porcine platelets.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a neuropeptide that induces neuronal differentiation through a cAMP-dependent mechanism. We have previously shown that VIP induces tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of MAP kinases in PC12h cells [J. Biochem. 115, 304-308 (1994)]. In the present study, we showed by Western blotting with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies that in PC12h cells VIP induced tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins of 140, 120, 110, and 70 kDa in addition to MAP kinases. The immunoprecipitates with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody from VIP-treated cells contained high activity of protein kinase phosphorylating poly(glu-tyr) and enolase; the activity from VIP-stimulated cells was 1.5-2 times higher than that from unstimulated cells. In vitro kinase reaction without extrinsic substrates resulted in tyrosine phosphorylation of doublet proteins which migrated slower than pp125FAK on SDS-PAGE. An increase in kinase activity of the immunecomplex was detected when the cells were stimulated with forskolin. These results suggest that protein tyrosine phosphorylation is involved in differentiation of neuronal cells stimulated by VIP and that it is regulated by a cAMP-dependent mechanism.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a neuropeptide coupled with adenylate cyclase, was found to induce neurite extension of PC12h cells. Neurites appeared within 1 h after addition of VIP and extended for at least 24 h. The half-maximal concentration for the effect of VIP was 50 nM. In addition to the morphological change, VIP induced expression of VGF protein, a neuron-specific protein associated with neuronal differentiation. Western blotting with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody showed that VIP stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of two proteins of 42 and 44 kDa, which may be two isoforms of MAP kinase, erk1 and erk2. Activation of MAP kinases was confirmed by ion-exchange chromatography on a Mono Q column, from which VIP-induced kinase activity was co-eluted with MAP kinase-immunoreactivity. Tyrosine-phosphorylation of MAP kinases was also stimulated by forskolin or dibutyryl cAMP, indicating that activation of MAP kinases by VIP might be mediated by cAMP. These results suggest that VIP-induced differentiation of PC12 cells is associated with cAMP-dependent activation of MAP kinases.

The circadian change of gluconeogenesis in the liver in vivo in fed rats was studied. Gluconeogenesis in the liver in vivo was determined by measuring the rate of synthesis of 14C-labeled blood glucose derived from a 14C-labeled substrate, such as lactate, pyruvate or an amino acid injected into nephrectomized rats. Gluconeogenesis in the liver from all substrates examined except glutamine was higher at 8:00 P.M. than at 8:00 A.M. in correspondence with the circadian rhythm of the activity of hepatic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. These data indicate that hepatic gluconeogenesis shows a circadian change in response to changes in nutritional conditions in vivo.

Two-dimensional changes of the redox level of NADH were measured by fluorescence photography with the aid of computer-processing in cross sections of rat brain that had been frozen in situ in liquid nitrogen. Structure-related heterogeneity was noted in the distribution of the redox level in normal brain of conscious rats. Using 2-deoxy-[14C]glucose autoradiography, the area showing relatively high NADH fluorescence was found to be the area of high glucose utilization. Quantitatively, however, the fluorescence intensity did not parallel the rate of glucose uptake. Increase of NADH fluorescence was observed specifically in the nucleus caudatus putamen and the thalamus when the rats were anesthetized with pentobarbital. Chemical determination of the NADH content was also performed simultaneously, and the results were consistent with those obtained by fluorescence photography.

Phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinase [EC 4.1.1.21] activity in rat kidney shows a circadian rhythm with the highest activity between 0200 h and 0800 h and the lowest activity between 1400 h and 2000 h. The rhythm was observed in both sexes and throughout the year. Actinomycin D and cycloheximide effectively blocked the circadian increase in enzyme activity. These findings suggest that the circadian increase in phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinase activity is due to net synthesis of enzyme protein through newly synthesized mRNA. In experiments with kidney cortex slices, gluconeogenesis from the radioactive precursor, [14C]malic acid, was considerably higher at 0200 h than at 1400 h, varying in parallel with the change in the enzyme activity.