Catabolism of neurotensin by neural (neuroblastoma clone N1E115) and extraneural (HT29) cell lines.

The mechanisms by which neurotensin (NT) was inactivated by differentiated neuroblastoma and HT29 cells were characterized. In both cell lines, the sites of primary cleavages of NT were Pro7-Arg8, Arg8-Arg9 and Pro10-Tyr11 bonds. The cleavage at the Pro7-Arg8 bond was totally inhibited by N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Prolyl-Prolinal and therefore resulted from the action of proline endopeptidase. This peptidase also contributed in a major way to the cleavage at the Pro10-Tyr11 bond. However the latter breakdown was partly due to an NT-degrading neutral metallopeptidase. Finally, we demonstrated the involvement of a recently purified rat brain soluble metalloendopeptidase at the Arg8-Arg9 site by the use of its specific inhibitor N-[1(R,S)-carboxy-2-Phenylethyl]-alanylalanylphenylalanine-p-amino benzoate. The secondary processing of NT degradation products revealed differences between HT29 and N1E115 cells. Angiotensin converting enzyme was shown to degrade NT1-10 and NT1-7 in N1E115 cells but was not detected in HT29 cells. A post-proline dipeptidyl aminopeptidase activity converted NT9-13 into NT11-13 in HT29 cells but not in N1E115 cells. Finally bestatin-sensitive aminopeptidases rapidly broke down NT11-13 to Tyr in both cell lines. Models for the inactivation of NT in HT29 and N1E115 cells are proposed and compared to that previously described for purified rat brain synaptic membranes.