Lysosomal density

Within the brain, differences in lysosomal density among various cells may also predispose to adverse drug interactions. Lysosomes are more numerous in neurones than astrocytes, and decreased trapping may increase the exposure of cell surface receptors to the drug. Examples of this mechanism causing CNS effects are yet to be elucidated. 

As an example, the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) molecule and its receptor (Chapter 25) are internalized by means of coated pits containing the LDL receptor. These endocytotic vesicles containing LDL and its receptor fuse to lysosomes in the cell. The receptor is released and recycled back to the cell surface membrane, but the apoprotein of LDL is degraded and the choles-teryl esters metabolized. Synthesis of the LDL receptor is regulated by secondary or tertiary consequences of pinocytosis, eg, by metabolic products—such as choles-... 

Siitterlin U, Thies W-G, Haffher H, et al. 1984. Comparative studies on the lysosomal association of monomeric 239Pu and 241Am in rat and Chinese hamster liver Analysis with sucrose, metrizamide, and percoll density gradients of subcellular binding as dependent on time. Radiat Res 98 293-306. 

Careful examination of the yellowish sediment obtained after spinning down the crude mitochondrial fraction showed it was frequently overlaid with loosely packed, fluffy material —the fluffy layer. Experiments from de Duve s and, later, Novikoff s laboratories in the 1950s demonstrated that the lighter, lysosomal fraction was enriched in a number of hydrolases including acid phosphatase, aryl sulphatase, B glucuronidase, RNAase, and a peptidase, cathepsin. All the enzymes had optimal pHs in the acid range (pH 5-pH 6). Density... 

The microsomal fraction was first obtained by Claude in 1943. In addition to lipid in the fraction, he noted the presence of RNA-rich granules, consistent with reports from Brachet that cytoplasm stained for RNA by the methyl-green/pyronin procedure. Glucose-6-phos-phatase was a prominent enzyme when the fraction was prepared from liver. Since density gradient sedimentation showed G-6-P-ase was absent from mitochondria and lysosomes, it was used as a marker for liver microsomes. 

Mammalian cells acquire cholesterol either by de novo synthesis from acetyl-coen-zyme A (CoA) or via the low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptor-mediated uptake of LDL particles that contain cholesterol esterified with long-chain fatty acids. These LDL cholesterol esters are subsequently hydrolyzed in lysosomes, after which free cholesterol molecules become available for synthesis of membranes, steroid hormones, bile acids, or oxysterols [1]. 

Once inside a cell the vesicles lose their coats to become endosomes which may then fuse with lysosomes or with Golgi membranes. The removal of a clathrin coat requires ATP as well as the chaperonin Hsp 70 (Chapter 10) and a coat protein called auxilin.568 Triskelion is distorted and displaced from the clathrin cage. The interior of the newly formed endosome is quickly acidified by the action of a proton pump in the vesicle walls.554 569 This sometimes leads to dissociation of enclosed receptors from their ligands and permits recycling of receptors and lipids of the vesicle membranes to the cell surface. This is the case for the low-density lipoprotein receptor.570 571... 

Density gradients are widely used in separating and purifying biological samples. In addition to this preparative application, measurements of s can be made. Gradient techniques have been used to isolate and purify the sub-cellular components, microsomes, ribosomes, lysosomes, mitochondria, peroxisomes, chloroplasts, and others. After isolation, they have been biochemically characterized as to their protein, lipid, nucleic acid, and enzyme contents. 

Dehydrogenase Deficiency, Biotinidase Deficiency, and Adrenoleukodystrophy. Catabolism of essential amino acid skeletons is discussed in the chapters Phenylketonuria and HMG-CoA Lyase Deficiency. The chapters Inborn Errors of Urea Synthesis and Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia discuss the detoxification and excretion of amino acid nitrogen and of heme. The chapter Gaucher Disease provides an illustration of the range of catabolic problems that result in lysosomal storage diseases. Several additional chapters deal with key aspects of intracellular transport of enzymes and metabolic intermediates the targeting of enzymes to lysosomes (I-Cell Disease), receptor-mediated endocytosis (Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptors and Familial Hypercholesterolemia) and the role of ABC transporters in export of cholesterol from the cell (Tangier disease). 

---