adenosine-kinase and Coronary-Disease

Our earlier work on reperfusion showed that adult rat hearts released almost twice as much purine nucleosides and oxypurines as newborn hearts did [Am J Physiol 254 (1988) H1091]. A change in the ratio anabolism/catabolism of adenosine could be responsible for this effect. We therefore measured the activity of adenosine kinase, adenosine deaminase, nucleoside phosphorylase and xanthine oxidoreductase in homogenates of hearts and myocytes from neonatal and adult rats. In hearts the activity of adenosine deaminase and nucleoside phosphorylase (10-20 U/g protein) changed relatively little. However, adenosine kinase activity decreased from 1.3 to 0.6 U/g (P less than 0.025), and xanthine oxidoreductase activity increased from 0.02 to 0.85 U/g (P less than 0.005). Thus the ratio in activity of these rate-limiting enzymes for anabolism and catabolism dropped from 68 to 0.68 during cardiac development. In contrast, the ratio in myocytes remained unchanged (about 23). The large difference in adenosine anabolism/catabolism ratio, observed in heart homogenates, could explain why ATP breakdown due to hypoxia is lower in neonatal than in adult heart. Because this change is absent in myocytes, we speculate that mainly endothelial activities of adenosine kinase and xanthine oxidoreductase are responsible for this shift in purine metabolism during development.

Topics: Adenosine; Adenosine Deaminase; Adenosine Kinase; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Coronary Disease; Heart; In Vitro Techniques; Myocardium; Nucleotides; Pentosyltransferases; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Xanthine Dehydrogenase

1. The activities of ecto- and cytosolic 5'-nucleotidase (EC 3.1.3.5), adenosine kinase (EC 2.7.1.20), adenosine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.4) and AMP deaminase (EC 3.5.4.6) were compared in ventricular myocardium from man, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons and turtles. The most striking variation was in the activity of the ecto-5'-nucleotidase, which was 20 times less active in rabbit heart and 300 times less active in pigeon heart than in rat heart. The cytochemical distribution of ecto-5'-nucleotidase was also highly variable between species. 2. Adenosine formation was quantified in pigeon and rat ventricular myocardium in the presence of inhibitors of adenosine kinase and adenosine deaminase. 3. Both adenosine formation rates and the proportion of ATP catabolized to adenosine were greatest during the first 2 min of total ischaemia at 37 degrees C. Adenosine formation rates were 410 +/- 40 nmol/min per g wet wt. in pigeon hearts and 470 +/- 60 nmol/min per g wet wt. in rat hearts. Formation of adenosine accounted for 46% of ATP plus ADP broken down in pigeon hearts and 88% in rat hearts. 4. The data show that, in both pigeon and rat hearts, adenosine is the major catabolite of ATP in the early stages of normothermic myocardial ischaemia. The activity of ecto-5'-nucleotidase in pigeon ventricle (16 +/- 4 nmol/min per g wet wt.) was insufficient to account for adenosine formation, indicating the existence of an alternative catabolic pathway.

Topics: 5'-Nucleotidase; Adenine; Adenosine; Adenosine Deaminase; Adenosine Kinase; Adult; AMP Deaminase; Animals; Columbidae; Coronary Disease; Female; Heart; Histocytochemistry; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardium; Nucleotidases; Nucleotides; Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Species Specificity; Tubercidin

The behavior of a model for the partial depletion of adenine nucleotides in the perfused rat heart has been compared for ischemic and high coronary flow anoxic conditions. The accumulation of noradrenaline in the interstitial fluid greatly activates adenylate cyclase ultimately resulting in the degradation of 11.02 micronmol/g dry wt of ATP to adenosine, inosine, and hypoxanthine in 30 min. The high coronary flow rate during anoxic perfusion promotes washout of the noradrenaline from the interstitial fluid so that the hormone accumulates to only one fifth of its highest level in ischemia. This results in only slight activation of adenylate cyclase and in insignificant degradation of ATP in 2 min. The behavior of the model has been examined for two aerobic conditions--a transition from light to heavy work (2 min) and a transition from substrate-free to glucose perfusion (12 min), In both cases adenylate cyclase was not activated above its basal activity, and insignificant depletion of adenine nucleotides is predicted by the model.

Topics: Adenine Nucleotides; Adenosine Deaminase; Adenosine Kinase; Adenosine Monophosphate; Adenylyl Cyclases; Animals; Cell Membrane; Computers; Coronary Disease; Cyclic AMP; Extracellular Space; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hypoxia; Models, Biological; Myocardium; Norepinephrine; Purine Nucleosides; Rats

A model is proposed for the partial depletion of the adenine nucleotide pool in the ischemic perfused rat heart which involves seven enzymes: adenylate cyclase, 3',5'-cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, 5'-nucleotidase, adenosine kinase, adenosine deaminase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, and inorganic pyrophosphatase. The computer implementation of this model is in terms of rate laws, several of which were obtained by a systematic least-squares fitting procedure. Depletion of the adenine nucleotide pool is initiated by the release of endogenous noradrenaline into the interstitial fluid, which results from a fall in tissue PO2, and the subsequent activation of adenylate cyclase. In this model the substrate for 5'-nucleotidase is a membrane-bound AMP pool formed by hydrolysis of extracellular fluid and functions as a vasodilator; excess adenosine is incorporated into the tissue by a "permease" with Michaelis-Menten kinetics and converted to AMP, inosine, and hypoxanthine. Alternative mechanisms, such as the deamination of AMP by adenylate deaminase and conversion of AMP to adenine by AMP pyrophosphorylase, were rejected primarily on qualitative biochemical grounds.

Topics: 3',5'-Cyclic-AMP Phosphodiesterases; Adenine Nucleotides; Adenosine; Adenosine Deaminase; Adenosine Kinase; Adenylyl Cyclases; Animals; Computers; Coronary Disease; Kinetics; Membrane Transport Proteins; Models, Biological; Myocardium; Norepinephrine; Nucleotidases; Oxygen Consumption; Purine-Nucleoside Phosphorylase; Pyrophosphatases; Rats