carbobenzoxycarbonyl-l-phenylalanyl-l-alanine-d-diazomethane and benzyloxycarbonyltyrosylalanine-diazomethane

Proteinase activities and megasomes were examined in axenically cultivated amastigote-like forms, freshly isolated lesion amastigotes, and promastigotes. Megasomes were absent in promastigotes and present in both amastigote stages, but they seemed to be less numerous and more homogeneous in cultured amastigote-like forms. Contrasting with the poor detection of proteinase activities in promastigote lysates, both types of amastigotes shared multiple proteinases, which were classified in two groups: (a) 60 to > 100 kDa, o-phenanthroline-sensitive activities; and (b) 23- to 40-kDa cysteine proteinases, of which those resolving as 35- to 40-kDa bands in gelatin gels were more clearly visualized in lysates of cultured amastigote-like forms. Incubation of both kinds of amastigotes with 0.25 to 1.0 microM of either Z-Phe-AlaCHN2 or Z-Tyr-AlaCHN2 selectively inactivated cysteine proteinases, but not the 35- to 40-kDa activities, which, again, were detected with higher intensity in cultured amastigote-like forms. The expression of the 35- to 40-kDa proteinases progressively increased when promastigotes were allowed to transform into amastigote-like forms or when lesion amastigotes were incubated at 34 degrees C for different time periods prior to exposure to Z-Phe-AlaCHN2; activities comparable to those of amastigote-like forms were attained within 24 to 48 hr. The activities resistant to Z-Phe-AlaCHN2 in vivo were fully inhibited by E-64 or Z-Phe-AlaCHN2 during gelatin digestion, suggesting that the 35- to 40-kDa proteinases were mainly inactive before cell lysis. The presence of cycloheximide (at 10, 50, and 100 micrograms/ml) during the pulse with Z-Phe-AlaCHN2 abolished the 35- to 40-kDa activities of lesion amastigotes and significantly reduced gelatin digestion by the similar enzymes of cultured amastigote-like forms. In the latter, the 35- to 40-kDa proteinases were no more detected when cycloheximide was given 60 min prior to Z-Phe-AlaCHN2. The results indicate higher rates of synthesis of the 35- to 40-kDa enzymes, and the existence of a more representative pool of inactive enzyme precursors, in cultured amastigote-like forms.

Topics: Animals; Cycloheximide; Cysteine Endopeptidases; Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; Diazomethane; Dipeptides; Endopeptidases; Leishmania mexicana; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Microscopy, Electron; Organelles; Temperature

Living Leishmania amazonensis amastigotes were incubated with radioiodinated N-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-tyrosyl-L-alanyl diazomethane (Z-Tyr-AlaCHN2), an irreversible inhibitor of mammalian cathepsins B and L. Parasite lysates were subjected to electrophoresis in gelatin-containing sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gels to detect regions of proteolytic activity, and the distribution of the inhibitor was ascertained by autoradiography. Of the three main bands of proteolysis associated with cysteine proteinases, two, with apparent molecular weights of 28 and 31 kDa, were shown to be labeled. The third enzyme activity, detected at the 35-kDa region in substrate gels, was only faintly labeled. The distribution of labeled bands was similar when lysates of untreated parasites were electrophoresed and the gels incubated with the radioiodinated inhibitor. Under reducing conditions, the inhibitor bound to polypeptides of 29, 31, 32, and 34 kDa, of which the first and the last were the most intensely labeled. Polypeptides with the same apparent molecular weights were labeled when amastigote lysates were incubated with the 125I inhibitor. Uptake of radioactivity by the parasites was time and concentration-dependent and more than 80% of the total counts could be precipitated with trichloroacetic acid. Radioactivity associated with the amastigotes was quite stable after they were pulsed with labeled inhibitor and chased for up to 24 hr in inhibitor-free medium. Both total uptake and labeling of cysteine proteinases were markedly reduced in parasites preincubated with Z-Phe-AlaCHN2 prior to exposure to Z-Tyr(125I)-AlaCHN2. However, more radioiodinated inhibitor was taken up by parasites preincubated with cold inhibitor and chased in inhibitor-free medium, suggesting de novo synthesis or processing of inactive enzyme precursors.

Topics: Animals; Autoradiography; Cysteine Endopeptidases; Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; Diazomethane; Dipeptides; Iodine Radioisotopes; Kinetics; Leishmania mexicana; Molecular Weight