Effect of reductive lactosamination on the hepatic uptake of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A dimer.

Lactose has been coupled to the lysine residues of the cross-linked dimer of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A by reductive amination with cyanoborohydride. Derivatives of ribonuclease dimer that contained up to 10 Nepsilon-1-(1-deoxylactitolyl)-lysine residues per molecule had greater than 75% of the enzymic activity of the unmodified enzyme toward yeast RNA. Upon intravenous injection of the 14C-labeled (enzymically inactivated by 14C-carboxymethylation) derivatives into rats, their uptake by the liver was a function of the number of lactose residues coupled. At 10 min, 69% of the injected derivative of ribonuclease dimer containing eight 1-deoxylactitolyl-lysine residues/molecule was found in the liver; with the non-glycosylated enzyme, the liver uptake at 10 min was only 4%, and 75% of the radioactivity was found in the kidneys.