Inhibitors and pathways of hepatocytic protein degradation.

On the basis of experiments using amino acids and various inhibitors (lysosomotropic amines, leupeptin, chymostatin, vanadate, vinblastine, anoxia, methylaminopurines), five different modes of endogenous protein degradation in isolated rat hepatocytes can be distinguished. The two non-lysosomal (amine-resistant) mechanisms preferentially degrade relatively labile (short-lived) proteins: one of these mechanisms is energy-dependent and chymostatin-sensitive, the other is not. Of the three lysosomal (amine-sensitive) mechanisms, one--quantitatively minor--is amino acid-resistant and preferentially degrades labile proteins. The two amino acid-sensitive mechanisms each seen account for about one-half of the degradation of relatively stable (long-lived) proteins; one of them is suppressed by leucine and apparently corresponds to the formation of electron microscopically visible autophagosomes; the other may represent a different type of autophagy, inhibited by asparagine and glutamine. A new class of inhibitors, the purine derivatives (methylated 6-aminopurines, and 6-mercaptopurines) appear to specifically suppress autophagic/lysosomal protein degradation, and may help to further elucidate the mechanisms of autophagy.