Choline oxidase was purified from the cells of Arthrobacter globiformis by fractionations with acetone and ammonium sulfate, and column chromatographies on DEAE-cellulose and on Sephadex G-200. The purified enzyme preparation appeared homogeneous on disc gel electrophoresis. The enzyme was a flavoprotein having a molecular weight of approx. 83,000 (gel filtration) or approx. 71,000 (sodium dodecyl sulfate--polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis) and an isoelectric point (pI) around pH 4.5. Identification of the reaction products showed that the enzyme catalyzed the following reactions: choline + O2 leads to betaine aldehyde + H2O2, betaine aldehyde + O2 + H2O leads to betaine + H2O2. The enzyme was highly specific for choline and betaine aldehyde (relative reaction velocities: choline, 100%; betaine aldehyde, 46%; N,N-dimethylaminoethanol, 5.2%; triethanolamine, 2.6%; diethanolamine, 0.8%; monoethanolamine, N-methylaminoethanol, methanol, ethanol, propanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and propionaldehyde, 0%). Its Km values were 1.2 mM for choline and 8.7 mM for betaine aldehyde. The optimum pH for the enzymic reaction was around pH 7.5.

Phospholipase D [phosphatidylcholine cholinehydrolase, EC 3.1.4.4] excreted from Streptomyces chromofuscus was purified from the culture supernatant by precipitation with acetone and column chromatographies on palmitoylated gauze (Pal-G), DEAE-cellulose, and Sephadex G-150 with an overall recovery of 46% and 1000-fold increase in specific activity. The purified enzyme preparation showed a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The enzyme had a molecular weight of about 50,000 by gel filtration on Sephadex G-150 or about 57,000 by SDS-polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis and an isoelectric point (pI) of pH 5.1 on isoelectric focusing. The enzyme hydrolyses lecithin, lysolecithin, sphingomyelin, and cephalin; the relative reaction velocities and Km's for choline-phospholipids were 87% and 1.43 mM for lecithin, 100% and 1.67 mM for lysolecithin, and 22% and 0.56 mM for sphingomyelin. The enzymatic reaction was optimal at pH 8, and its velocity was appreciably increased by either detergent (Triton X-100, deoxycholate), Ca2+ or both detergent and Ca2+. Diethyl ether stimulated the enzymatic activity by 30%; SDS and EDTA inhibited the activity. Bovine serum albumin, Triton X-100, and lipids (lecithin, lysolecithin, phosphatidic acid, lysophosphatidic acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acid) inhibited adsorption of the purified enzyme onto palmitoyl cellulose (Pal-C) and affected both the enzyme activity and stability: albumin and Triton X-100 increased the activity and enhanced the heat-stability; lysophospholipids decreased the activity but other lipids increased the activity; all the lipids lowered the heat-stability. The enzyme adsorbed on Pal-C was active, although its activity was about one-ninth of that of free enzyme, and was protected from heat-inactivation. Thus this enzyme appears to possess a hydrophobic site distinct from its catalytic site and to be adsorbed onto Pal-C through the hydrophobic site. Albumin, Triton X-100, and lipids seem to bind to the hydrophobic site and to have an appreciable effect on the enzyme activity and stability.

A new enzymatic method was developed for the assay of phospholipase D [phosphatidylcholine phosphatidohydrolase EC 3.1.4.4] from cabbage leaves using choline oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis cells. The method was based on the estimation of choline by the following series of enzymatic reactions after ending the phospholipase D reaction: Choline + 202 + h2o Choline oxidase Betaine + 2H2O2 2H2O2 + Phenol + 4-Aminoantipyrine Peroxidase Quinoneimine dye + 4H2O The amount of choline was proportional to the amount of resulting quinoneimine dye with an absorbance maximum at 500 nm. The phospholipase D reaction (choline liberation) was carried out at pH 5.5 in the presence of Ca2+ ions and ended by adding EDTA in conc. Tris-HCl buffer, pH 8, to give a final pH of around 8. The initial rate of the phospholipase D reaction was proportional to the enzyme concentration over the absorbance change range of 0 to 0.25 (equivalent to 0-21 micron of choline) under the optimal reaction conditions.

Key words: quantification/hepatocyte/cell nuclei/detergent/nikkol BO-10TXABSTRACT. A method was developed for determining the number of nuclei of hepatocytes cultured on collagen gel using a nonionic detergent, Nikkol BO-10TX. The cells were recovered in a test tube after solubilizing the gel by incubating it with the detergent in 0.1 M citric acid and then centrifuging the mixture. Nuclei were isolated from the cells with the same detergent solution and collected by centrifugation. The numbers of nuclei in cultures, scored with a hemocytometer or an electronic particle counter, were proportional to the lactate dehydrogenase activities of the cells. This method was also applicable for scoring the number of nuclei of hepatocytes cultured on collagen-coated plastic.The number of cultured hepatocytes cannot be determined accurately by conventional methods such as counting detached cells after exposure to EDTA-trypsin mixture, because the cells readily aggregate and are fragile after detachment (1). Therefore, almost no linear relationships between numbers of cells and various parameters have been observed, and so in manystudies on specific activities or growth of cultured hepatocytes, the amount of protein or DNAin cell lysates has been utilized instead of the number of cells. In some studies, hepatocyte nuclei in cultures have been quantified in an electronic particle counter after lysing the cells with 0.1% Triton X-100 in 0.1 M citric acid (2). But, this method gives numerically fewer nuclei compared with the numberof the cells from which the nuclei were isolated, possibly because the detergent damages the nuclei to some extent and the damagednuclei tend to aggregate partially during storage of the nucleus solution.Hence, we attempted to find a better detergent that was strong enough to lyse most of the cells without damaging their nuclei, and to develop a simple and improved assay procedure for quantification of hepatocytes cultured on collagen gel in serum-free medium. With the use of a 0.07% solution of the nonionic detergent Nikkol BO-10TX in 0.1 M citric acid (NCA), we found that the cell nuclei could be obtained quantitatively from either freshly isolated or cultured hepatocytes and stored for at least 2 days in 0. gel were prepared from rat tail tendons by a modification (4) of the method originally described by Elsdale and Bard (5). The collagen fibers were washed with distilled water and then ethanol, and dried. A sample (1 g) was immersed in ethanol overnight for sterilizing, taken out and dissolved in sterile 0.1% acetic acid solution (500 ml) with stirring for 5 h at 5°C. The resulting collagen solution was centrifuged at 7,000 x g for 30 min at 5°C to remove insoluble material, stored for 1 week at 5°C and recentrifuged under the same conditions. The supernatant was used as a stock collagen solution. Just before use, it was diluted to 0.7 mg/ml with acetic acid solution and mixed with one-third volume of cone ( x 4) aMEMcontaining Hepes (40 mM); the concentration of collagen was determined by measu...

Serum at 5 to 10% is required for maintenance of functional adult rat hepatocytes in primary culture. One effect of the serum is to induce attachment and spreading of hepatocytes on plates as monolayers. Another role is to maintain cell viability for over 2 days. For the first effect, serum could be replaced completely by fibronectin (Fn). The effects of Fn on attachment and spreading of cells were dose-dependent and maximum at 10 micrograms/ml. Cells in serum-free medium on Fn-coated dishes showed similar activities of glycogenolysis and glycogenesis to cells cultured in medium containing 5% calf serum on untreated dishes in response to glucagon, dibutyryl cyclic AMP (bt2c AMP), isoproterenol and insulin. The increase in alkaline phosphatase [EC 3.1.3.1] activity and induction of tyrosine aminotransferase [EC 2.6.1.5] by dexamethasone (Dex) in cells under the two conditions were also similar. However, the inductions of tryptophan oxygenase [EC 1.13.11.11] by Dex, glucagon, and bt2cAMP were 4-7 times higher in cells cultured in serum-free medium. The inductions by Dex plus glucagon in the two types of cultures were inhibited similarly by insulin. In serum-free medium containing Dex and insulin in Fn-coated dishes, the cells survived as monolayers for about 50 h without detachment from the dishes, but for longer survival it was necessary to add 5% serum to the medium. A fraction with a molecular weight of over 50,000 from serum was separated by ultrafiltration and this fraction showed a similar effect to serum in increasing survival. A similar factor, but with about 70 times higher specific activity, was found in an extract of bovine pituitary gland.