Some biochemical characteristics and cell membrane actions of a toxic phospholipase A2 isolated from the venom of the pit viper Agkistrodon halys (Pallas)

A toxic component (AgTx) from the venom of Agkistrodon halys (Pallas) was isolated using DEAE-cellulose DE11 and CM-Sephadex C50 column chromatography and finally purified to homogeneity by FPLC on a MonoQ column. The toxin is a neutral (pI 6.9) single chain polypeptide with a mol. wt of 14,000 and an amino acid composition (123 residues) roughly similar to that of notexin. AgTx was found to have phospholipase A2 activity which was dependent on calcium and stimulated by sodium deoxycholate. The toxin caused efflux of 2-deoxy-(1-3H)-glucose-6-phosphate (a cell membrane integrity probe) as well as of [3H]acetylcholine from rat brain synaptosomes. No cell membrane damage was induced by AgTx on cultured N1E 115 neuroblastoma cells and chick myotube cultures. The LD50 ws 150 micrograms/kg (i.p.) in mice. The main symptom observed was respiratory paralysis. The results obtained show that AgTx can be classified as a toxic phospholipase A2 with a presynaptic site of action.

Isolation and pharmacological characterization of a new alpha-neurotoxin (alpha-AgTx) from venom of the viper Agkistrodon halys (Pallas)

A hitherto unknown alpha-neurotoxin, alpha-agkistrodotoxin, was isolated from the venom of the pit viper Agkistrodon halys (Pallas). It's molecular weight was approx. 8000 +/- 80 (SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis). The toxin crossreacted with antiserum directed against alpha-bungarotoxin and inhibited binding of 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor of cultured myotubes (IC50 = 2 X 10(-9) M). The association and dissociation rates were 4.85 X 10(5) per mole per min and 3.55 X 10(-4) per min, respectively, giving a Kd of 7.3 X 10(-10) M. The toxin also inhibited carbachol-induced influx of cations through the nAChR (IC50 = 6 X 10(-8) M).

Identification of the SS-A/Ro intracellular antigen with autoimmune sera

Autoantibodies to SS-A/Ro antigen have been described in the sera of certain patients with Sjögren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus and in neonates with lupus and/or congenital heart block. SS-A/Ro is a trypsin-sensitive intracellular antigen which appears to be associated with another intracellular antigen SS-B/La in tissue extracts. This study describes a simple method of separation of SS-A/Ro and SS-B/La antigenic activity by differential salt elution in polybuffer ion exchange chromatography. The partially purified SS-A/Ro antigen was separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under non-denaturing conditions and identified by Western blot analysis as a single polypeptide of 61,000 Da. The pI of SS-A/Ro antigen was 4.67. The partially purified SS-A/Ro antigen derived from gel electrophoresis could be adapted to an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of antibody.

RNA recombination: --introducing poly(A) into Q beta phage

Poly(A) molecule is inserted between two Q beta RNA molecules which have been partially degraded, one from the 3'-end and another from the 5'-end. E. coli HfrH is infected with these mosaic RNA molecules and a few recombined phages carrying poly(A) are obtained. Analysis of the RNA of 907 phage (one of these recombination phages) shows that the chain length of the poly(A) it contained is about 40.