A dual cofactor-specific isocitrate dehydrogenase from Pythium ultimum.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase is considered to be one of the key regulatory enzymes in the conversion of glucose into fatty acids by oleaginous microorganisms. A dual coenzyme-specific isocitrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.41) (IDH) was isolated from the primitive fungus Pythium ultimum and purified by 211-fold by sequential ion-exchange, affinity, and gel filtration chromatographies. Specific activity of the partially purified enzyme was 76.2 mumol/(min.mg protein) with NAD+ and 40% less active with NADP+. Optimum pH for activity was 8.5-9.5. K(m) values for threo-D-isocitrate and NAD+ were 0.031 and 0.55 mM, respectively. The estimated molecular mass of the IDH was 96 kDa under nondenaturing conditions and 48 kDa under denaturing conditions, suggesting that the enzyme is composed of two subunits of the same size. The enzyme was relatively stable up to 55 degrees C, but no activity was detected after exposure to 65 degrees C for 15 min. Mg2+ or Mn2+ were required for activity.

Importance of dietary cholesterol for the maturation of mouse brain myelin.

The effect of nil (control), 1% (CH-1) and 5% (CH-5) dietary cholesterol on the myelination of mouse brain, and its deposition in the heart and liver were investigated during infancy. Swiss Webstar female mice were given formulated diets from early gestation, and their pups were weaned on the same diet as that of the individual mothers up to 60 days after birth. The test diets increased the liver weight and cholesterol content compared to the control even in suckling pups (20 days), but did not significantly influence the heart weight until 60 days. The cholesterol content of the heart was not increased by the CH-1 diet throughout the feeding period, but it did increase the mole ratio of major myelin lipids and hastened its maturation. Myelin cholesterol was 10% higher in 20-day-old suckling pups in the CH-5 group compared to the control. Data indicate that dietary cholesterol altered the brain myelination rate of weaning mice, and that the mother's dietary cholesterol influenced myelination of the suckling pups.

Effect of malnutrition and subsequent rehabilitation on the development of mouse brain myelin.

Malnutrition in mice from birth resulted in myelin of brain having higher than normal molar proportions of cholesterol and phospholipids relative to a molar unit of cerebroside + sulphatide. This was found at all ages between 20 and 60 days, and the molar ratio of these lipids in older animals was comparable to that in the younger controls. The phospholipid and the ganglioside patterns were also immature for age. The phospholipid composition was characterized by lower molar proportions of ethanolamine phosphoglyceride (EPG) and sphingomyelin (SPh) and higher proportion of choline phosphoglyceride (CPG), and the ganglioside pattern was characterized by higher molar proportions of the disialogangliosides GD1a and GD1b and markedly lower proportion of the monosialoganglioside GM1. Malnutrition imposed from 30 days of age did not affect the contents of the major lipids (and so their molar ratio), but within the phospholipids there was a small but significant deficit of SPh, which was compensated by a higher content of CPG. The ganglioside pattern was as if the animals were malnourished from birth. Nutritional rehabilitation up to 60 days of age subsequent to malnutrition for the first 30 days fully corrected the ganglioside pattern, but not the molar ratio, of the major lipids (because of persistent deficit in cerebroside + sulphatide) and the composition of the phospholipids (because of small but significant deficit of SPh). The results indicate that malnutrition instituted at any time during the entire programme of myelination can affect one or other aspect of myelin development, and nutritional rehabilitation of animals malnourished in early life cannot fully correct this developmental gap.