Na+/K+-ATPase enzyme

D) Binding to and inhibiting the Na-K ATPase enzyme in cardiac myocytes... 

It is about an active mechanism depending on the Na+-K+-ATPase enzyme located in the lateral plasma membrane of the endothelial cells. It enables the penetration of potassium into the cell against the excretion of sodium into the aqueous humor. Then this latter becomes hypertonic in comparison with the stroma and thus drains the water. In normal conditions, the pump can adapt to the physiological needs. Actually, the moves of the sodium ion are relative to those of the bicarbonate ion (responsible for the negative polarization of the back side of the endothelial cell) and to the pH variation. And yet, the bicarbonate comes from the aqueous humor and from the intracellular transformation of carbon dioxide and water by carbonic anhydrase. All of this shows the good functioning of the pumps depends on the integrity of the plasma... 

Figure 19. Time course of inactivation of Na+-K+-stimulated ATP hydrolysis ( ) or K+-phosphatase (o) activity of the Na+-K+-ATPase enzyme treated with trypsin or chymotrypsin under carefully controlled conditions in NaCI or KCI media. In NaCI, chymotrypsin (CHY) cleaves at Leu266 (3), while trypsin (TRY) cleaves at Lys30 (2) and Arg262 (3). In KCI, trypsin cleaves at Arg438 (1) and Lys30 (2) in sequence, while there is no cleavage site exposed to chymotrypsin. Data from Jorgensen and Andersen, 1988.

Cantley al. (50) found that vanadate binds to one high-affinity and one low affinity site per (Na, K)-ATPase enzyme molecule. The low-affinity site was apparently responsible for inhibition of (Na, K)-ATPase activity and was the high-affinity ATP site where sodium-dependent protein phosphorylation occurs. Cantley al. (56) proposed that the unusually high affinity of vanadate for (Na, K)-ATPase was due to its ability to form a trigonal blpyramldal structure analogous to the transition state for phosphate hydrolysis. 

In this study we have shown that thyroid hormone status causes specific alterations in Na,K-ATPase enzyme abundance and activity during development when normalized to a constant amount of membrane protein suggesting specific effects, direct or indirect, on Na,K-ATPase synthesis. The increase in abundance could also reflect T3 mediated decrease in degradation rate but this is unlikely given the large increase in abundance. 

Active Transport. Maintenance of the appropriate concentrations of K" and Na" in the intra- and extracellular fluids involves active transport, ie, a process requiring energy (53). Sodium ion in the extracellular fluid (0.136—0.145 AfNa" ) diffuses passively and continuously into the intracellular fluid (<0.01 M Na" ) and must be removed. This sodium ion is pumped from the intracellular to the extracellular fluid, while K" is pumped from the extracellular (ca 0.004 M K" ) to the intracellular fluid (ca 0.14 M K" ) (53—55). The energy for these processes is provided by hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and requires the enzyme Na" -K" ATPase, a membrane-bound enzyme which is widely distributed in the body. In some cells, eg, brain and kidney, 60—70 wt % of the ATP is used to maintain the required Na" -K" distribution. 

A minimal mechanism for Na, K -ATPase postulates that the enzyme cycles between two principal conformations, denoted Ej and Eg (Figure 10.11). El has a high affinity for Na and ATP and is rapidly phosphorylated in the presence of Mg to form Ei-P, a state which contains three oeeluded Na ions (occluded in the sense that they are tightly bound and not easily dissociated from the enzyme in this conformation). A conformation change yields Eg-P, a form of the enzyme with relatively low affinity for Na, but a high affinity for K. This state presumably releases 3 Na ions and binds 2 ions on the outside of the cell. Dephosphorylation leaves EgKg, a form of the enzyme with two... 

FIGURE 10.10 The reaction of tridated sodium borohydride with the aspartyl phosphate at the active site of Na, K -ATPase. Acid hydrolysis of the enzyme following phosphorylation and sodium borohydride treatment yields a tripeptide containing serine, homoserine (derived from the aspartyl-phosphate), and lysine as shown. The site of phosphorylation is Asp" in the large cytoplasmic domain of the ATPase. 

FIGURE 10.11 A mechanism for Na, K -ATPase. The model assumes two principal conformations, Ei and E9. Binding of Na ions to Ei is followed by phosphorylation and release of ADP. Na ions are transported and released and ions are bound before dephosphorylation of the enzyme. Transport and release of ions complete the cycle. 

J. C. Seou (Aarhus) discovery of the first molecular pump, an ion-transporting enzyme Na+-K+ ATPase. 

Tlie Na+/K+-ATPase belongs to the P-type ATPases, a family of more than 50 enzymes that also includes the Ca2+-ATPase of the sarcoplasmic reticulum or the gastric H+/K+-ATPase. P-Type ATPases have in common that during ion transport an aspartyl phos-phointermediate is formed by transfer of the y-phosphate group of ATP to the highly conserved sequence DKTGS/T [1]. 

The catalytic cycle of the Na+/K+-ATPase can be described by juxtaposition of distinct reaction sequences that are associated with two different conformational states termed Ei and E2 [1]. In the first step, the Ei conformation is that the enzyme binds Na+ and ATP with very high affinity (KD values of 0.19-0.26 mM and 0.1-0.2 pM, respectively) (Fig. 1A, Step 1). After autophosphorylation by ATP at the aspartic acid within the sequence DKTGS/T the enzyme occludes the 3 Na+ ions (Ei-P(3Na+) Fig. la, Step 2) and releases them into the extracellular space after attaining the E2-P 3Na+ conformation characterized by low affinity for Na+ (Kq5 = 14 mM) (Fig. la, Step 3). The following E2-P conformation binds 2 K+ ions with high affinity (KD approx. 0.1 mM Fig. la, Step 4). The binding of K+ to the enzyme induces a spontaneous dephosphorylation of the E2-P conformation and leads to the occlusion of 2 K+ ions (E2(2K+) Fig. la, Step 5). Intracellular ATP increases the extent of the release of K+ from the E2(2K+) conformation (Fig. la, Step 6) and thereby also the return of the E2(2K+) conformation to the EiATPNa conformation. The affinity ofthe E2(2K+) conformation for ATP, with a K0.5 value of 0.45 mM, is very low. 

The Na+/K+-ATPase is the only enzyme known to interact with CTS, which reversibly bind to the extracellular side of the Na+/K+-ATPase at the E2-P conformational state [E2-P ouabain] and inhibit ATP hydrolysis and ion transport (Fig. lb, step 4). 

Enzyme Assay. Na , K -ATPase, and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca - ATPase were prepared from rat hearts (22) and dog hearts (23), respectively. Bovine heart cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase was purchased from Sigma. The enzyme reaction was carried out after 5-min pretreatment with the drug, and the amount of inorganic phosphate liberated during the reaction period was determined. 

Effects on Ena e Activities. MTX at concentrations up to 10" g/mL had no effect on the enzymes related to the possible mechanism of cardioexcitatory action, such as cardiac Na ,K - ATPase, cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca -ATPase. 

MTX caused a contraction of vascular smooth muscle and positive inotropic, positive chronotropic and arrhythmogenic effects on cardiac muscle. The effect of MTX was little affected by various receptor blockers, a Na channel blocker or a catecholamine depleting agent. Further, MTX had no effect on the enzymes which were related to Ca movements, such as Na , K -ATPase, cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca -ATPase. These results would eliminate the possible involvement of an indirect action elicited by the release of chemical mediators and direct modifications of their receptors, Na channels, or various enzymes as a major mechanism of action of MTX. 

There has been considerable discussion regarding the mode of action of the sea cucumber and starfish saponins. Both the triterpene and steroidal glycosides inhibit both Na/K ATPase and Ca/Mg ATPase 06) possibly as a result of their aglycone structures. However, their detergent properties cause membrane disruption which will influence the activity of membrane-bound enzymes such as the ATPases. In investigating the actions of saponins on multilamellar liposomes, it was found that cholesterol serves as the binding site for such saponins and that cholesterol-free lip-somes are not lysed by saponins 107). 

This is not really a treatment but there is a view that glial cells can protect against seizures since the enzyme systems they possess (e.g. Na-K+ATPase and carbonic anhydrase) facilitate the regulation of ion movements and reduce the spread of seizures. Certainly ageing, a fatty diet, and phenytoin itself increase glial cell count while decreasing seizure susceptibility. In fact inhibition of carbonic anhydrase and the production of bicarbonate was one of the first treatments for epilepsy and a recent discovery that under certain circumstances intracellular bicarbonate can depolarise neurons has created a fresh interest in it. 

The data discussed above provide evidence for the existence of two conformations with different capacities and orientations of cation sites. In the Ei form of Na,K-ATPase, the exposure of C3(T,i) to cleavage reflects that the cation sites of the phosphoprotein are in an inward oriented conformation with a capacity for occlusion of 3Na ions. The E2 form with exposed T1 and protected C3(T3) occludes either 2Na or 2Rb (K ) in the phosphoform or 2Rb (K ) in the unliganded enzyme. 

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