Effects of ATP on lysosomes: inhibition of the loss of latency caused by cooling.

Triton-filled lysosomes from rat liver and a crude lysosomal fraction from livers of rats not injected with Triton have been used to study the ability of ATP to protect lysosomes against the effects of incubation in vitro at 37 degrees C. When incubation was carried out in a sucrose-NH4Cl medium at pH 8.0 or in buffer containing 0.15 M KCl at pH 7.4, ATP protected against the loss of lysosomal enzyme latency that occurred at 37 degrees C and also against the additional loss of latency that occurred when the incubated lysosomes were cooled to 0 degrees C. The inhibition of the effects of cooling was found to result from a decrease in the loss of latency caused specifically by cooling the lysosomes through the temperature range of the membrane phase transition (15-0 degrees C); ATP did not affect the basic rate of loss of latency at 0 degrees C. Protection was minimal when incubation was carried out in 1 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid without added divalent metal ion and was enhanced by the addition of either Mg2+ or Ca2+. Kinetic studies were carried out on the ATP-protective action against the effects of cooling by adding ATP to lysosomes that had been incubated at 37 degrees C and that were then cooled to 0 degrees C at various times after addition of the ATP. Susceptibility to the effects of cooling continued to decrease until the ATP had been present at 37 degrees C for approximately 3 min before cooling. The concentration of ATP required for maximum initial rates of protection was found to be 10(-3) M or possibly lower. The rate of decrease in susceptibility to the effects of cooling was much slower when ATP was added at 22 than at 37 degrees C, suggesting that enzyme action may be involved in the protective mechanism. Possible mechanisms for the ATP-protective action are discussed.