1. Influence of molecular structure on half-life and hydrolysis of dipeptides in plasma: importance of glycine as N-terminal amino acid residue
S A Adibi, G A Paleos, E L Morse Metabolism. 1986 Sep;35(9):830-6. doi: 10.1016/0026-0495(86)90224-6.
To investigate the effect of molecular structure on plasma disappearance and metabolism of dipeptides, rats were injected intravenously with individual dipeptides, and at various intervals after injection, dipeptide and amino acid concentrations were measured in plasma, tissues, and urine. In addition, plasma hydrolase activity against individual dipeptides was investigated. The half-lives of Ala-Leu, Ala-Tyr, and Ala-Gln were shorter than those of dipeptides with glycine substituting for alanine. Furthermore, the increases in plasma concentrations of leucine, tyrosine, and glutamine and rates of dipeptide hydrolysis by plasma enzymes were far greater with alanyl than glycyl dipeptides. In fact, Ala-Leu behaved like a mixture of corresponding free amino acids in raising the plasma concentration of leucine while Gly-Leu did not. There was no significant difference in either plasma half-life or hydrolysis when Leu-Gly and Leu-Ala were used as substrates, but both had rapid rates of hydrolysis in plasma. In comparison to Gly-Leu, Phe-Leu and Arg-Leu had shorter half-lives and greater rates of hydrolysis in plasma. On the other hand, Asp-Leu had a slower rate of plasma hydrolysis than Gly-Leu, but its excretion in the urine was much greater than that of Gly-Leu. In contrast to Gly-Leu and Ala-Leu, Gly-Pro was detected intracellularly in liver, muscle, and particularly, kidney. In fact, the intracellular concentration of Gly-Pro in kidney was either equal to or greater than Gly-Pro concentration in plasma. Increases in intracellular amino acid concentration after injection of individual dipeptides were considerably greater in the kidney than in either liver or muscle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
2. Differences in the enzymatic inactivation of arginine vasopressin and oxytocin by rat kidney homogenate
R Walter, H Shlank Endocrinology. 1975 Mar;96(3):811-4. doi: 10.1210/endo-96-3-811.
Arginine-vasopressin and oxytocin, both 14C-labeled in the glycine residue, are enzymatically inactivated by rat kidney supernatant. Production of radioactive metabolites of each hormone was followed as a function of time. Both oxytocin and vasopressin are degraded by an enzyme which cleaves their Pro-X bonds, to release Leu-Gly-NH2 from oxytocin and Arg-Gly-NH2 from vasopressin. In addition, oxytocin alone is degraded rapidly by a chymotrypsin-like enzyme which directly releases Gly-NH2 from the hormone. The direct release of Gly-NH2 from vasopressin in the homogenate is of minor importance, but there occurs a transient formation of an uncharacterized fragment in significant amounts. The data are interpreted to indicate that the difference in the overall mechanism of inactivation of the two hormones by the rat kidney extract is a result of the high level of the enzymic activity which releases Gly-NH2 directly from oxytocin, compared to the low level of activity releasing Gly-NH2 directly from the antidiuretic hormone. This allows, in the case of arginine vasopressin, a greater expression of the activity of enzyme(s) giving rise to uncharacterized fragment(s) and of the Pro-X cleaving enzyme.
3. Degradation of thymic humoral factor γ2 in human, rat and mouse blood: An experimental and theoretical study
Marcella Martignoni, Margherita Benedetti, Gavin P Davey, Keith F Tipton, Andrew G McDonald Biochim Biophys Acta Proteins Proteom. 2020 Sep;1868(9):140467. doi: 10.1016/j.bbapap.2020.140467. Epub 2020 Jun 5.
The degradation of the immunomodulatory octapeptide, thymic humoral factor γ2 (THF-γ2, thymoctonan) has been studied in whole blood samples from human, rat and mouse. The peptide, Leu-Glu-Asp-Gly-Pro-Lys-Phe-Leu, was shown to be rapidly degraded by peptidases. The half-life of the intact peptide was less than 6 min at 37 °C in blood from the three species tested. The main fragments formed from THF-γ2 were found to be Glu-Asp-Gly-Pro-Lys-Phe-Leu (2-8), Asp-Gly-Pro-Lys-Phe-Leu (3-8) and Glu-Asp-Gly-Pro-Lys (2-6) in human and in rat blood and 2-8 and 2-6 in mouse blood. Analysis of the time course of degradation revealed a sequential removal of single amino acids from the N-terminus (aminopeptidase activities) in a process that was apparently unable to cleave the Gly-Pro bond (positions 4-5 in the peptide) together with an independent cleavage of the Lys-Phe bond (positions 6-7 in the peptide) to release the dipeptide Phe-Leu. This behaviour and the effects of inhibitors showed the involvement of metallo-exopeptidases in the N-terminal digestion and a phosphoramidon-sensitive metallo-endopeptidase in the cleavage of the Lys-Phe bond. The degradation patterns in human blood were modelled in terms of the competing pathways involved approximating to first-order kinetics, and an analytical solution obtained via the method of Laplace Transforms. The half-life of THF degradation in whole rat blood sample was found to be significantly lower than in human or mouse.
