To investigate patterns of endogenous hormone release, we have proposed a biophysical model in which measured hormone concentrations at any given instant reflect the operation of a suitable cumulation function (secretory input) convolved with an appropriate elimination mechanism (metabolic clearance). The cumulation function underlying a macroscopic hormone secretory burst can be represented by a random (Gaussian) distribution of instantaneous molecular secretory rates, which are centered with some finite and determinable standard deviation about a particular moment in time. The hormone elimination mechanism is described by a mono-or biexponential clearance function. The resultant convolution integral is solved by iterative nonlinear leastsquares parameter estimation, in which all plasma hormone concentrations and their variances are considered simultaneously. Experiments with human endocrine time series revealed that the spontaneous secretory patterns of any of multiple distinct anterior pituitary hormones (luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, growth hormone, prolactin, thyrotropin, and adrenocorticotropic hormone) can be described effectively by this parsimonious model. In addition, endogenous hormone disappearance rates determined by deconvolution agreed well with those reported earlier that were determined after exogenous hormone injections. Moreover, this model predicted that durations of underlying secretory impulses are extremely brief; i.e., the standard deviations of the Gaussian distributions of instantaneous secretory rates range from 4.5 min (luteinizing hormone) to 16 min (growth hormone) compared to plasma hormone concentration peaks of 90-140 min in duration. Accordingly, we conclude that observed physiological patterns of fluctuating plasma hormone concentrations can be accounted for by distinct, highly delimited, random bursts of hormone release separated by intervals of secretory quiescence.Endocrine glands are believed to signal their remote target organs by an intermittent rather than a continuous mode of hormone secretion (1, 2). This presumptively episodic pattern of agonist release might avoid down-regulation of target tissue responses, which could otherwise occur if cells were exposed to unvarying concentrations of a trophic agent. Despite this general inference, few if any analyses have addressed the following physiological question: What is the nature of underlying secretory events that are translated into episodic changes in circulating hormone concentrations?In the present work, we suggest that the secretion of biological macromolecules by an endocrine gland comprises a population of random instantaneous molecular release events, with finite probable amplitude, standard deviation, and temporal position. Since metabolic removal mechanisms operate simultaneously with hormone secretion, these two processes are related by a convolution integral, which can be solved by iterative nonlinear least-squares parameter estimation in which all plasma hormone concentrations an...

No abstract

Picosecond recombination of nitric oxide to the double mutants of myoglobin, His64Gly-Val68Ala and His64Gly.Val68Ile, at E7 and E11, has been studied experimentally and by computation. It is shown that distal residues have a profound effect on NO recombination. Recombination in the mutants may be explained in terms of fluctuating free volume and structure of the heme pocket. The double mutants provide insight into the effects of free volume and steric hindrance on rates of ligand rebinding following photolysis. Water molecules of the first solvation shell replace surface residues deleted by mutation and can block apparent holes in the protein structure. Thus, water molecules extend the time required for ligands to escape significantly to a nanosecond time scale, which is much longer than would be expected for an open heme pocket. Both nearly exponential (G64A68) and markedly nonexponential (native and G64I68) kinetics are observed, a result at variance with expectation from the model of Petrich et al. [Petrich, J.W., Lambry, J.C., Kuczera, K., Karplus, M., Poyart, C., & Martin, J.L. (1991) Biochemistry 30, 3975-3987], which attributes nonexponential kinetics to proximal effects.

Experimentally, distal mutations in myoglobin substantially affect the contribution of fast and slow phases to picosecond geminate recombination of NO following flash photolysis. Earlier simulations of ligand diffusion among distal pocket mutants showed greatly differing rates of collisions between the ligands and the heme iron, suggesting that distal residues affect recombination by controlling ligand access to the iron [Gibson, Q. H., Regan, R., Elber, R., Olson, J. S., & Carver, T. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 22022-22034). In this work, molecular dynamics simulations of sperm whale myoglobin and mutations at positions 68 (E11) and 107 (G8) have been examined to investigate the structural mechanism that controls ligand diffusion and iron accessibility. Visualization of the distal ligand-accessible spaces shows a pattern of cavities (common to other hemoglobins and myoglobins) that fluctuate and interconnect due to protein motions. Access to the iron atom is highly sensitive to these fluctuations in the native structure, perhaps a reason for the strong conservation of distal residues. The positions of the helices surrounding the distal heme site were monitored to assess the involvement of more collective protein motions in ligand diffusion. Ligand migrations and collisions with the iron appear related to expansion of the distal protein matrix due to helix movements. The helices surrounding the distal site also make relative adjustments on the order of 0.5 A to accommodate the presence of a mobile diatomic ligand, suggesting a mechanism for communication between the heme site and the exterior of the protein.

No abstract