Regulated exocytosis in vascular endothelial cells can be triggered by intracellular guanine nucleotides and requires a hydrophobic, thiol-sensitive component. Studies of regulated von Willebrand factor secretion from digitonin permeabilized endothelial cells.

To study the intracellular events leading to regulated exocytosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) the plasma membrane of HUVEC was selectively permeabilized with digitonin while retaining secretory function. Fusion of Weibel-Palade bodies, the secretory organelle of HUVEC, with the plasma membrane was detected by assaying the media for von Willebrand factor (vWF). The secretion from permeabilized cells faithfully reflects that in intact cells by a number of criteria. First, in the presence of calcium, permeabilized HUVEC secreted vWF with the same kinetics and to the same extent as intact cells stimulated with secretagogue. In addition, the vWF secreted by permeabilized cells after stimulus was exclusively the processed mature form found in Weibel-Palade bodies. Release required micromolar levels of calcium. In addition, GTPgammaS could also stimulate release by a parallel pathway. Both calcium- and GTPgammaS-stimulated secretion required a thiol-sensitive component. The hydrophobic thiol alkylating agent U73122 inhibited calcium-dependent and GTPgammaS-stimulated secretion. Surprisingly, N-ethylmaleimide, a hydrophilic alkylating agent, did not inhibit secretion. The N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein (NSF), a protein implicated in a variety of vesicle fusion events, did not appear to be the target of U73122. These data strongly suggests the participation of a non-NSF, membrane-associated protein in regulated secretion in endothelial cells. Further, there appear to be two parallel pathways leading to secretion in HUVEC, one stimulated by elevated levels of calcium and the other mediated by a GTP-binding protein.

Differential activity of ELAV-like RNA-binding proteins in human neuroblastoma.

Many short-lived mRNAs contain AU-rich instability elements within their 3'-untranslated region. Cellular factors that bind to these elements are thought to play a role in the regulation of mRNA degradation. In the accompanying paper (Chagnovich, D., and Cohn, S. L. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 33580-33586) we characterized the binding activity of a 40-kDa protein (p40) that interacts with high specificity with at least two AU-rich elements located within the 3'-untranslated region of N-myc. p40 activity correlates with N-myc mRNA stability in subclones of the NBL-W neuroblastoma cells line (W-N and W-S). In an effort to determine the identity of p40 we performed immunoblotting studies, immunoprecipitation experiments, and RNA gel mobility shift assays using antibodies that are directed against known RNA-binding proteins. In this paper we demonstrate that in W-N and W-S cells, p40 activity parallels the expression of embryonic letal abnormal vision (ELAV)-like proteins, and that antibodies directed against this family of RNA-binding proteins recognize p40. We also show that purified ELAV-like proteins (HuD and Hel-N1) bind with high specificity to the same N-myc 3'-untranslated region sequences as p40. Our data indicate that p40 is a member of the ELAV-like family, and suggest that this family of RNA-binding proteins may regulate N-myc mRNA turnover.

Distribution of the integral plasma membrane glycoprotein CE9 (MRC OX-47) among rat tissues and its induction by diverse stimuli of metabolic activation.

We have compared the levels of the integral plasma membrane glycoprotein CE9 (MRC OX-47) in different tissues of the rat and have ascertained that the levels of CE9 protein and mRNA in selected tissues and cells exhibit moderate increases in response to diverse stimuli of metabolic activation. When normalized on the basis of total protein, the level of CE9 detected in the different tissues was found to vary over a 50-fold range. In addition, the apparent molecular mass of CE9 was observed to vary from 40 kDa to 68 kDa as a consequence of tissue-specific glycosylation. The highest level of CE9 was detected in brown adipose tissue, where the protein was found to be localized to the plasma membranes of the adipocytes. The metabolic activation of brown adipose tissue that occurs upon exposure of rats to the cold was found to be accompanied by 3.0 +/- 0.4-fold and 1.7 +/- 0.2-fold increases in the levels of CE9 mRNA and protein respectively. An intermediate level of CE9 was detected in the liver, where the protein is known to be expressed within the basolateral domain of the hepatocyte plasma membrane. The metabolic activation of hepatocytes that occurs upon administration of thyroid hormone to euthyroid rats was found to be accompanied by 2.2 +/- 0.3-fold and 1.9 +/- 0.3-fold increases in the levels of CE9 mRNA and protein respectively. A low level of CE9 was detected in the lymphoid organs, such as thymus and spleen. The metabolic activation of isolated rat splenocytes that occurs upon concanavalin A-mediated blast transformation in culture was found to be accompanied by 2.1 +/- 0.2-fold and 1.6 +/- 0.2-fold increases in the levels of CE9 mRNA and protein respectively. On the basis of these and other observations, we suggest that the level, and possibly also the localization, of the integral plasma membrane glycoprotein CE9 may be correlated in a positive fashion with metabolic activity in a diverse array of cell types.

Regulation of hepatocytic glycoprotein sialylation and sialyltransferases by peroxisome proliferators.

Short-term dietary exposure of rats to a representative member of each of the three classes of peroxisome proliferators was found to elicit: (i) 71-80 and 66-75% reductions in the specific activities of the hepatic beta-galactoside alpha 2,6- and alpha 2,3-sialyltransferases, respectively; (ii) a 67-69% reduction in the level of hepatic beta-galactoside alpha 2,6-sialyltransferase protein; and (iii) 41-46 and 6-28% reductions in the levels of the hepatic beta-galactoside alpha 2,6- and alpha 2,3-sialyltransferase mRNAs, respectively. These changes were found to correlate with a reduction in the sialylation of the N-linked glycans of a prototypical hepatocytic sialoglycoconjugate, the integral plasma membrane glycoprotein CE9, as was evident through: (i) a decrease in apparent molecular mass, (ii) a conversion to a more basic distribution of isoelectric points, and (iii) 56-72 and 33-44% decreases in the ability to bind lectins specific for sialic acid in alpha 2,3- and alpha 2,6-linkage, respectively. When assessed by labeling semithin frozen sections of liver tissue with a fluorescent lectin specific for alpha 2,6-linked sialic acid, the reduced sialylation observed for CE9 was found to extend to other hepatocytic glycoconjugates in the livers of peroxisome proliferator-treated rats.

Decreases in the relative concentrations of specific hepatocyte plasma membrane proteins during liver regeneration: down-regulation or dilution?

Antibodies were used to quantify seven domain-specific integral proteins of the rat hepatocyte plasma membrane during rat liver regeneration in response to two-thirds hepatectomy. Quantitative immunoblotting revealed that a subset of the plasma membrane proteins exhibited transient 30-70% decreases in relative concentration during the period of hepatocyte proliferation. The list of affected proteins included at least one representative from each of the plasma membrane domains: the apical protein HA 4, the lateral protein HA 321, and the basolateral receptors for epidermal growth factor and asialoglycoproteins. In contrast, the relative concentrations of three other plasma membrane proteins, the basolateral protein CE 9 and the two apical proteins dipeptidylpeptidase IV and aminopeptidase N, remained unchanged throughout liver regeneration. The decreases in the relative concentrations of the plasma membrane proteins were observed even when the synthesis of hepatocyte DNA was blocked by hydroxyurea, suggesting that the signalling for these two delayed consequences of two-thirds hepatectomy occurred along parallel, dependent pathways. Pulse and pulse-chase metabolic radiolabeling studies revealed that the decreases in the concentrations of the PM proteins were accomplished through protein-selective decreases in the rates of synthesis of the high-mannose precursors of the affected proteins, but not through the accelerated degradation of the mature plasma membrane proteins.

Expression and compartmentalization of integral plasma membrane proteins by hepatocytes and their progenitors in the rat pancreas.

A combination of Western blotting, Northern blotting and immunofluorescence was used to examine the expression and compartmentalization of plasma membrane proteins by those hepatocyte-like cells that arise in the pancreases of rats subjected to sequential dietary copper depletion and repletion. The pancreatic hepatocytes were found to: (1) express several integral membrane proteins known to be concentrated within the apical, lateral or basolateral domains of the plasma membranes of hepatocytes in liver; and (2) compartmentalize the membrane proteins to equivalent plasma membrane domains, despite the organization of these cells into clusters instead of highly vascularized plates. The apical plasma membrane proteins dipeptidylpeptidase IV and HA 4 were found to line bile canaliculus-like openings between adjacent pancreatic hepatocytes; these openings were shown to be continuous with the pancreatic exocrine duct by India ink infusion. In contrast, the basolateral plasma membrane protein rat hepatic lectin-1 and lateral plasma membrane protein HA 321 were detected elsewhere about the surfaces of the pancreatic hepatocytes: by analogy to their respective localizations on hepatocytes in liver, rat hepatic lectin-1 was concentrated on those surfaces exposed to the pancreatic matrix at the periphery of the hepatocyte clusters (the basal surface equivalent), whereas HA 321 was concentrated on those surfaces exposed to adjacent hepatocytes within the clusters. The hepatocyte plasma membrane proteins were found to be expressed in the pancreas at different times during the copper depletion/repletion protocol: for example, rat hepatic lectin-1 and the bulk of the HA 4 were expressed relatively late in the protocol, only after large numbers of pancreatic hepatocytes had appeared; whereas dipeptidylpeptidase IV was induced greater than 10-fold early in the protocol and proved to be an apical-specific marker for those ductular epithelial cells that are believed to be the progenitors of the pancreatic hepatocytes.

Peroxisome proliferator-induced alterations in the expression and modification of rat hepatocyte plasma membrane proteins.

Rats were fed the peroxisome proliferator ciprofibrate (0.025%), and the effects on the expression, modification, and localization of seven domain-specific integral proteins of the rat hepatocyte plasma membrane were assessed using a combination of immunoblotting, -precipitation, and -fluorescence. Ciprofibrate caused the down-regulation of five of the plasma membrane proteins (the epidermal growth factor receptor, the asialoglycoprotein receptor, HA 321, HA 4, and dipeptidylpeptidase IV) and induced the expression of a more basic, lower-Mr isoform of the basolateral plasma membrane protein CE 9. Pulse labeling, chemical deglycosylation, and 125I-wheat germ lectin blotting suggested that the ciprofibrate-induced isoform of CE 9 differed in the posttranslational modification of its oligosaccharides and contained more sialic acid. These changes in hepatocyte surface differentiation were first observed between Days 1 and 5 on the ciprofibrate-containing diet, coincident with other aspects of the pleiotropic response of the hepatocyte to peroxisome proliferators, e.g., the induction of the Mr 78,000 peroxisome proliferation-associated protein. The effects were reversed within 2-3 weeks upon removal of ciprofibrate. The three other peroxisome proliferators tested, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, clofibrate, and Wy-14,643, were found to exert most of these same effects on the expression and modification of the hepatocyte plasma membrane proteins, but the compounds differed in relative potency. The ciprofibrate-induced decreases in the concentrations of the epidermal growth factor receptor, the asialoglycoprotein receptor, HA 321, and HA 4 were similar to the selective down-regulation of these proteins observed transiently during the period of hepatocyte proliferation following two-thirds hepatectomy. Other compounds frequently used in studies of liver enzyme induction and carcinogenesis, the antioxidants ethoxyquin and butylated hydroxyanisole and the liver tumor promoter phenobarbital, were not as effective as ciprofibrate or two-thirds hepatectomy at causing the down-regulation of these proteins. The induction of the lower-Mr isoform of the basolateral plasma membrane protein CE 9 was not observed following two-thirds hepatectomy or upon the feeding of the antioxidants or phenobarbital but was specific to the feeding of the peroxisome proliferators.