Infant expectations and reaction time as predictors of childhood speed of processing and IQ.

A longitudinal study investigated the relation between infant expectations and reaction time (RT) and childhood IQ and RT. Measures of visual anticipation and visual RT were taken at 3.5 months and 4 years of age. In addition, manual RT and verbal and performance IQ were measured at 4 years of age. Infant visual RT correlated reliably with childhood visual RT, and infant performance correlated significantly with childhood IQ. Childhood performance also correlated with concurrent childhood IQ. Children were slower to initiate eye movements when a manual choice button press was required than when it was not required. This load effect decreased as IQ increased. Visual RT and manual RT in childhood correlated only marginally. These are the first data to suggest stability in RT between early infancy and childhood or predictability from infant RT and anticipation in the first half-year of life to childhood IQ.

FMRF-NH2-like mammalian peptide precipitates opiate-withdrawal syndrome in the rat.

Yang et al. (14) have isolated from mammalian brain an octapeptide FLFQPQRF-NH2 (F-8-F-NH2) with certain antiopiate properties. Third ventricular injection of 2 micrograms of this peptide together with the aminopeptidase inhibitor bestatin precipitated an opiate-withdrawal syndrome in morphine-dependent but not in nondependent rats. Third ventricular injection in nondependent rats of 15 micrograms of the peptide together with bestatin induced a morphine-withdrawal-like behavioral syndrome. This syndrome was not produced by injection of bestatin or saline vehicle alone and was preventable by injection of 3.5 mg/kg morphine sulphate SC.

pH studies on the chemical mechanism of rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase. 2. Physiological substrates and phosphoenol-alpha-ketobutyrate.

pH profiles have been determined for the reactions catalyzed by pyruvate kinase between pyruvate and MgATP and between phosphoenolpyruvate and MgADP. V, V/KMgATP, and V/Kpyruvate all decrease below a pK of 8.3 and above one of 9.2. The group with pK = 8.3 is probably a lysine that removes the proton from pyruvate during enolization, while the pK of 9.2 is that of water coordinated to enzyme-bound Mg2+. The fact that this pK shows in all three pH profiles shows that pyruvate forms a predominantly second sphere complex and cannot replace hydroxide to form the inner sphere complex that results in enolization and subsequent phosphorylation. On the basis of the displacement of the pK of the acid-base catalytic group in its V/K profile, phosphoenolpyruvate is a sticky substrate, reacting to give pyruvate approximately 5 times faster than it dissociates. The V/K profile for the slow substrate phosphoenol-alpha-ketobutyrate shows the pK of 8.3 for the acid-base catalytic group in its correct position, but this group must be protonated so that it can donate a proton to the intermediate enolate following phosphoryl transfer. The secondary phosphate pK of the substrate is seen in this V/K profile as well as in the pKi profile for phosphoglycolate (but not in those for glycolate O-sulfate or oxalate), showing a preference for the trianion for binding. The chemical mechanism with the natural substrates thus appears to involve phosphoryl transfer between MgADP and a Mg2+-bound enolate with metal coordination of the enolate serving to make it a good leaving group.

pH studies on the chemical mechanism of rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase. 1. Alternate substrates oxalacetate, glycolate, hydroxylamine, and fluoride.

The decarboxylation of oxalacetate shows equilibrium-ordered kinetics, with Mg2+ adding before oxalacetate. The Ki for Mg2+ increases below a pK of 6.9, corresponding to a ligand of the metal that is probably glutamate, and decreases above a pK of 9.2, corresponding to water coordinated to enzyme-bound Mg2+. Both V and V/KOAA decrease above the pK of 9.2, suggesting that the carbonyl oxygen of oxalacetate must replace water in the inner coordination sphere of Mg2+ prior to decarboxylation. The enzyme-Mg2+-oxalacetate complex must be largely an outer sphere one, however, since the pK of 9.2 is seen in the V profile. The phosphorylation of glycolate or N-hydroxycarbamate (the actual substrate that results from reaction of hydroxylamine with bicarbonate) occurs only above the pK of 9.2, with V/K profiles decreasing below this pH. The alkoxides of these substrates appear to be the active species, replacing water in the coordination sphere of Mg2+ prior to phosphorylation by MgATP. Glycolate, but not N-hydroxycarbamate, can bind when not an alkoxide, since the V profile for the former decreases below a pK of 8.9, while V for the latter is pH independent. Initial velocity patterns for phosphorylation of fluoride in the presence of bicarbonate show saturation by MgATP but not by fluoride. The V/K profile for fluoride decreases above the pK of 9.0, showing that fluoride must replace water in the coordination sphere of Mg2+ prior to phosphorylation. None of the above reactions is sensitive to the protonation state of the acid-base catalyst that assists the enolization of pyruvate in the physiological reaction.

N-hydroxycarbamate is the substrate for the pyruvate kinase catalyzed phosphorylation of hydroxylamine.

The true substrate for the pyruvate kinase catalyzed phosphorylation of hydroxylamine at high pH which is activated by bicarbonate is shown to be N-hydroxycarbamate, since a lag is seen when the reaction is started by the addition of bicarbonate or hydroxylamine but a burst appears when it is started with a mixture of the two. The lag can be diminished by addition of carbonic anhydrase but not eliminated, showing that CO2 is an intermediate in the formation of the carbamate and that both the formation of CO2 and the subsequent reaction of CO2 with hydroxylamine limit the rate of carbamate formation. The equilibrium constant for the reaction bicarbonate + hydroxylamine reversed N-hydroxycarbamate is 1.33 M-1. The product of the phosphorylation decomposes by loss of CO2 to O-phosphorylhydroxylamine, which is stable at 25 degrees C between pH 3 and 11 and has pK2 = 5.63 for the phosphate and pK3 = 10.26 for the amino group.