Orthophosphate determination in the presence of high concentrations of ATP

Erythrocyte haemolysate interacts with ATP-Fe to form a complex containing iron, ATP and 13 800 MW polypeptide

Iron first entering the reticulocyte is bound to ATP in the low MW cytosolic pool; some is also 'loosely bound' to haemoglobin, coeluting with haemoglobin from a molecular sieve column though not incorporated into haem. When haemolysate is mixed with ATP-Fe in vitro a similar high MW iron-containing complex is formed: the ATP-Fe interacts with a non-haemoglobin constituent of the haemolysate to form a high MW ATP-Fe complex in which the ratio of ATP:Fe (originally 6:1) is reversed, so that the complex contains more iron than ATP. The high MW ATP-Fe complex is formed even when ATP is in 150-fold molar excess and is formed without detectable hydrolysis of the ATP. The activity of haemolysate in forming the high MW ATP-Fe complex is not diminished by dialysis; all of the activity is recovered in the haemoglobin-containing fraction obtained from an Ultrogel AcA 44 column. The activity does not derive from haemoglobin since 85% of the activity is removed when haemoglobin is purified from haemolysate with DEAE-Sephadex. The chelatable iron pool of the cell probably includes both the high MW ATP-Fe complex and low MW ATP-Fe. Shunting of ATP-Fe to a high MW aggregate reduces the amount of iron present in the highly reactive low MW form and thus probably serves to limit the formation of cell damaging radicals.

Osmotic and ionic regulation during hypoxia in the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis L

The concentrations of inorganic and organic ions and osmolality in the blood of the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, were determined during normoxia and hypercapnic and hypocapnic hypoxia. In normoxic animals, the blood sodium concentration was 124.5 +/- 4.2 mmol/l and the total cation concentration was 132.2 +/- 4.3 mEq/l (mean +/- S.D.). Major anionic compounds were chloride (40.8 +/- 1.6 mmol/l), bicarbonate (8.4 +/- 1.3 mmol/l), and organic anions (42.5 +/- 2.3 mEq/l). Among the latter, malate accounts for 30.4 +/- 2.2 mEq/l. The nature of the remaining anion fraction, which balances cation and anion concentrations in leech blood, remains unknown. Within 96 h of hypercapnic hypoxia, the amount of organic osmolytes in leech tissue increased from the control level of 56.6 +/- 9.1 to 158.3 +/- 19.5 mumol/g dry weight. An even higher amount of organic acids was accumulated within 96 h of hypocapnic hypoxia (218.0 +/- 53.7 mumol/g dry weight). A possible reason for this is that lactate, which is a major end-product of hypocapnic hypoxia, cannot be excreted to the external medium as easily as propionate. The accumulation of blood organic acids generating osmotic stress in the animals was compensated by an equimolar decrease in sodium and chloride ion concentrations. In hypercapnic animals these changes resulted in a constant osmotic concentration of the blood (200 mosmol/kg H2O) during the experimental period. Between 24 and 96 h of hypocapnic hypoxia, however, the increase in the osmotic gradient between animal and medium was correlated with further net water uptake and the obvious deterioration of the volume- and ion-regulatory mechanisms in these animals.

An ATP/2e-stoichiometry of 1 1/2 is thermodynamically possible for site 3 of oxidative phosphorylation

Free energy changes for ATP synthesis (delta GP) and 2e(-)-transfer across Site 3 (delta GR) were determined during oxidative phosphorylation by rat liver mitochondria. At static head, -delta GR/delta GP ranged narrowly between 1.55 and 1.59 with five different respiratory substrates. Thus, an ATP/2e- of 1 1/2 at Site 3 is thermodynamically possible with regards to overall reactants and products. Using nonequilibrium thermodynamics, phenomenological stoichiometries were close to 1 1/2 for all substrates suggesting that ATP/2e- at Site 3 is, in fact, 1 1/2. An ATP/2e- of 1 1/2 can only be possible if H+/O is 4 for cytochrome oxidase.