Purification of NADPH-dependent dehydroascorbate reductase from rat liver and its identification

Rat liver cytosol has been found to reduce dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) to ascorbic acid in the presence of NADPH. The enzyme responsible for such activity has been purified by ammonium sulphate fractionation, DEAE-Sepharose, Sephadex G-100 SF and Reactive Red column chromatography, with an overall recovery of 27%. SDS/PAGE of the purified enzyme showed one single protein band with an M(r) of 37,500. A similar value (36,800) was found by gel filtration on a Sephadex G-100 SF column. The results indicate that the enzyme is a homogeneous monomer. The Km for DHAA was 4.6 mM and the Vmax. was 1.55 units/mg of protein; for NADPH Km and Vmax. were 4.3 microM and 1.10 units/mg of protein respectively. The optimum pH was around 6.2. Several typical substrates and inhibitors of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily have been tested. The strong inhibition of DHAA reductase effected by steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, together with the ability to reduce 5 alpha-androstane-3,17-dione strongly, suggest the possibility that DHAA reductase corresponds to 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Microsequence analysis performed on the electro-transferred enzyme band shows that the N-terminus is blocked. Internal primary structure data were obtained from CNBr-derived fragments and definitely proved the identity of NADPH-dependent DHAA reductase with 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase

Purification and characterization of glutathione-dependent dehydroascorbate reductase from rat liver

GSH-dependent enzymic reduction of dehydroascorbic acid to ascorbic acid has been studied in rat liver cytosol. After gel filtration of cytosol on Sephadex G-100 SF, dehydroascorbate reductase activity was recovered in two distinct peaks, one corresponding to glutaredoxin (an enzyme already known for its dehydroascorbate reductase activity) and another, much larger one, corresponding to a novel enzyme different from glutaredoxin. The latter was purified to apparent homogeneity. The purification process involved (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, followed by DEAE-Sepharose, Sephadex G-100 SF and Reactive Red chromatography. SDS/PAGE of the purified enzyme in either the presence or absence of 2-mercaptoethanol demonstrated a single protein band of M(r) 31,000. The M(r) determined by both Sephadex G-100 SF chromatography and h.p.l.c. was found to be approx. 48,000. H.p.l.c. of the denatured enzyme gave an M(r) value identical with that obtained by SDS/PAGE (31,000). The apparent Km for dehydroascorbate was 245 microM and the Vmax. was 1.9 mumol/min per mg of protein; for GSH they were 2.8 mM and 4.5 mumol/min per mg of protein respectively. The optimal pH range was 7.5-8.0. Microsequence analysis of the electro-transferred enzyme band showed that the N-terminus is blocked. Data on internal primary structure were obtained from CNBr-and N-chlorosuccinimide-derived fragments. No significative sequence similarity was found to any of the protein sequences contained in the Protein Identification Resource database