Continued high levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase in cultured H4-II-E-C3 rat hepatoma cells require either serum or glucocorticoids in the culture medium. Upon withdrawal of serum, cellular phenylalanine hydroxylase levels decay exponentially with a half-life of 22 hours for about 60 hours, after which time a low, constant enzyme content persists for at least 96 hours. This decline of phenylal...

A recently described new form of hyperphenylalaninemia is characterized by the excretion of 7-substituted isomers of biopterin and neopterin and 7-oxo-biopterin in the urine of patients. It has been shown that the 7-substituted isomers of biopterin and neopterin derive from L-tetrahydrobiopterin and D-tetrahydroneopterin and are formed during hydroxylation of phenylalanine to tyrosine with rat ...

Phenylalanine hydroxylase in Reuber H4 hepatoma cell cultures can be rapidly inactivated by the addition of epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, or 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, in order of decreasing effectiveness, to the culture medium. The enzyme was 50% inactivated in 1 hour by 25 muM (R)-epinephrine or 45 muM (R)-norepinephrine in the medium. High concentrations of epinephrine caused a 70%...

The enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (EC 1.14.16.1) catalyses the hydroxylation of phenylalanine to tyrosine in man and other mammals. The hepatic enzyme is controlled by a reversible phosphorylation mechanism [l]. The phosphorylation state of the enzyme is under hormonal control. For example, glucagon stimulates phosphorylation and activation of the enzyme through the action of the cyclic AMP-...

Iron can be bound to phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) in two environments. The assignment of the electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum of PAH to two, overlapping high-spin ferric signals is confirmed by computer simulation. Both environments are shown to be populated in the crude enzyme. Reconstitution of the apoenzyme demonstrated that the two iron environments are not interconvertible. Oxyg...

Phenylalanine hydroxylase [L-phenylalanine,tetrahydropteridine :oxygen oxidoreductase (4-hydroxylating); EC 1.14.16.11 catalyses the first reaction in the irreversible catabolism of the essential amino acid phenylalanine. Studies of the isolated enzyme and of phenylalanine metabolism in viuo and in oitro support the view that the hydroxylase plays the major role in regulating phenylalanine disp...

The mechanism of phenylalanine regulation of rat liver phenylalanine hydroxylase was studied. We show that phenylalanine "activates" phenylalanine hydroxylase, converting it from an inactive to active form, by binding at a true allosteric regulatory site. One phenylalanine molecule binds per enzyme subunit; it remains at this site during catalytic turnover and, while there, cannot be hydroxylat...

We have examined the interaction of hepatic phenylalanine hydroxylase with the phenylalanine analogs, tryptophan and the diastereomers of 3-phenylserine (beta-hydroxyphenylalanine). Both isomers of phenylserine are substrates for native phenylalanine hydroxylase at pH 6.8 and 25 degrees C, when activity is measured with the use of the dihydropteridine reductase assay coupled with NADH in the pr...

The specific activity of phenylalanine hydroxylase from rat liver decreases markedly with increasing enzyme concentration when assayed at pH 8.0 with the naturally occurring tetrahydrobiopterin as cofactor. The decrease in specific activity is due to a sharp increase in the apparent K, for tetrahydrobiopterin at higher enzyme concentration, whereas V,,, is unchanged. This protein concentration ...

Phenylalanine hydroxylase-stimulating protein markedly stimulates phenylalanine hydroxylase activity under various conditions and thus may serve a critical function in phenylalanine metabolism. At pH values above neutrality, or in the presence of phospholipids such as lysolecithin, when the naturally occurring cofactor, tetrahydrobiopterin, is used, the specific activity of phenylalanine hydrox...