Author/Editor     Dobrovoljc, K; Falnoga, I; Bulog, B; Tušek-Žnidarič, M; Ščančar, J
Title     Hepatic metallothioneins in two neotenic salamanders, Proteus anguinus and Necturnus masculosus (Amphibia, Caudata)
Type     članek
Source     Comp Biochem Physiol, Toxicol Pharmacol
Vol. and No.     Letnik 135
Publication year     2003
Volume     str. 285-94
Language     eng
Abstract     The presence of metallothionein (MT) and the subcellular distribution of copper, zinc and cadmium were investigated in livers of two neotenic salamanders, Proteus anguinus and Necturus maculosus. In P. anguinus, caught in the wild, hepatic MTs were present as a single isoform of (Zn, Cu, Cd)-thioneins, whose molecular weight was estimated to be approximately 12 000by size exclusion chromatography. The percentage of zinc and cadmium was higher in the cytosol and of copper in the pellet. Cytosolic cadmium was almost exclusively associated with MTs (80%), while zinc and copper were also present in the regions of higher-molecular weight proteins. In laboratory bred N. maculosus, MTs were isolated from the liver cytosol and extract of the pellet as (Cu, Zn)- and (Zn, Cu)-thioneins, respectively. According to the lowamount of copper extracting from liver pellets of N. maculosus, the presence of water insoluble aggregated forms of Cu-thioneins should be checkedin further investigations.
Descriptors     LIVER
METALLOTHIONEIN
COPPER
ZINC
CADMIUM
PROTEIDAE
CYTOSOL
CHROMATOGRAPHY, GEL
NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS