KCl-Dependent Release of Mitochondrial Membrane-Bound Arginase Appears to Be a Novel Variant of Arginase-II.

Arginase regulates arginine metabolism, ornithine-urea cycle, and immunological surveillance. Arginase-I is predominant in cytosol, and arginase-II is localised in the mitochondria. A mitochondrial membrane-bound arginase has also been proposed to be adsorbed with outer membrane of mitochondria which gets released by 150 mM potassium chloride (KCl). It is presumed that inclusion of 150 mM KCl in the homogenization medium would not only facilitate release of arginase bound with outer membrane of mitochondria but also affect functional anatomy of mitochondria, mitochondrial enzymes, and proteins. Therefore, it has been intended to characterize KCl-dependent release of mitochondrial membrane-bound arginase from liver of mice. Results provide advancement in the area of arginase biology and suggest that fraction of mitochondrial membrane-bound arginase contains mitochondrial arginase-II and a variant of arginase-II.