Adenylate Deaminase Research Articles

Continuous production of 5?-ribonucleotides from yeast RNA by hydrolysis with immobilized 5?-phosphodiesterase and 5?-adenylate deaminase

The production of 5'-IMP and 5'-GMP by enzymatic conversion from RNA using a continuous two packed-bed reactor was investigated. 5'-Phosphodiesterase (5'PD) and 5'-adenylate deaminase (5'AD) were immobilized in an acrylic resin to produce derivatives with about 15 U/g of support. The kinetic properties of the enzymes were described by Michaelis-Menten models: no significant differences were found in the K m value of the free and immobilized 5'AD (60 and 20 μM, respectively), whereas for 5'PD the K m value was one order of magnitude higher for the immobilized enzyme (4.85 mg RNA/ml), probably due to diffusional limitations. Both enzymes remained stable after 8 h of use in a continuous packed-bed reactor whereas the half lives of the free enzymes were 193 min and 240 min at 40°C and 70°C for 5'AD and 5'PD, respectively. A procedure is proposed for the design of a continuous two packed-bed column process.

The origin of chromosome rearrangements at early stages of AMPD2 gene amplification in Chinese hamster cells

Background: Gene amplification and chromosomal rearrangements are frequent properties of cancer cells, provoking considerable interest in the mechanism of gene amplification and its consequences — particularly its relationship to chromosomal rearrangements. We recently studied the amplification of the gene for adenylate deaminase 2 (AMPD2) in Chinese hamster cells. Using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), we found that early amplification of the AMPD2 gene is based on unequal gene segregation at mitosis, rather than local over-replication. We observed large inverted repeats of the amplified sequences, consistent with an amplification mechanism involving cycles of chromatid breakage, followed by fusion after replication and, in mitosis, the formation of bridges between the fused sister chromatids that leads to further breaks — a process we refer to as chromatid breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycles. Our previous work left open the question of how this mechanism of gene amplification is related, if at all, to the chromosomal rearrangements that generate the dicentric, ring and double-minute (DM) chromosomes observed in some AMPD2-amplified metaphase cells, which are not predicted intermediates of chromatid BFB cycles, although they could be generated by related chromosome BFB cycles.Results: We have addressed this question using FISH with probes for the AMPD2 gene and other markers on the same chromosome. Our results are not consistent with the chromosome BFB cycle mechanism, in which two chromatids break simultaneously and fuse to generate, after replication, a dicentric chromosome. Rather, they suggest that dicentric chromosomes are generated by secondary events that occur during chromatid BFB cycles. Our results also suggest that DM chromosomes are generated by the ‘looping-out’ of a chromosomal region, generating a circular DNA molecule lacking a centromere; in this case, gene amplification would result from the unequal segregation of DM chromosomes at mitosis.Conclusion: We conclude that, at early stages of AMPD2 gene amplification, chromatid BFB cycles are a major source of both ‘intrachromosomal’ gene amplification and genomic rearrangement, which are first limited to a single chromosome but which can then potentially spread to any additional chromosome. It also seems that, occasionally, a DNA sequence including the AMPD2 gene can be excised, generating a DM chromosome and thus initiating an independent process of ‘extrachromosomal’ amplification.

Antisense inhibition of nuclear‐encoded cytochrome C oxidase subunits IV and VIIc activity in the pre‐implantation embryo

It had not previously been known whether synthesis of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial subunits occurs in pre-implantation embryos. We have used cytoplasmic injections of antisense RNA transcribed in vitro to study this question. Capped, in vitro transcribed RNA antisense to either cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV or VIIc injected into each cell at the two-cell stage markedly inhibited synthesis of adenine nucleotide by the 8- to 16-cell stage, whereas injection of the cognate sense RNAs gave levels similar to those previously published for normal embryos. These results strongly suggest that translation of nuclear-encoded mRNAs for mitochondrial subunits is required during pre-implantation development. It was of additional interest that, not only was ATP decreased, but ADP and AMP as well, with the effect that the charge ratio remained constant. The results also suggest, therefore, that the mechanism by which cells normally regulate their charge ratio, though to be with adenylate deaminase, is already in place.

Changes induced in amino acid-enzymes of developing rats by a high-energy diet and glucose gavage.

Liver and muscle amino acid enzyme activities and plasma proteins, urea, amino acids, glucose, lactate, 3-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate concentrations were studied in growing rats undergoing adaptation to high-fat, high-energy diet and glucose gavage. Liver and muscle were used for the estimation of alanine transaminase (GPT, EC 2.6.1.1.), adenylate deaminase (AMD, EC 3.5.4.6.), glutamine synthetase (GST, EC 6.3.1.2) and serine dehydratase (SDH, EC 4.2.1.13) activities, the latter only in liver samples. The most important modifications produced in muscle enzyme activities by glucose gavage were observed in rats fed a cafeteria diet. Glucose gavage affects liver enzyme activities in the same sense than cafeteria diet. Energy plasma components were affected in opposite way by glucose gavage according to diet administered.

Effect of diet and essential amino acids gavage on young rat amino acid metabolism enzymes

1. 1. The effects of a high-fat, high-energy diet and essential plus semi-essential amino acid gavage on pup rats have been studied (60–65 animals). 2. 2. The activities of alanine transaminase, adenylate deaminase, glutamine synthetase and serine dehydratase have been tested in liver and muscle. 3. 3. Plasma was used for the estimation of proteins, urea, amino acids, glucose, lactate, 3-hydroxy-butyrate and acetoacetate. 4. 4. Liver and muscle glutamine synthetase activities are increased by diet and gavage administered. Hepatic serine dehydratase is inhibited by a cafeteria diet but activated by amino acid gavage. Adenylate deaminase is inhibited by diet and gavage in the liver, but gavage does not affect this enzyme activity in muscle. Liver alanine transaminase is increased by the diet; in the muscle, cafeteria diet and amino acid gavage showed the highest values for this enzyme. 5. 5. In the plasma, the increase in lactate produced by the diet is inhibited by the amino acids provided. Cafeteria-fed pups showed lower urea levels and higher 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations in the plasma. 6. 6. Intracellular glucose is diminished by cafeteria diet. In contrast, the blood cell amino acid concentration increases with diet and gavage supplied.

Occurrence of the purine nucleotide cycle in rat pancreatic islets.

The presence of the purine nucleotide cycle is investigated in rat pancreatic islets. Adenylosuccinase, adenylate deaminase, and adenylosuccinate synthetase activities are characterized in islet homogenates. In the assay of the latter enzyme, evidence is obtained for operation of the full cycle in islet extracts. The activities of the three enzymes are not vastly different in islet and brain. These findings are discussed in the light of the role currently ascribed to the purine nucleotide cycle in producing ammonia from amino acids, in adjusting the concentration of Krebs cycle intermediates, in regulating the relative concentrations of ATP, ADP, and AMP, and in controlling the activity of phosphofructokinase.

Influence of diet and non-essential nitrogen on amino acid metabolism enzymes of developing rats

The activities of alanine transaminase, adenylate deaminase, glutamine synthetase and serine dehydratase were studied in liver and muscle of rat pups exposed to a cafeteria diet and glutamine gavage. Plasma was used for the determination of proteins, glucose, lactate, acetoacetate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, amino acids, and urea. Circulating ketone bodies are lower in glutamine gavaged pups in the two diets used. Glutamine gavage enhances liver adenylate deaminase and inhibits serine dehydratase and glutamine synthetase in chow fed pups. From the results, a minor incidence of glutamine gavage in pups fed on cafeteria diet is postulated.

Co-amplified markers alternate in megabase long chromosomal inverted repeats and cluster independently in interphase nuclei at early steps of mammalian gene amplification.

Two-colour in situ hybridization with probes for two co-amplified markers located several megabases apart on chromosome 1 has been used to analyse early stages of adenylate deaminase 2 (AMPD2) gene amplification in Chinese hamster cells. In the amplified chromosomal structures, the distribution of hybridization spots identifies megabase-long inverted repeats. Their organization is remarkably well accounted for if breakage-fusion-bridge cycles involving sister chromatids drive the amplification process at these early stages. During interphase the markers often segregate into distinct nuclear domains. Many nuclei have bulges or release micronuclei, carrying several copies of one or both markers. These observations indicate that the amplified units destabilize the nuclear organization and eventually lead to DNA breakage during interphase. We propose a model in which interphase breakage has a role in the progression of gene amplification.

Adenosine levels in the postimplantation mouse uterus: quantitation by HPLC-fluorometric detection and spatiotemporal regulation by 5'-nucleotidase and adenosine deaminase.

Extracellular adenosine has the potential to influence many aspects of target cell metabolism. The present study has determined the endogenous levels of adenosine in the pregnant mouse uterus and developing embryo-decidual unit with respect to the expression of two key enzymes of adenosine metabolism, 5'-nucleotidase (5'-NT; EC 3.1.3.5) and adenosine deaminase (ADA; EC 3.5.4.4). To measure adenosine levels, nucleoside extracts were etheno-derivatized and quantitated by high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (0.03 pmol/mg protein sensitivity). Adenosine levels were determined to be 0.18 nmol/mg protein in the nonpregnant uterus; however, two statistically significant changes were identified in the pregnant uterus: (1) a periimplantation surge between day 3 (0.24 nmol/mg protein) and day 5 (0.59 nmol/mg protein) of gestation (plug day 0; implantation day 4); and (2) an early postimplantation decline between day 6 (0.54 nmol/mg protein) and day 7 (0.10 nmol/mg protein). The periimplantation adenosine surge coincided with uterine expression of 5'-NT, an enzyme which catalyzes the irreversible dephosphorylation of 5'-AMP to adenosine. 5'-NT expression was shown by Northern blot analysis to peak in the embryo-decidual unit on day 5 of gestation and then to decline through day 9; transcripts remained elevated in the placenta between day 9 and day 13 (the latest day examined in this study). By use of specific enzyme histochemistry, most 5'-NT activity was localized to the primary decidual zone on day 5. This expression subsequently declined during regression of the primary decidua; however, 5'-NT appeared on giant trophoblast (days 7-13) and the metrial gland (days 11-13). Other purine catabolic enzymes degrading AMP (adenylate deaminase) or generating adenosine (S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase) were not detected in the embryo-decidual unit suggesting that the net flux of utero-placental AMP catabolism proceeds with adenosine as an intermediate, this being the major pathway of adenosine formation. The sharp drop in adenosine levels between day 6 and day 7 coincided with a rise in the activity and mRNA expression of ADA, an enzyme which catalyzes the irreversible deamination of adenosine to inosine. ADA was previously localized to the secondary decidual zone (days 6-11), secondary giant cells (days 7-13), and spongiotrophoblasts (days 8-13) in the mouse (Knudsen et al., 1991). Results of developmental Northern blot analysis demonstrated a direct correlation of relative 5'-NT/ADA mRNA band intensity to adenosine content between day 4 and day 9 of gestation, suggesting that the local availability of adenosine in the antimesometrium is dependent upon the distribution of these enzymatic activities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Expression of different isoenzymes of adenylate deaminase in cultured human muscle cells. Relation to myoadenylate deaminase deficiency

Adenylate deaminase activity was determined in cultured muscle cells of different maturation grades and muscle biopsies from normal subjects and four patients with a primary myoadenylate deaminase (MAD) deficiency. Adenylate deaminase activity was much lower in cultured human muscle cells than in normal muscle. .The activity increased with maturation. The ratio of activities measured at 5 and 2 mM AMP decreased in the order: immature muscle cells > more mature muscle cells > muscel. Adenylate deaminase activity was detectable in muscle cell cultures of MAD-deficient patients. However, both at 2 and 5 mM AMP this activity was significantly lower than in cultured cells with the same high maturation grade obtained from control sujects, whereas the ratio between the activities at 5 and 2 mM AMP was higher. The observations indicate that transition from a fetal to an adult muscle isoenzyme deaminase takes place in human cultured muscle cells during maturation. In cultures obtained from MAD-deficient patients this transition does not occur and only the fetal isoenzyme is present.

The evolution of the amplified adenylate deaminase 2 domains in Chinese hamster cells suggests the sequential operation of different mechanisms of DNA amplification

Fluorescent in situ hybridization was used to localize the adenylate deaminase 2 (AMPD2) genes and flanking sequences on the chromosomes of the Chinese hamster line GMA32 and to study the distribution of additional copies of these genetic sequences in amplified mutants selected at several early stages of the amplification process. The synteny of AMPD2 genes and MDR1 genes, located on chromosomes 1, was demonstrated; in GMA32 the existence of a rearrangement positioning the two AMPD2 genes at different distances from the telomeres was disclosed. Using this structural marker, we showed that the amplified copies distribute along only one of the chromosomes 1. Their organization in different cells of clonal mutant populations at a very early stage of amplification was extremely heterogeneous; classes of organization could be recognized however. Their quantitative distribution at this stage and in cells which went through 10 more division cycles suggests an evolution pathway common to the mutant clones under study: as a rule, tandems of few units of identical and very large size (47 Mb) appear to be the first detected product of amplification; this organization is progressively overtaken by structures with more units of reduced and irregular size, while, in a growing number of cells, clusters of much shorter units can be observed. The nature of segregative amplification mechanisms operating in these processes and the possible involvement of replicative ones are discussed.

A seryl-tRNA synthetase gene is coamplified with the adenylate deaminase 2 gene in coformycin resistant Chinese hamster fibroblasts.

Journal Article A seryl-tRNA synthetase gene is coamplified with the adenylate deaminase 2 gene in coformycin resistant Chinese hamster fibroblasts Get access Cécile Lunel, Cécile Lunel Unité de Génétique SomatiqueURA CNRS 361, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cédex 15, France Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Gérard Buttin, Gérard Buttin Unité de Génétique SomatiqueURA CNRS 361, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cédex 15, France Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Bruno Robert de Saint Vincent Bruno Robert de Saint Vincent Unité de Génétique SomatiqueURA CNRS 361, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cédex 15, France Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 20, Issue 10, 25 May 1992, Page 2597, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/20.10.2597 Published: 25 May 1992 Article history Received: 14 April 1992 Published: 25 May 1992

Metabolic Adaptations to Nitrogen Excess in Late Gestation in Rat

Pregnant rats of 19th and 21st days were given an acute nitrogen overload produced by an infusion of either 0.2 M ammonium acetate or 0.2 M glutamine. Metabolic adaptations to nitrogen excess were studied measuring--in fetomaternal unit--non-protein nitrogen content and the activities of enzymes related with ammonia metabolism. Maternal and fetal plasma urea levels were increased by ammonium acetate treatment. Glutamine overload increased more the amino acid content in the mothers than in conceptus. As response to ammonium acetate treatment, glutamate dehydrogenase activity in liver was more sensitive in pregnant than in nonpregnant rats, suggesting more nitrogen incorporation into amino acids in pregnancy. Regarding glutamine synthetase activity, both treatments had an opposite effect except in kidney. The adenylate deaminase activity of pregnant rats was inhibited similarly to nonpregnant rats by nitrogen overloads, but stronger after glutamine infusion. Placenta and fetal metabolism were adjusted, as the dams, to lack of ammonia production by nitrogen overloads and to glutamine synthesis by ammonium acetate infusion.

Phorbol esters and cyclic AMP activate AMP deaminase in adult rat cardiac myocytes

Using rapid deenergization as a probe for adenylate deaminase activity in intact adult rat cardiac myocytes, we have previously established that IMP formation is enhanced by α-adrenergic agonists. In the present study, the effect of adrenergic agents on adenylate deaminase was further characterized. Phenylephrine (PE) 3 increased IMP production in a dose-dependent fashion with an EC 50 of 8 × 10 −7 m. The response to PE was reversed within 10 min by the α 1-antagonist, prazosin. Likewise, adenylate deaminase was also activated in ventricular myocytes challenged with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA, EC 50 = 5 n m); cardiac cells presented with 100 n m PMA increased IMP production from 4.4 ± 0.5 (control) to 15.7 ± 0.9 nmol/mg protein when subsequently deenergized. The effects of PMA and PE were attenuated 85 ± 5% and 96 ± 4%, respectively, by pretreatment of cells with 150 n m staurosporine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C. Furthermore, incubation of cardiac cells with 1 μ m PMA for 24 h blunted the response to both PMA and phenylephrine 85–90%. Elevating cyclic AMP (cAMP) content to >15 pmol/mg by treatment with forskolin or isoproterenol plus isobutylmethylxanthine also resulted in enhanced adenylate deaminase activity, but this stimulatory effect was not abolished by 24 h incubation with 5 μ m PMA. Forskolin and PMA-induced increases in IMP production appeared to be additive. However, 0.5 μ m isoproterenol inhibited the cellular response to phenylephrine by about 30% but did not affect PMA-stimulated adenylate deaminase activity. We conclude that both cAMP and protein kinase C stimulate adenylate deaminase, perhaps through selective activation of different isoforms. However, cAMP also exerts partial inhibition on α-adrenoreceptor-mediated increases in IMP production.

Coordinate enzymatic activity of beta-oxidation and purine nucleotide cycle in a diversity of muscle and other organs of rat

1. 1. Most mammalian muscles consist of a mixture of different muscle fiber types. 2. 2. We analyzed various muscles with different percentages of slow and fast fibers in addition to other organs of rat for enzyme activities of beta-oxidation and the purine nucleotide cycle (PNC). 3. 3. According to the content of slow-twitch fibers all enzymes of beta-oxidation were high in activity whereas enzymes of the purine nucleotide cycle were low. 4. 4. Amongst all enzymes of beta-oxidation, crotonase showed the highest activity. 5. 5. In heart muscle, enzyme activities of beta-oxidation were even higher than in m. soleus which consists almost exclusively of slow-twitch type I fibers. 6. 6. Measurements of all three enzymes involved in the purine nucleotide cycle revealed high activities in muscles predominantly composed of fast-twitch fibers. 7. 7. It was always adenylate deaminase which revealed the highest activity. 8. 8. Heart muscle showed low activities for enzymes of PNC.

Coamplification of μ class glutathione S‐transferase genes and an adenylate deaminase gene in coformycin‐resistant Chinese hamster fibroblasts

In Chinese hamster fibroblasts, we previously detected an expressed gene located near the AMP deaminase gene. This gene was named Y1. Upon selection for resistance to coformycin, an inhibitor of AMP deaminase activity, both genes were amplified in several mutants. We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of Y1 cDNA and identified the Y1 gene as a mu class glutathione S-transferase gene by comparison with sequences present in a data bank. Accordingly, Y1-amplified mutants express an increased glutathione S-transferase activity toward 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene; this activity, as well as the abundance of the corresponding RNA, appears, however, to reach a limit despite further increase in the Y1 gene copy number during successive amplification steps. Southern blot experiments showed that Y1 belongs to a multigene family, all or part of which has been amplified in mutant lines. These data provide a method to amplify and to overexpress the mu class of the glutathione S-transferase gene family on the basis of its linkage with the AMP deaminase gene.

Adenylate deaminase. A multigene family in humans and rats.

Multiple AMP deaminase (AMP-D) isoforms have been found in vertebrates, and tissue-specific inherited deficiencies of AMP-D have been described in two unrelated clinical syndromes suggesting there may be more than one AMP-D gene in higher eukaryotes. Using a newly isolated cDNA cloned from an adult rat brain library and a previously reported cDNA cloned from adult rat skeletal muscle, two linked AMP-D genes have been identified in rat and man. ampd1 is expressed at high levels in skeletal muscle of the adult rat. ampd2 is the predominant gene expressed in non-muscle tissues and smooth muscle of the adult rat, and it is also the predominant gene expressed in embryonic muscle and undifferentiated myoblasts. Both genes are expressed in cardiac muscle of the adult rat. The peptides encoded by these two genes have distinct immunological properties. The conservation of nucleotide sequence and exon/intron boundaries in these two genes suggests they arose by duplication of a common primordial gene around 150 million years ago.

Adenylate deaminase deficiency in a mutant murine T cell lymphoma cell line.

From a population of wild type S49 cells, a clone, DTB6, was isolated in a single step from selective medium containing thymidine and dibutyryl cyclic AMP that exhibited a 60% deficiency in AMP deaminase (AMP-D) activity. The AMP-D deficiency conferred to the DTB6 cells a striking susceptibility to killing by low concentrations of either adenine or adenosine, the latter in the presence of an inhibitor of adenosine deaminase activity. This growth supersensitivity of DTB6 cells toward adenine could be ameliorated by the addition of hypoxanthine to the culture medium. Immunoprecipitation of AMP-D from wild type and mutant cells revealed that the DTB6 cell line contained markedly diminished amounts of the AMP-D isozyme which reacts with antisera to the predominant isoform expressed in adult kidney. The quantities of the AMP-D isozyme immunoprecipitated by antisera raised to the predominant isoform prepared from adult heart were equivalent in the two cell lines. Although Northern blot analyses revealed no alterations in mRNA sizes or levels encoded by either of the AMP-D genes, Southern blots of genomic DNA hybridized to a cDNA specific for the ampd2 gene revealed the presence of a new BamHI restriction fragment in the DNA of DTB6 cells. These data suggested that a point mutation has occurred in the ampd2 gene of DTB6 cells which encodes the AMP-D isozyme recognized by the kidney antisera. The DTB6 cells also possessed a virtual complete deficiency in thymidine kinase activity. The two enzyme deficiencies were distinguishable. The ability to isolate single step mutants with two seemingly independent biochemical abnormalities raises the speculation that there may be some link between cellular functions responsible for purine nucleotide and thymidine metabolism.

Long-range restriction site mapping of a syntenic segment conserved between human chromosome 1 and mouse chromosome 3

A linkage map determined from segregation analysis of 338 meiotic events in an interspecific mouse cross was utilized to help investigate genomic organization of a linkage group conserved between human chromosome 1p and mouse chromosome 3. Using pulsedfield gel electrophoresis, the genes encoding the lymphocyte adhesion molecule human CD2/murine Ly-37, the α 1-subunit of Na, K-ATPase, the β-subunit of thyrotropin, the β-subunit of nerve growth factor, and muscle adenylate deaminase were similarly positioned on long-range restriction maps in both species. These studies indicate that the development of detailed genetic maps using interspecific Mus crosses facilitates rapid analysis of murine genomic organization and may enable physical mapping of syntenic regions within the human genome. Moreover, the data suggest profound conservation of genomic organization during mammalian evolution.

2′‐Deoxycoformycin Inhibition of Adenosine Deaminase in Rat Brain: In Vivo and In Vitro Analysis of Specificity, Potency, and Enzyme Recovery

2'-Deoxycoformycin (DCF), a potent inhibitor of adenosine deaminase (ADA), is increasingly used as a tool to investigate adenosine metabolism and neuromodulation. To advance further the usefulness of DCF for studies of purines in the CNS, we determined the inhibitory potency of this compound against ADA and adenylate deaminase (AMPDA) in brain, the rate of ADA recovery in various brain regions after single or repeated intraperitoneal DCF administrations, and the effect of DCF on several neurotransmitter synthetic enzymes. In vitro, the Ki values for inhibition of ADA and AMPDA were found to be 23 pM and 233 microM, respectively. In vivo, DCF inhibited ADA with ED50 values ranging from 155 to 280 micrograms/kg at 2 h posttreatment, and 98% inhibition was achieved with 1 mg/kg. AMPDA activity was not affected by doses up to 5.0 mg/kg. In contrast to the greater than 95% inhibition of ADA seen 1 day after DCF at 5 mg/kg, the effectiveness of a second similar DCF treatment on the activity that had recovered by 14 days was dramatically reduced. Eight days after DCF treatment with doses of 5-50 mg/kg, the degree of ADA activity recovery in 10 brain regions examined was similar; it averaged 35% of control values at the low dose but showed some heterogeneity, ranging from 15 to 54% of control values, at the higher doses. Forty days after treatment with a single dose of 5 mg/kg, ADA activity recovered by 68-78% of control values in brain regions with normally high levels of activity and by 44-59% of control values in other regions. The activities of choline acetyltransferase, glutamic acid decarboxylase, and histidine decarboxylase (an enzyme colocalized with ADA in hypothalamic neurons) were unaffected by DCF treatment, a result suggesting the lack of a generalized neurotoxic effect. The very low doses of DCF required for ADA inhibition in vivo are consistent with the high potency of this drug against ADA in vitro, and any physiological effects observed at low doses might therefore be ascribed to inhibition of ADA.