title: Proteolytic modification of rat prolactin by subcellular fractions of the lactating rat mammary gland.
abstract: The current study explored prolactin proteolysis by rat lactating mammary gland. 125I-labelled rat prolactin was incubated with tissue fractions of lactating mammary gland and the extent of prolactin degradation and fragment formation was visualized and densitometrically quantitated from autoradiographs derived from SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions. At pH 4.5, the 25 000 X g pellet of mammary gland converted intact prolactin (23 kDa band) to proteolytic fragments (8-16 kDa bands) in a time- and tissue concentration-dependent fashion similar to that reported previously for rat ventral prostate. The prolactin-degrading and -fragmenting activity in lactating mammary gland was 5-10-times that observed for ventral prostate, the most active male tissue. This activity at acid pH was also demonstrable in other fractions of mammary gland but appeared to predominate in the cytosol. The above activities in mammary gland virtually disappeared at pH 7.4, appeared sensitive to aspartate and sulfhydryl proteinase inhibitors, and insensitive to serine and metalloenzyme proteinase inhibitors. The distribution of this activity could not be correlated with a particular enzyme marker. These characteristics of mammary gland activity differed significantly from those reported previously for prostate. When electrophoresis was conducted under non-reducing conditions, prolactin proteolysis in prostate and mammary gland was primarily associated with the formation of a more slowly migrating product (24 kDa band) with little spontaneous 8-16 kDa fragment formation. Re-electrophoresis of the 24 kDa band under reducing conditions resulted in the appearance of the 8 and 16 kDa fragments. In conclusion, prolactin is proteolytically modified by prostate and lactating mammary gland to a variant of intact hormone (24 kDa band) with a cleavage site in its large loop, by two or more widely distributed, acid-dependent proteinases. Lactating mammary gland, the principal target for prolactin, has the capacity to cleave the hormone in its loop at rates higher than any other tissue examined to date.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007774:Lactation; D008297:Male; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011247:Pregnancy; D011388:Prolactin / Q000378:metabolism*; D011467:Prostate / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011388:Prolactin