ABSTRACT
Thyroid hormones require transport across cell membranes to carry out their biological functions. The importance of transport for thyroid hormone signaling was highlighted by the discovery that inactivating mutations in the human monocarboxylate transporter-8 (MCT8) (SLC16A2) cause severe psychomotor retardation due to thyroid hormone deficiency in the central nervous system. It has been reported that Mct8 expression in the mouse brain is restricted to neurons, leading to the model that organic ion transporter polypeptide-14 (OATP14, also known as OATP1C1/SLCO1C1) is the primary thyroid hormone transporter at the blood-brain barrier, whereas MCT8 mediates thyroid hormone uptake into neurons. In contrast to these reports, we report here that in addition to neuronal expression, MCT8 mRNA and protein are expressed in cerebral microvessels in human, mouse, and rat. In addition, OATP14 mRNA and protein are strongly enriched in mouse and rat cerebral microvessels but not in human microvessels. In rat, Mct8 and Oatp14 proteins localize to both the luminal and abluminal microvessel membranes. In human and rodent choroid plexus epithelial cells, MCT8 is concentrated on the epithelial cell apical surface and OATP14 localizes primarily to the basal-lateral surface. Mct8 and Oatp14 expression was also observed in mouse and rat tanycytes, which are thought to form a barrier between hypothalamic blood vessels and brain. These results raise the possibility that reduced thyroid hormone transport across the blood-brain barrier contributes to the neurological deficits observed in affected patients with MCT8 mutations. The high microvessel expression of OATP14 in rodent compared with human brain may contribute to the relatively mild phenotype observed in Mct8-null mice, in contrast to humans lacking functional MCT8.
Subject(s)
Blood-Brain Barrier/metabolism , Membrane Transport Proteins/metabolism , Organic Cation Transport Proteins/metabolism , Animals , Blotting, Western , Cell Line , Cells, Cultured , Cerebrum/blood supply , Endothelial Cells/cytology , Endothelial Cells/metabolism , Humans , Immunohistochemistry , Male , Membrane Transport Proteins/genetics , Mice , Mice, Knockout , Microvessels/cytology , Microvessels/metabolism , Monocarboxylic Acid Transporters/genetics , Monocarboxylic Acid Transporters/metabolism , Organic Anion Transporters/genetics , Organic Anion Transporters/metabolism , Organic Cation Transport Proteins/genetics , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , SymportersABSTRACT
Sec6/8 (exocyst) complex regulates vesicle delivery and polarized membrane growth in a variety of cells, but mechanisms regulating Sec6/8 localization are unknown. In epithelial cells, Sec6/8 complex is recruited to cell-cell contacts with a mixture of junctional proteins, but then sorts out to the apex of the lateral membrane with components of tight junction and nectin complexes. Sec6/8 complex fractionates in a high molecular mass complex with tight junction proteins and a portion of E-cadherin, and co-immunoprecipitates with cell surface-labeled E-cadherin and nectin-2alpha. Recruitment of Sec6/8 complex to cell-cell contacts can be achieved in fibroblasts when E-cadherin and nectin-2alpha are co-expressed. These results support a model in which localized recruitment of Sec6/8 complex to the plasma membrane by specific cell-cell adhesion complexes defines a site for vesicle delivery and polarized membrane growth during development of epithelial cell polarity.
