title: Turnover of metallothioneins in rat liver.
abstract: Two electrophoretically distinguishable metallothioneins were isolated from the livers of Cd2+-treated rats and had thiol group/metal ratios of 3:1, a total metal content, in each of these proteins, of 3.6 atoms of Cd2+ + 2.4 atoms of Zn2+/molecule and 4.2 atoms of Cd2+ + 2.8 atoms of Zn2+/molecule and respective apoprotein mol.wts. of 5844 and 6251. Studies with 1 h pulse labels of [3H]cysteine, given after a single injection of ZnCl2 or CdCl2, showed that these metals stimulated radioactive isotope incorporation into the metallothioneins over the control value by 10- and 15-fold respectively. This stimulation was maximal at 4 h after a single CdCl2 injection and decreased to control values by 16 h, suggesting that either a translational event is responding to free intracellular Cd2+ or a short-lived mRNA is being produced or stabilized in response to the metal treatment. In rats chronically exposed to CdCl2, the metallothioneins increased to 0.2% of the liver wet weight from a control value of 2--4 mumol/kg of liver, with a maximum rate of accumulation of 2--3 mumol/h per kg of liver. The turnover of these proteins in control animals was 0.3--0.6 mumoles/h per kg of liver, measured by the rate of disappearance of 203Hg2+, which binds irreversibly to the metallothioneins. Pretreatment with CdCl2 completely stopped the rapid 203Hg turnover observed in untreated animals. Unlike CdCl2, treatment with ZnCl2 increased the concentration of metallothioneins to a new steady-state pool, 11 mumole/kg of liver, after 10 h. The increase in the zinc-thionein pool by exposure to ZnCl2 in vivo was determined to be primarily due to a stimulation of metallothionein biosynthesis.
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D002104:Cadmium / Q000378:metabolism; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D007700:Kinetics; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008667:Metalloproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D008667:Metalloproteins; D002104:Cadmium; D008668:Metallothionein; D015032:Zinc; D003545:Cysteine