Bovine Rod Outer Segment Disk Research Articles

The ins and outs of cholesterol in the vertebrate retina

The vertebrate retina has multiple demands for utilization of cholesterol and must meet those demands either by synthesizing its own supply of cholesterol or by importing cholesterol from extraretinal sources, or both. Unlike the blood-brain barrier, the blood-retina barrier allows uptake of cholesterol from the circulation via a lipoprotein-based/receptor-mediated mechanism. Under normal conditions, cholesterol homeostasis is tightly regulated; also, cholesterol exists in the neural retina overwhelmingly in unesterified form, and sterol intermediates are present in minimal to negligible quantities. However, under certain pathological conditions, either due to an inborn error in cholesterol biosynthesis or as a consequence of exposure to selective inhibitors of enzymes in the cholesterol pathway, the ratio of sterol intermediates to cholesterol in the retina can rise dramatically and persist, in some cases resulting in progressive degeneration that significantly compromises the structure and function of the retina. Although the relative contributions of de novo synthesis versus extraretinal uptake are not yet known, herein we review what is known about these processes and the dynamics of cholesterol in the vertebrate retina and indicate some future avenues of research in this area.

Cytochrome C oxidase expression in retinal rod outer segment disks

Abstract Purpose The rod outer segment (ROS) plays a pivotal role in the phototransduction cascade, a process which requires a high level of energy consumption. In rods ATP production is confined to the mitochondria in the inner part, and the distances between sites of energy production and expenditure do not seem adequate to supply phototransduction. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that Cytochrome c oxydase (Cox) is located and catalytically active in ROS disk membranes. Methods Osmotically intact disks were isolated from 20 bovine retinal ROS obtained by sucrose gradient centrifugation in the presence of protease inhibitor cocktail and Ampicillin under dim red light at 4°C. Cox expression was studied by confocal laser scanning microscopy and semiquantitative Western‐immunoblotting, with a specific antibody. Cox activity in disks was investigated spectrophotometrically. Results Results from immunohystochemical confocal laser scanning microscopy, Western blot, and biochemical experiments suggest that Cox is uniformly distributed onto disks and therein catalytically active to an extent comparable to that of isolated mitochondria. Conclusion The expression and activity of Cox in bovine ROS disks is suggestive of an aerobic metabolism in ROS. This study opens new scenarios on the energy production in rods and on the possible role of its deficiency in some important retinal diseases which have not been clarified yet.

Rhodopsin in Bovine Rod Outer Segment Disk Membranes Exhibits Two Thermal Transitions

The photoreceptor, rhodopsin is a GPCR in rod outer segment disk membranes. Activation by light converts the dark-adapted form, rhodopsin is to the bleached form, opsin. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies showed that rhodopsin and opsin each exhibit an irreversible scan rate dependent endothermic transition (Tm) at approximately 72oC and 55oC respectively. We report here a scan rate dependent exothermic transition. Solubilization was used to examine the contribution of the bilayer. Freeze-thaw cycles were used to examine rhodopsin aggregation in these transitions. Disk membranes were sequentially solubilized in octylglucoside (OG) until rhodopsin was completely delipidated. DSC experiments were performed using a MicroCal VP-DSC microcalorimeter. Samples were scanned at 15, 30, 60 and 90°/hr. Because the protein transitions are irreversible, a second scan was used to determine the baseline. As the OG partitioned into the bilayer the endothermic Tm and Eact (activation energy of denaturation) rapidly decreased. Both then remained constant following rhodopsin solubilization. At low detergent concentration the exothermic Tm increased rapidly then remained constant after solubilization. Unlike the endothermic Eact, the degree of solubilization had little effect on the exothermic transition Eact. Freeze-thaw cycles generated disks in which rhodopsin was aggregated. Increasing aggregation resulted in a decrease in the Tm of the exothermic transition, but had no effect on the endothermic Tm of either rhodopsin or opsin. These results are consistent with earlier cross-linking studies suggesting the exothermic transition results from aggregation. These results indicate that the rhodopsin endothermic transition is due to weakening of the tertiary structure interactions accompanied by changes in the packing of the trans-membrane helices as well as changes in protein-lipid interactions. CD data indicate that rhodopsin secondary structure is almost unchanged.

Calorimetric Studies of Bovine Rod Outer Segment Disk Membranes Support a Monomeric Unit for Both Rhodopsin and Opsin

The photoreceptor rhodopsin is a G-protein coupled receptor that has recently been proposed to exist as a dimer or higher order oligomer, in contrast to the previously described monomer, in retinal rod outer segment disk membranes. Rhodopsin exhibits considerably greater thermal stability than opsin (the bleached form of the receptor), which is reflected in an ∼15°C difference in the thermal denaturation temperatures (Tm) of rhodopsin and opsin as measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Here we use differential scanning calorimetry to investigate the effect of partial bleaching of disk membranes on the Tm of rhodopsin and of opsin in native disk membranes, as well as in cross-linked disk membranes in which rhodopsin dimers are known to be present. The Tms of rhodopsin and opsin are expected to be perturbed if mixed oligomers are present. The Tm remained constant for rhodopsin and opsin in native disks regardless of the level of bleaching. In contrast, the Tm of cross-linked rhodopsin in disk membranes was dependent on the extent of bleaching. The energy of activation for denaturation of rhodopsin and cross-linked rhodopsin was calculated. Cross-linking rhodopsin significantly decreased the energy of activation. We conclude that in native disk membranes, rhodopsin behaves predominantly as a monomer.

Regulation of Membrane Proteins by Dietary Lipids: Effects of Cholesterol and Docosahexaenoic Acid Acyl Chain-Containing Phospholipids on Rhodopsin Stability and Function

Purified bovine rhodopsin was reconstituted into vesicles consisting of 1-stearoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine or 1-stearoyl-2-docosahexaenoyl phosphatidylcholine with and without 30 mol % cholesterol. Rhodopsin stability was examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal unfolding transition temperature ( T m) of rhodopsin was scan rate-dependent, demonstrating the presence of a rate-limited component of denaturation. The activation energy of this kinetically controlled process ( E a) was determined from DSC thermograms by four separate methods. Both T m and E a varied with bilayer composition. Cholesterol increased the T m both the presence and absence of docosahexaenoic acid acyl chains (DHA). In contrast, cholesterol lowered E a in the absence of DHA, but raised E a in the presence of 20 mol % DHA-containing phospholipid. The relative acyl chain packing order was determined from measurements of diphenylhexatriene fluorescence anisotropy decay. The T m for thermal unfolding was inversely related to acyl chain packing order. Rhodopsin kinetic stability ( E a) was reduced in highly ordered or disordered membranes. Maximal kinetic stability was found within the range of acyl chain order found in native bovine rod outer segment disk membranes. The results demonstrate that membrane composition has distinct effects on the thermal versus kinetic stabilities of membrane proteins, and suggests that a balance between membrane constituents with opposite effects on acyl chain packing, such as DHA and cholesterol, may be required for maximum protein stability.

Rhodopsin palmitoylation influences the redistribution of phospholipids in bovine rod outer segment disc membranes

Rhodopsin palmitoylation influences the redistribution of phospholipids in bovine rod outer segment disc membranes

Evidence for Specificity in Lipid-Rhodopsin Interactions

The interaction of bovine rhodopsin with poly- and monounsaturated lipids was studied by (1)H MAS NMR with magnetization transfer from rhodopsin to lipid. Experiments were conducted on bovine rod outer segment (ROS) disks and on recombinant membranes containing lipids with polyunsaturated, docosahexaenoyl (DHA) chains. Poly- and monounsaturated lipids interact specifically with different sites on the rhodopsin surface. Rates of magnetization transfer from protein to DHA are lipid headgroup-dependent and increased in the sequence PC < PS < PE. Boundary lipids are in fast exchange with the lipid matrix on a time scale of milliseconds or shorter. All rhodopsin photointermediates transferred magnetization preferentially to DHA-containing lipids, but highest rates were observed for Meta-III rhodopsin. The experiments show clearly that the surface of rhodopsin has sites for specific interaction with lipids. Current theories of lipid-protein interaction do not account for such surface heterogeneity.

Thermal destabilization of rhodopsin and opsin by proteolytic cleavage in bovine rod outer segment disk membranes.

The G-protein coupled receptor, rhodopsin, consists of seven transmembrane helices which are buried in the lipid bilayer and are connected by loop domains extending out of the hydrophobic core. The thermal stability of rhodopsin and its bleached form, opsin, was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal transitions were asymmetric, and the temperatures of the thermal transitions were scan rate dependent. This dependence exhibited characteristics of a two-state irreversible denaturation in which intermediate states rapidly proceed to the final irreversible state. These studies suggest that the denaturation of both rhodopsin and opsin is kinetically controlled. The denaturation of the intact protein was compared to three proteolytically cleaved forms of the protein. Trypsin removed nine residues of the carboxyl terminus, papain removed 28 residues of the carboxyl terminus and a portion of the third cytoplasmic loop, and chymotrypsin cleaved cytoplasmic loops 2 and 3. In each of these cases the fragments remained associated as a complex in the membrane. DSC studies were carried out on each of the fragmented proteins. In all of the samples the scan rate dependence of the Tm indicated that the transition was kinetically controlled. Trypsin-proteolyzed protein differed little from the intact protein. However, the activation energy for denaturation was decreased when cytoplasmic loop 3 was cleaved by papain or chymotrypsin. This was observed for both bleached and unbleached samples. In the presence of the chromophore, 11-cis-retinal, the noncovalent interactions among the proteolytic fragments produced by papain and chymotrypsin cleavage were sufficiently strong such that each of the complexes denatured as a unit. Upon bleaching, the papain fragments exhibited a single thermal transition. However, after bleaching, the chymotrypsin fragments exhibited two calorimetric transitions. These data suggest that the loops of rhodopsin exert a stabilizing effect on the protein.

Phospholipid fatty acyl spatial distribution in bovine rod outer segment disk membranes

The distribution of fatty acids within the phospholipid headgroup classes was investigated as a function of the age/spatial distribution of bovine rod outer segment disk membranes. The disks were separated into subpopulations based upon the cholesterol content in their membranes. Because disk membrane cholesterol content decreases as the disks are apically displaced in the rod outer segment, this separation yields disk subpopulations of different ages and from age-dependent spatial locations within the outer segment. The phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI), of each of these subpopulations were separated and the fatty acid composition of each was determined. These data indicated that while most of the fatty acids show little or no change with age/spatial location, some pronounced changes can be observed in certain classes. Within the PC class, 16 : 0 dramatically decreases with disk age while the 22 : 6 increases with disk age. While the PE class exhibits some fatty acid changes, they are small. The PS class exhibits no significant changes in fatty acid composition. The PI class which constitutes less than 2% of the total phospholipid exhibits age-related changes in each of the fatty acids which could be measured. Most notable of these is an increase in 20 : 4 as the disks are apically displaced. These changes indicate a remodeling of the disk membranes which may be related to the phototransduction process or to preparation for eventual disk phagocytosis.

The 220-kDa Rim Protein of Retinal Rod Outer Segments Is a Member of the ABC Transporter Superfamily

Outer segments of mammalian rod photoreceptor cells contain an abundantly expressed membrane protein that migrates with an apparent molecular mass of 220 kDa by SDS-gel electrophoresis. We have purified the bovine protein by immunoaffinity chromatography, determined its primary structure by cDNA cloning and direct peptide sequence analysis, and mapped its distribution in photoreceptors by immunocytochemical and biochemical methods. The full-length cDNA encodes a 2280-amino acid protein (calculated molecular mass of 257 kDa) consisting of two structurally related, tandem arranged halves. Each half consists of a hydrophobic domain containing six putative transmembrane segments followed by an ATP-binding cassette. A data base homology search showed that the rod outer segment 220-kDa protein is 40-50% identical in amino acid sequence to the ABC1 and ABC2 proteins cloned from a mouse macrophage cell line. Photoaffinity labeling with 8-azido-ATP and nucleotide inhibition studies confirmed that both ATP and GTP bind to this protein with similar affinities. Concanavalin A labeling and endoglycosidase H digestion indicated that the rod outer segment protein contains at least one carbohydrate chain. Immunocytochemical and biochemical studies have revealed that the 220-kDa glycoprotein is distributed along the rim region and incisures of rod outer segment disc membranes. From these studies we conclude that the 220-kDa glycoprotein of bovine rod outer segment disc membranes or Rim ABC protein is a new member of the superfamily of ABC transporters and is the mammalian homolog of the frog photoreceptor rim protein.

Differential membrane protein phosphorylation in bovine retinal rod outer segment disk membranes as a function of disk age.

The outer segment portion of photoreceptor rod cells is composed of a stacked array of disk membranes. Newly formed disks are found at the base of the rod outer segment (ROS) and are relatively high in membrane cholesterol. Older disks are found at the apical tip of the ROS and are low in membrane cholesterol. Disk membranes were separated based on their membrane cholesterol content and the extent of membrane protein phosphorylation determined. Light induced phosphorylation of ROS disk membrane proteins was investigated using magic angle spinning 31P NMR. When intact rod outer segment preparations were stimulated by light, in the presence of endogenously available kinases, membrane proteins located in disks at the base of the ROS were more heavily phosphorylated than those at the tip. SDS-gel electrophoresis of the phosphorylated disk membranes subpopulations identified a phosphoprotein species with a molecular weight of approximately 68-72 kDa that was more heavily phosphorylated in newly formed disks than in old disks. The identity of this phosphoprotein is presently under investigation. When the phosphorylation reaction was carried out in isolated disk membrane preparations with exogenously added co-factors and kinases, there was no preferential protein phosphorylation. Taken collectively, these results suggest that within the ROS there is a protein phosphorylation gradient that maybe indicative of co-factor or kinase heterogeneity.

Halogenated general anesthetics in visual photoreceptor membranes as examined by static and dynamic properties of rhodopsin.

The visual pigment rhodopsin was used as an intrinsic probe to measure the effect of incorporation of enflurane into bovine rod outer segment disk membranes. At moderately low enflurane concentration, we find that, while extrinsic probes show little membrane perturbation, rhodopsin may experience large changes with respect to the native lipid-protein interactions which modulate some of its properties. Enflurane induces a small blue shift in the pigment lambda max and a strong inhomogeneity in its photochemical behavior. As a function of enflurane concentration, there appears to be an increasing population of rhodopsin molecules for which the metarhodopsin I-->II transition is blocked, while it is accelerated in the remaining population. Under these conditions, electrophoresis and partial membrane solubilization indicate that an increasing amount of rhodopsin does not behave like a free monomeric species. These results are all consistent with a reduction of the membrane order accompanied by lateral aggregation of rhodopsin in the presence of enflurane. By comparison with the perturbation probed by a spin label, the large molecular environment change experienced by the rhodopsin molecule suggests that enflurane may concentrate at the lipid-protein interface.

Functional equivalence of metarhodopsin II and the Gt-activating form of photolyzed bovine rhodopsin

Absorption of a photon by the visual pigment rhodopsin leads to the formation of an activated conformational state, denoted rho*, which is capable of activating the visual G-protein, Gt. The bleaching of rhodopsin can be resolved into a series of spectrally distinct photointermediates. Previous studies suggest that the photointermediate metarhodopsin II (meta II, lambda max of 380 nm) corresponds to the physiologically active form rho*. In the studies reported herein, spectral and enzymological data were analyzed and compared so as to evaluate the temporal correspondence between meta II and rho*. This information was obtained by direct observation of the meta II and rho* decay times in parallel experiments utilizing identical preparations of urea-stripped, bovine retinal rod outer segment disk membranes at pH 8.0, 20 degrees C. Postflash spectra were deconvolved to resolve the meta II absorbance at 380 nm, and a decay time for the loss of meta II of 8.2 min (SD = 0.5 min) was obtained from fitting these data to a single-exponential decay process. The diminishing ability of bleached rhodopsin to activate Gt was measured by monitoring the level of catalyzed exchange of Gt-bound GDP for a nonhydrolyzable GTP analogue. Analysis of the decrease in the initial velocity of nucleotide exchange, measured at various postflash incubation times, yielded a rho* decay time of 7.7 min (SD = 0.5 min) when analyzed as a single-exponential process. The similarity of these decay times provides direct evidence that meta II and rho* are present over the same time regime, and further supports the equivalence of these two forms of photoactivated rhodopsin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Guanine nucleotide binding characteristics of transducin: essential role of rhodopsin for rapid exchange of guanine nucleotides

Transducin (Gt) is a member of a family of receptor-coupled signal-transducing guanine nucleotide (GN) binding proteins (G-proteins). Light-activated rhodopsin is known to catalyze GN exchange on Gt, resulting in the formation of the active state of the Gt alpha-GTP complex. However, purified preparations of Gt have been shown to exchange GN in the absence of activated receptors [Wessling-Resnick, M., & Johnson, G. L. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 4316-4323]. To evaluate the role of rhodopsin in the activation of Gt, we studied GN-binding characteristics of different preparations of Gt. Gt preparations obtained rom the supernate of GTP-treated bovine rod outer segment (ROS) disks, followed by removal of free GTP on a Sephadex G-25 column, bound GTP gamma S at 30 degrees C in the absence of added exogenous rhodopsin with an activity of 1 mol of GTP gamma S bound/mol of Gt (Gt-I preparations). Binding of GTP gamma S to Gt-I preparations closely correlated with the activation of ROS disk cGMP phosphodiesterase. GN-binding activity of Gt-I preparations was dependent on reaction temperature, and no binding was observed at 4 degrees C. In the presence of 10 microM bleached rhodopsin, Gt-I preparations bound GTP gamma S at 4 degrees C. However, hexylagarose chromatography of Gt-I preparations led to a preparation of Gt that showed less than 0.1 mol/mol binding activity following 60-min incubation at 30 degrees C in the absence of rhodopsin (Gt-II preparations).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cholesterol dynamics in membranes

Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy of the sterol analogue, cholestatrienol, and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin lattice relaxation time (T1c) measurements of [13C4] labeled cholesterol were exploited to determine the correlation times characterizing the major modes of motion of cholesterol in unsonicated phospholipid multilamellar liposomes. Two modes of motion were found to be important: (a) rotational diffusion and (b) time dependence of the orientation of the director for axial diffusion, or "wobble." From the time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy decays of cholestatrienol in egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) bilayers, a value for tau perpendicular, the correlation time for wobble, of 0.9 x 10(-9) s and a value for S perpendicular, the order parameter characterizing the same motion, of 0.45 s were calculated. Both tau perpendicular and S perpendicular were relatively insensitive to temperature and cholesterol content of the membranes. The T1c measurements of [13C4] labeled cholesterol did not provide a quantitative determination of tau parallel, the correlation time for axial diffusion. T1c from the lipid hydrocarbon chains suggested a value for tau perpendicular similar to that for cholesterol. Steady-state anisotropy measurements and time-resolved anisotropy measurements of cholestatrienol were used to probe sterol behavior in a variety of pure and mixed lipid multilamellar liposomes. Both the lipid headgroups and the lipid hydrocarbons chains contributed to the determination of the sterol environment in the membrane, as revealed by these fluorescence measurements. In particular, effects of the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) headgroup and of multiple unsaturation in the lipid hydrocarbon chains were observed. However, while the steady-state anisotropy was sensitive to these factors, the time-resolved fluorescence analysis indicated that tau perpendicular was not strongly affected by the lipid composition of the membrane. S perpendicular may be increased by the presence of PE. Both steady-state anisotropy measurements and time-resolved anisotropy measurements of cholestatrienol were used to probe sterol behavior in three biological membranes: bovine rod outer segment (ROS) disk membranes, human erythrocyte plasma membranes, and light rabbit muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes. In the ROS disk membranes the value for S perpendicular was marginally higher than in the PC membranes, perhaps reflecting the influence of PE. The dramatic difference noted was in the value for tau perpendicular. In both the ROS disk membranes and the erythrocyte membranes, tau perpendicular was one-third to one-fifth of tau perpendicular in the phospholipid bilayers. This result may reveal an influence of membrane proteins on sterol behavior.

Cholesterol movement between bovine rod outer segment disk membranes and phospholipid vesicles

The ability of cholesterol to move between bovine rod outer segment disk membranes and phospholipid membranes was examined. Disk membranes were incubated with small unilamellar phospholipid vesicles containing varying amounts of cholesterol. Aliquots were removed at specific times, and then the disks and the vesicles were separated by centrifugation and assayed for phospholipid and cholesterol content. When incubated with vesicles containing no cholesterol, the cholesterol to phospholipid ratio in the disk membrane was reduced due to migration of cholesterol from the disks into the vesicles. The cholesterol content of these cholesterol depleted disks could be readily returned to the normal disk cholesterol content by incubation of the cholesterol-depleted disks with small unilamellar vesicles containing high cholesterol. An apparent partition coefficient K was calculated as the quotient of the cholesterol/phospholipid mole ratio in the donor membranes and the cholesterol/phospholipid mole ratio in the acceptor membranes. The value of K was approximately 1 at cholesterol levels below normal disk cholesterol content, for disk membranes and phosphatidylcholine small unilamellar vesicles. Inclusion of phosphatidylethanolamine in the small unilamellar vesicle acceptor raised K, indicating that phosphatidylethanolamine creates an unfavourable environment for cholesterol. The cholesterol to phospholipid ratio of native disks could be increased by incubation with phosphatidylcholine small unilamellar vesicles (donor) which contained higher amounts of cholesterol than the disk membrane acceptor. In these experiments the distribution of cholesterol between disks and small unilamellar vesicles always favored the vesicles. The apparent partition coefficient was 1.7 at several cholesterol levels above the native disk cholesterol content. Liposomes made from lipid extracted from the disk membrane behaved in the same manner as intact disks with respect to cholesterol distribution at equilibrium. The phospholipid content of the disk membrane may be an important factor in determining the cholesterol content of the disk membrane.

Cholesterol heterogeneity in bovine rod outer segment disk membranes

Rod outer segment disk membranes have been used to study visual transduction events. Numerous studies have also focused on protein-lipid interactions in these membranes. The possible heterogeneity of the disk membrane composition has not been addressed in such studies. Freeze fracture studies (Andrews, L. D., and Cohn, A. I. (1979) J. Cell Biol. 81, 215-220; Caldwell, R., and McLaughlin, B. (1985) J. Comp. Neurol. 236, 523-537) suggest a difference in cholesterol content between newly formed and old disks. This potential heterogeneity in disk membrane composition was investigated using digitonin. Osmotically intact bovine rod outer segment disk membranes prepared by Ficoll flotation were separated based on the cholesterol content of the disks. The addition of digitonin to disk membrane suspensions in a one-to-one molar ratio with respect to cholesterol produced an increase in the density of the membranes in proportion to the amount of cholesterol present. The digitonin-treated disks were separated into subpopulations using a sucrose density gradient. Disks were shown to vary in cholesterol to phospholipid ratio from 0.30 to 0.05. The ratio of phospholipid to protein remained constant in all disk subpopulations at approximately 65 phospholipids per protein. No significant change in the fatty acid composition of the disks was observed as a function of change in cholesterol content. This work demonstrates compositional heterogeneity in disk membranes which may ultimately affect function.

Equilibrium and dynamic bilayer structural properties of unsaturated acyl chain phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol-rhodopsin recombinant vesicles and rod outer segment disk membranes as determined from higher order analysis of fluorescence anisotropy decay.

Limited-frequency phase-modulation fluorometry of diphenylhexatriene (DPH) and trimethylammonium-diphenylhexatriene (TMA-DPH) was used to characterize the equilibrium and dynamic lipid structural properties of (1) reconstituted egg phosphatidylcholine (egg PC)-rhodopsin vesicles varying in rhodopsin content from 0 to approximately 1 mol %, (2) reconstituted PC-cholesterol-rhodopsin vesicles containing approximately 1 mol % rhodopsin and 0, approximately 15, or approximately 30 mol % cholesterol with egg PC, DOPC (di-18:1-PC), or PAPC (16:0,20:4-PC) as the phospholipid constituent, and (3) native bovine rod outer segment disk membranes. Experiments were conducted at 37, 25, 15, and 5 degrees C. Fluorescence lifetime analysis was performed by fitting the data to a constrained, discrete, biexponential model. Rotational depolarization properties were considered by a model requiring a single rotational diffusion coefficient and capable of producing orthogonal, bimodal orientational distributions for DPH and unimodal distributions for TMA-DPH [Straume, M., & Litman, B. J. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 5113-5120]. Unbleached rhodopsin reduced mean fluorophore lifetimes in proportion to the amount of protein present in PC vesicles as a result of probe-to-retinal energy transfer by (1) redistributing the relative lifetime contributions in favor of the short lifetime population and (2) reducing the lifetimes of each derived population. Lifetimes were increased by cholesterol and by reduction of the temperature, but the relative proportions of derived short- and long-lifetime populations were not affected. TMA-DPH lifetimes were more sensitive (in a relative manner) than were those of DPH. These observations are interpreted in terms of cholesterol and reduced temperature each inhibiting water penetrability into these bilayers, with a greater effect occurring in the headgroup and interfacial regions (probed by TMA-DPH) than in the hydrophobic bilayer interior (probed by DPH). Diunsaturated DOPC-rhodopsin recombinants were more resistant to temperature-dependent lifetime changes than were mixed-chain egg PC or PAPC vesicles. This suggests less favorable interaction of rhodopsin with diunsaturated PCs than with mixed-chain PCs. Lifetimes in disk membranes exhibited this same temperature dependence although DPH in disks had lifetimes longer than those seen in recombinant vesicles. TMA-DPH lifetimes in disks were more similar to those observed in cholesterol-containing recombinants. It would therefore appear that the large proportion of small, charged (at pH 7) phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine headgroups present in disks reduces water penetrability into the d

Rapid transducin deactivation in intact stacks of bovine rod outer segment disks as studied by light scattering techniques Arrestin requires additional soluble proteins for rapid quenching of rhodopsin catalytic activity

In photoreceptors of the living retina both activation and deactivation of transducin must occur in less than 1 s. In ROS preparations used for in vitro studies, however, deactivation takes minutes. This is due to the fact that activated transducin is released into the free aqueous space, whereby GTPase activity and consequent deactivation of the protein are slowed down, and due to the dilution of soluble ROS proteins involved in the quenching of rhodopsin activity. In this paper, using a convenient, non-invasive light scattering assay, we demonstrate that in an intact stack of disks, where active transducin stays membrane associated and is rapidly deactivated, the activity of rhodopsin can also be quenched in the time range of seconds when soluble ROS proteins are supplemented. Arrestin, the 48 kDa protein of the photoreceptor, is one of the proteins required for rapid recovery, however, it requires the synergistic action of other soluble proteins (besides rhodopsin kinase) in order to exert its effect: When arrestin is included in the reaction mixture without the ‘helper protein(s)’, it cannot speed recovery, and when a mixture of soluble proteins is added which lacks arrestin, there is also no effect. The nature and identity of this (these) helper protein(s) are still unclear.

Two functionally distinct forms of guanosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphate stimulated cation channels in a bovine rod photoreceptor disk preparation

Cyclic nucleotide stimulated efflux of 22Na+ and 45Ca2+ from a purified bovine rod outer segment disk preparation was measured on the 25-100-ms time scale by a novel rapid superfusion method. Activation of cation efflux by 8-bromoguanosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphate (8-Br-cGMP) was maximal within 25 ms. Over a wide range of concentrations of 8-Br-cGMP, the kinetics of termination of efflux precisely conformed to the sum of two exponential decay processes: a rapid phase (decay constant of 200 ms) and a slower phase (decay constant of 1.6 s). The kinetics of the biphasic decay of efflux cannot be explained by depletion of a pool of releasable 22Na but appear to reflect an intrinsic process for inactivation of the channels. 8-Br-cGMP-stimulated release of actively accumulated 45Ca exhibited identical biphasic decay kinetics. The maximum rate of Ca release [5 nmol.(mg of disk protein)-1.min-1] may be sufficient to produce a 1 microM change in local cytoplasmic [Ca] within 20 ms. The Ca:Na selectivity ratio is approximately 0.5:1 for both decay phases. 8-Br-cGMP demonstrated a lower potency (EC50 of 8.4 microM vs 2.8 microM) but a higher degree of cooperativity in its activation of the rapid vs the slower decay phase of 22Na efflux. The slower phase of decay was selectively inhibited by 25 microM l-cis-diltiazem, a relatively weak inhibitor of the rapid decay phase. Sodium ion (5-10 mM) selectively inhibited the rapid decay phase of 8-Br-cGMP-stimulated 45Ca release. These two kinetically and pharmacologically distinct phases of decay are hypothesized to represent two functionally distinct forms of cGMP-stimulated cation channels.