Quinonoid dihydropterin reductase-I. Purification and characterization of the bovine brain enzyme

Enzymatic activity of quinonoid dihydropterin reductase and tetrahydropterin content in human ocular tissues and senile cataracts

The quinonoid dihydropterin reductase (DHPR) activity and tetrahydropterin content were determined in human ciliary body--iris, retina, normal lens and senile cataracts. The DHPR activity was higher in the retina [120.56 +/- 12.46 nmol NADH oxidized min-1 (mg soluble protein)-1] than in the ciliary body--iris [46.10 +/- 7.46 nmol NADH oxidized min-1 (mg soluble protein)-1] and lens [2.79 +/- 0.15 nmol NADH oxidized min-1 (mg soluble protein)-1]. In the distribution of DHPR activity in the lens, the capsule-epithelium showed 1.5 and 10 times more activity than the cortex and nucleus, respectively. The apparent Km values for each of the substrates of DHPR activity in lens were obtained by Lineweaver--Burke plots. The plots. The tetrahydropterin content was found to be higher in the retina [826 +/- 76 pmol (g protein)-1] than in the ciliary body--iris [584 +/- 48 pmol (g protein)-1] and lens [82 +/- 16 pmol (g protein)-1]. The DHPR activity and tetrahydropterin content were decreased significantly in senile cataracts as compared with the values of age-matched clear lenses. The importance of the DHPR activity in the maintenance of tetrahydropterin in its reduced form in ocular tissues is discussed.

Isolation and characterization of dihydropteridine reductase from human liver

Dihydropteridine reductase (EC 1.6.99.7) was purified from human liver obtained at autopsy by a three-step chromatographic procedure with the use of (1) a naphthoquinone affinity adsorbent, (2) DEAE-Sephadex and (3) CM-Sephadex. The enzyme was typically purified 1000-fold with a yield of 25%. It gave a single band on non-denaturing and sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, and showed one spot on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of the enzyme was determined to be 50000 by sedimentation-equilibrium analysis and 47500 by gel filtration. On sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, a single subunit with mol.wt. 26000 was observed. A complex of dihydropteridine reductase with NADH was observed on gel electrophoresis. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was estimated to be pH 7.0. Amino acid analysis showed a residue composition similar to that seen for the sheep and bovine liver enzymes. The enzyme showed anomalous migration in polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. A Ferguson plot indicated that this behaviour is due to a low net charge/size ratio of the enzyme under the electrophoretic conditions used. The kinetic properties of the enzyme with tetrahydrobiopterin, 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6,7-dimethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropteridine, NADH and NADPH are compared, and the effects of pH, temperature and a number of different compounds on catalytic activity are presented.

Biopterin. VII. Inhibition of synthesis of reduced biopterins and its bearing on the function of cerebral tryptophan-5-hydroxylase in vivo

Repeated intraventricular injections of 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine (DAO-Pyr), inhibitor of D-erythro-q-dihydroneopterin triphosphate synthetase, inhibited q-BH2 synthesis from GTP, markedly increased accumulation of 2-amino-4-hydroxy-5 (or -6)-formamido-6-triphosphoribosylaminopyrimidine (FPyd-P3) and brought about a 60% decrease in the in vivo of reduced biopterin (BH2 and BH4) pool in the brain. Nevertheless, there was no effect on the rate of hydroxylation of L-tryptophan or on the 5-hydroxytryptamine level in rat brain. These data emphasized the significance of the rate of hydrogen transfer and the limitation of the concept of "unsaturation" (i.e., the absolute amount of the carrier pterin molecule) for the synthesis of neurotransmitters in vivo.

Bovine dihydropteridine reductase: purification by affinity chromatography and comparison of enzymes from liver and adrenal medulla

Dihydropteridine reductase has been purified to homogeneity from bovine liver and bovine adrenal medulla by precipitation with polyethylene glycol, ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration, and affinity chromatography on 5'-AMP-Sepharose 4B. The enzymes from the two tissues seem identical by the criteria of gel filtration chromatography, affinity chromatography, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence and absence of dodecyl sulfate, isoelectric focusing, amino acid analysis, and binding of NADH. Fluorescence studies show two independent binding sites for NADH and a dissociation constant of 10 nM at pH 6.8. Isoelectric focusing of the enzyme as purified in the presence of NADH revealed three different bands, which by removal of this coenzyme were converted into a single band, corresponding to pI 5.7. The enzyme contains no carbohydrate or zinc.

Biopterin. V. De novo synthesis of dihydrobiopterin: evidence for its quinonoid structure and lack of dependence of its reduction to tetrahydrobiopterin on dihydrofolate reductase

Samples of quinonoid‐l‐erythrodihydrobiopterin (q‐BH2) and quinonoid‐6‐methyl‐dihydro‐pterin (q‐6‐MPH2) were prepared by oxidation of l‐erythro‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) and 5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐6‐methylpterin (6‐MPH4) and separated from D‐erythro‐7,8‐dihydrobiopterin (7,8‐BH2) and 6‐methyl‐7,8‐dihydropterin (7,8‐6‐MPH2) as well as from the tetrahydropterins on phosphocellulose column by high‐pressure liquid chromatography. The quinonoid dihydropterins were identified and quantitated by scan of their ultraviolet absorption and fluorescence emission spectra through their rearrangement to their 7,8‐tautomer and also by gas chromatography of their rapidly synthesized trimethylsilyl derivative. Identification was also achieved by the enzymatic reduction of [3H]q‐BH2to [3H]BH4 by dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). Direct proof for the enzymatic synthesis of the q‐BH2 from GTP or from 2‐amino‐6‐(5′‐triphosphoribosyl)‐amino‐5‐ or ‐6‐formamido‐6‐hydroxypyrimi‐dine (FPyd‐P3) was obtained by isolation of the compound which was identical in all respects to the q‐BH2 obtained by chemical synthesis from BH4. The reduction of enzymatically synthesized q‐BH2 by dihydropteridine reductase (DHPR) to BH4 was not inhibited by methotrexate (MTX). When the enzymatically synthesized q‐BH2 was converted to 7,8‐BH2, it was reduced only by DHFR. This reduction, however, was inhibited by MTX. On the biosynthetic pathway from GTP to dihydrobiopterin, the enzyme responsible for the appearance of the quinonoid structure is the d‐erythro‐dihydroneopterin triphosphate synthetase, the product of which (quinonoid d‐erythro‐dihydroneopterin triphosphate) is converted to quinonoid dihydrobiopterin by l‐erythro‐dihydrobiopterin synthetase. Experiments in vivo established that DHFR does not participate in the reduction of dihydrobiopterin to tetra‐hydrobiopterin when the former is synthesized from GTP de novo. MTX at 5 × 10−6M exerted no inhibition on the reduction of the biosynthetic dihydrobiopterin to tetrahydrobiopterin in vivo, yet completely inhibited the reduction of intraventricularly injected tritiated dihydrofolate ([3H]FH2) to tritiated tetrahydrofolate ([3H]FH4).