NAD-glycohydrolase in renal brush border membranes

NAD is hydrolyzed during incubation with isolated renal brush border membranes (BBM). The specific enzymatic mechanisms have not been identified apart from the activity of ADP-ribosyltransferase, which accounts for a very small proportion of the total hydrolysis. In the present study, an NAD-glycohydrolase (NGH) was identified in the renal BBM using the cyanide-addition assay to monitor hydrolysis of NAD at the nicotinamide-ribose bond. The production of nicotinamide and ADP-ribose, the expected reaction products, was determined by thin-layer chromatography. The NGH was enriched ninefold in the BBM fraction and accounted for 36% of the total rate of NAD hydrolysis by BBM enzymes at pH 7.4. Assay of NGH in sealed BBM vesicles subjected to osmotic shock indicated that about 23% of the NGH is exposed on the cytoplasmic surface of the BBM. The enzyme was inhibited by nicotinamide in vitro and also when the nicotinamide was administered in vivo, suggesting, indirectly, that the enzyme may play a role in mediating the effects of nicotinamide on BBM phosphate transport.