Metallothionein as a biomarker for mercury in tissues of rat fed orally with cinnabar

Cinnabar, as one of the most widely used mineral drugs in traditional Chinese medicines, has been proven to have prominent curative effects in clinical use for more than 2000 years. But the safety and toxicity of the drug has been under constant debate in clinic usage. Metallothionein (MT) contains about 30% of cysteine in the molecule, and plays an important detoxification role against heavy metals. In this study, it was used as a biomarker to assess mercurial accumulation in rats fed orally with cinnabar. After feeding rats with cinnabar by gastric gavage at different dosages and at different times, the distribution of heavy metals (including mercury, copper and zinc) and MT was investigated among rat tissues, including liver, kidney, heart, brain, testis and blood. Metals and MT determinations were carried out using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and a modified mercury saturation assay technique respectively. The results indicated that mercury was easily accumulated in the tissues of rats exposed to cinnabar, especially in kidney. For example: at a feeding dosage of 5 g kg^?1 (bw) for 4 weeks, the mercury concentrations in kidney were 13, 8.7, 21.6 and 26 times those in liver, testis, brain and heart respectively; and at 2.5 g kg^?1 (bw) for 2 weeks, the mercury concentrations in kidney were 21, 2.1, 3 and 21 times those in liver, testis, brain and heart respectively. In addition, mercury in kidney and liver of all cinnabar groups was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01). A high positive correlation observed between MT concentrations and mercury levels in both liver and kidney (R² = 0.9299, P < 0.02 for liver; R² = 0.9923, P < 0.0008 for kidney) indicated that MT could be used as a biomarker for mercury in tissues. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

六氯合铂酸钾与金属硫蛋白的体外反应

本文报道了K₂PtCl₆与兔肝Zn₇MT-Ⅱ和apoMT-Ⅱ的反应包含一个氧化还原反应和一个取代反应。通过紫外可见光谱、园二向色谱、柱层析和X-光电子能谱研究了该反应的性质、铂在反应产物中的键合位置和氧化态。金属硫蛋白(MT)被氧化成单体、双聚和多聚产物，其中含有分子间和分子内CyS-SCy二硫键。Pt(Ⅳ)被还原成Pt(Ⅱ)然后键合于产物中。随着K₂PtCl₆与MT的反应摩尔比和反应时间的增加，键合于产物中的Pt(Ⅱ)的计量数增加而蛋白中所含Zn(Ⅱ)的量减少。当Zn₇MT与4和超过10摩尔的K₂PtCl₆反应时，分别得到了Pt₄Zn₄MT和Pt₈MT。当apoMT与7及超过25倍的K₂PtCl₆在pH 2条件下反应时，分别得到了Pt₇MT和Pt₁₅MT。动力学数据表明K₂PtCl₆与apoMT的反应比与Zn₇MT的反应快。     

GIF S-亚硝基化的一些见解

Neural growth inhibitory factor （GIF）, a member of metallothionein family （metallothionein-3, MT3）, was well known by its distinct neural growth inhibitory activity, which is not shown by other MT isoforms. However, till now, people still did not know clearly how GIF exerts its biological functions. Since it has been reported that GIF might serve as NO scavenger and was related to the release of zinc, our study was focused on the interaction of GIF and NO. By studying the reactions of human GIF and human MTlg with SNOC-a type of NO donor, it was found that GIF was more reactive than MT-lg toward SNOC. In order to further figure out if the high reactivity of GIF in this reaction resulted from the acid-base catalysis, several mutants were constructed： E23K, E41G/E43A, E23K/E41G/E43A. By studying their basic properties and the reactions toward SNOC, it was found that the S-nitrosylation of GIF was not only related to the acid-base catalysis, but also to the accessibility of metal-thiolate clusters.     

模拟胃肠道消化液中小球藻类金属硫蛋白对镉离子的结合作用研究

利用锌诱导小球藻,通过提取分离和纯化,获得锌结合类金属硫蛋白(MT-like蛋白).通过透析过程,研究模拟胃、肠道消化液中MT-like蛋白对Cd2+的结合作用.结果表明,在模拟胃液中MT-like蛋白处于脱金属状态,与Cd2+的结合能力弱.而在肠消化液中,MT-like蛋白能与Cd2+结合,20 mg·L-1 MT-...     

The complexation of apo-metallothionein with cadmium ion and its conformation study

The circular dichroism was used to study the complexation of two isoforms of rabbit liver apo-metallothioneins (apo-MT1 and apo-MT2) with Cd²⁺ ion and the influence of Cd²⁺ ion on the conformation of reconstituted MTs. The stability of sulfhydryls of apo-MT has been investigated at the room temperature in the presence of air. The reconstitutions of apo-MT1 with Cd²⁺ ion were carried out atpH 4.71 (stable state) andpH 7.9 (with 90% sulfhydryls oxidated) respectively. it was found that the characteristic CD band at 257 nm(+), 238 nm(?), 226 nm(+) of reconstituted MT with Cd²⁺ ion was the same as native MT atpH 4.71, however only one peak at 243 nm(+) appeared on the CD spectra atpH 7.9 which arose from mononuclear complexes with four separated thiolate ligands per Cd²⁺ ion. The CD spectra of apo-MTs+7 eq Cd²⁺ system were measured at variouspH values. It was found that the peak at 256 nm of apo-MT1 binding Cd²⁺ ion split into two small peaks atpH between 2.42 and 3.02, and became one peak atpH 3.32, while the shapes of Cd peaks of apo-MT2 binding Cd²⁺ ion did not change withpH, indicating that the binding sites and pathway of apo-MT1 binding Cd²⁺ ion were different from those of apo-MT2. A possible mechanism was suggested.     

Characterization and comparison of metal accumulation in two Escherichia coli strains expressing either CopA or MntA, heavy metal-transporting bacterial P-type adenosine triphosphatases

MntA from Lactobacillus plantarum and copA from Enterococcus hirae both encode membrane proteins that are members of the P-type family of adenosine triphosphatases (ATPases). Both transporters act as metal importers to take up nutritionally required substrates; MntA translocates Mn(II) and CopA translocates Cu(I). Both ATPases can also translocate secondary substrates, Cd(II) and Ag(I), respectively. Although functionally and sequentially similar, these ATPases differ in several key residues and in their membrane topologies. The bioaccumulation properties of these two proteins were examined by coexpressing the transporters with overexpressed metallothionein in Escherichia coli cells, a system that has previously shown high levels of substrate-specific uptake. Both strains exhibited rapid metal accumulation, both saturated at around 50 μM metal, and both displayed temperature-sensitive uptake. However, the transporters responded differently when external conditions were varied; MntA displayed increased sensitivity to ionic strength, while CopA was more pH sensitive and more inhibited by chelating agents. The differences in accumulation are likely owing to structural differences in the transmembrane region of these two ATPases.     

金属离子和热激处理对菊芋(Helianthus tuberosus L.)类金属硫蛋白基因htMT2表达的影响

使用不同金属离子及热激对菊芋进行了处理，并对菊芋不同组织器官中类金属硫蛋白基因(htMT2)mRNA水平的变化进行了研究．结果表明，htMT2在根中不表达，而且其表达不受金属离子的影响．Cu^2 降低叶中htMT2的表达，Cu^2 浓度与茎、叶中的htMT2 mRNA水平呈负相关性．在低浓度范围内，Zn^2 浓度与茎、叶中的htMT2 mRNA水平呈正相关性，而在高浓度范围内，Zn^2 浓度与htMT2 mRNA水平呈负相关性．Ca^2 对叶中htMT2表达的影响与Zn^2 的作用相似，但Ca^2 诱导茎中htMT2 mRNA水平升高．热激处理对不同组织中htMT2的表达无显著影响．研究的结果表明，htMT2表达受金属离子影响的特征与植物MT基因一致，进一步证实了我们前期工作中分离到的htMT2是一个新的植物MT基因．     

Metallobiological necklaces: mass spectrometric and molecular modeling study of metallation in concatenated domains of metallothionein

The ubiquitous protein metallothionein (MT) has proven to be a major player not only in the homeostasis of Cu(I) and Zn(II), but also binds all the Group 11 and 12 metals. Metallothioneins are characterised by the presence of numerous cys-x-cys and cys-cys motifs in the sequence and are found naturally with either one domain or two, linked, metal-binding domains. The use of chains of these metal-thiolate domains offers the possibility of creating chemically tuneable and, therefore, chemically dependent electrochemical or photochemical surface modifiers or as nanomachinery with nanomechanical properties. In this work, the metal-binding properties of the Cd(4)-containing domain of alpha-rhMT1a assembled into chains of two and three concatenated domains, that is, "necklaces", have been studied by spectrometric techniques, and the interactions within the structures modelled and interpreted by using molecular dynamics. These chains are metallated with 4, 8 or 12 Cd(II) ions to the 11, 22, and 33 cysteinyl sulfur atoms in the alpha-rhMT1a, alphaalpha-rhMT1a, and alphaalphaalpha-rhMT1a proteins, respectively. The effect of pH on the folding of each protein was studied by ESI-MS and optical spectroscopy. MM3/MD simulations were carried out over a period of up to 500 ps by using force-field parameters based on the reported structural data. These calculations provide novel information about the motion of the clustered metallated, partially demetallated, and metal-free peptide chains, with special interest in the region of the metal-binding site. The MD energy/time trajectory conformations show for the first time the flexibility of the metal-sulfur clusters and the bound amino acid chains. We report unexpected and very different sizes for the metallated and demetallated proteins from the combination of experimental data, with molecular dynamics simulations.     

Total Sulfur Concentration in Tissues of Control and Cadmium-Exposed Rats by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry

Abstract

Total sulfur (S) concentration in biological samples was determined simultaneously with metal concentrations by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP).

A 0.2 g portion of liver and other tissues were wet-digested with 1.0 ml mixed acid (HNO₃ : HCLO₄ = 5 : 1, v/v) at 130 – 150 °C. The solution was concentrated to about 0.1 ml and then diluted to 5.0 ml with double distilled water. Concentration of S was determined by ICP using ammonium sulfate as a standard S compound. Sulfur and other element concentrations in an NBS standard reference material (Bovine Liver SRM 1577) were within the certified values by this method.

Concentrations of total S, cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in the liver, kidney, spleen, lung, pancreas and blood serum were compared between the control and Cd-exposed rats. The three metal concentrations were increased significantly by Cd exposure. However, S concentration was not altered significantly in the liver and other tissues despite the extensive induction of metallothionein (MT) by the repeated Cd exposure. Metallothionein induced by the accumulated Cd (121 μg/g) and Zn (48 μg/g) in the liver was estimated to account for at maximum 7 % of the total S by assuming that the increased metals were all bound to MT. Concentration of S in blood serum was decreased significantly by Cd loading.     

Direct Detection of Mercury-Bound Metalloproteins (metallothionein and Cu,Zn-Superoxide Dismutase) Using a Combination of Gel Electrophoresis and One Dimensional Synchrotron Radiation X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis

Abstract

Metallothionein-II (MT-II) and Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu, Zn-SOD) interacted with mercury were detected by a new method utilizing isoelectric focusing-agarose or -polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (IEF-AGE or IEF-PAGE) and nondestructive one-dimensional synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) analysis. When MT-II reacted with mercuric chloride, an obvious change of isoelectric point (pI = 3.7 - 4.7) for the intact form to alkaline pI (9.4) was observed. This marked migration of MT-II by the metal was blocked by addition of glutathione, suggesting that sulfhydryl functions participate in the pI variation. In contrast, interaction of Cu, Zn-SOD with mercury did not cause any changes of its pI although the metal bound tightly to Cu, Zn-SOD after electrophoresis; however, the enzyme activity was drastically suppressed. These observations indicate that combination of electrophoresis with SR-XRF analysis is an useful technique for detecting structural or functional alteration of protein attributable to the binding of the mercury.