Ectopic expression of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) receptors in liver modulates organ function to regulate blood glucose by TRH.

Maintenance of blood glucose by the liver is normally initiated by extracellular regulatory molecules such as glucagon and vasopressin triggering specific hepatocyte receptors to activate the cAMP or phosphoinositide signal transduction pathways, respectively. We now show that the normal ligand-receptor regulators of blood glucose in the liver can be bypassed using an adenovirus vector expressing the mouse pituitary thyrotropin releasing hormone receptor (TRHR) cDNA ectopically in rat liver in vivo. The ectopically expressed TRHR links to the phosphoinositide pathway, providing a means to regulate liver function with TRH, an extracellular ligand that does not normally affect hepatic function. Administration of TRH to these animals activates the phosphoinositide pathway, resulting in a sustained rise in blood glucose. It should be possible to use this general strategy to modulate the differentiated functions of target organs in a wide variety of pathologic states.

Polarity of TRH receptors in transfected MDCK cells is independent of endocytosis signals and G protein coupling.

Information concerning the molecular sorting of G protein-coupled receptors in polarized epithelial cells is limited. Therefore, we have expressed the receptor for thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to determine its distribution in a model cell system and to begin analyzing the molecular information responsible for its distribution. Equilibrium binding of [methyl-3H]TRH to apical and basolateral surfaces of polarized MDCK cells reveals that TRH receptors are expressed predominantly (>80%) on the basolateral cell surface. Receptors undergo rapid endocytosis following agonist binding; up to 80% are internalized in 15 min. A mutant receptor missing the last 59 residues, C335Stop, is poorly internalized (<10%) but is nevertheless basolaterally expressed (>85%). A second mutant TRH receptor, delta218-263, lacks essentially all of the third intracellular loop and is not coupled to G proteins on binding agonist. This receptor internalizes TRH approximately half as efficiently as wild-type TRH receptors but is nevertheless strongly polarized to the basolateral surface (>90%). These results indicate that molecular sequences responsible for basolateral accumulation of TRH receptors can be segregated from signals for ligand-induced receptor endocytosis and coupling to heterotrimeric G proteins.

A constitutively active mutant thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor is chronically down-regulated in pituitary cells: evidence using chlordiazepoxide as a negative antagonist.

A carboxyl-terminus truncated mutant of the guanine nucleotide-binding (G) protein-coupled TRH receptor (TRH-R) was previously shown to exhibit constitutive, i.e. TRH-independent, activity (C335Stop TRH-R). Chlordiazepoxide (CDE), a known competitive inhibitor of TRH binding to wild-type (WT) TRH-Rs, is shown to compete for binding to C335Stop TRH-Rs also. More importantly, CDE is shown to be a negative antagonist of C335Stop TRH-Rs. CDE rapidly caused the basal rate of inositol phosphate second messenger (IP) formation to decrease in AtT-20 pituitary cells stably expressing C335Stop TRH-Rs (AtT-C335Stop cells), but not in cells expressing WT TRH-Rs (AtT-WT cells). Similar observations were made in HeLa cells transiently expressing C335Stop or WT TRH-Rs. CDE inhibition of IP formation was shown to be specific for TRH-Rs using GH4C1 cells expressing both TRH-Rs and receptors for bombesin. In these cells, CDE inhibited TRH-stimulated IP formation, but had no effect on bombesin-stimulated IP formation. The effects of chronic administration of CDE were studied. Preincubation of AtT-C335Stop cells, but not AtT-WT cells, with CDE for several hours caused an increase in cell surface receptor number (up-regulation) that led to increased TRH stimulation of inositol phosphate formation and elevation of intracellular free Ca2+. Preincubation with CDE did not affect methyl-TRH binding affinity or TRH potency in cells expressing AtT-C335Stop or in AtT-WT cells. We conclude that CDE is a negative antagonist of C335Stop TRH-Rs and that constitutively active C335Stop TRH-Rs are down-regulated in AtT-20 pituitary cells in the absence of agonist.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor activation does not elevate intracellular cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in cells expressing high levels of receptors.

Activation of TRH receptors (TRH-R) stimulates a signal transduction pathway that leads to the formation of two second messenger molecules, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and 1,2-diacylglycerol. It has been suggested that TRH may also cause an elevation of another second messenger, cAMP. As adenovirus-mediated gene transfer allows expression of TRH-R to high levels in a number of cell types, we tested again whether TRH-R activation might elevate intracellular cAMP in these more sensitive cell systems. In five cell lines, including three human lines, infection with a replication defective adenovirus that encodes the mouse TRH-R complementary DNA (AdCMVmTRHR) induced the expression of 0.2-2 million TRH-R/cell. AdCMVmTRHR-infected cells were activated by a maximally effective dose of TRH, and the levels of inositol phosphates and cAMP were measured. TRH stimulated the production of inositol phosphates from 5- to 9-fold in all cell types, but did not elevate cAMP in any cell type. These data confirm that TRH-R activation does not lead to an elevation of intracellular cAMP.

Expression of thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptors by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer reveals that thyrotropin-releasing hormone desensitization is cell specific.

Biological studies of seven-transmembrane region G protein-coupled receptors have been restricted by available techniques for gene transfer into mammalian cells. We have created a highly efficient adenovirus-based expression vector for the thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptor (TRH-R), AdCMVmTRHR, to circumvent difficulties encountered when transient or stable plasmid expression systems are used. We show that infection with AdCMVmTRHR results in fully functional TRH-Rs, which can be expressed in a broad range of mammalian cell types, including those resistant to conventional transient transfection. TRH-Rs can be expressed at high levels, up to 2 x 10(6) receptors/cell. Expression in several cell lines in culture reveals that rapid TRH-R desensitization by TRH and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate is cell type specific. The versatility of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer and expression of TRH-Rs not only facilitates in vitro studies of TRH-R biology but also provides a valuable in vivo expression vector capable of extending TRH-R studies to animal model systems.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptor number determines the size of the TRH-responsive phosphoinositide pool. Demonstration using controlled expression of TRH receptors by adenovirus mediated gene transfer.

We use an adenovirus vector, AdCMVmTRHR, to express thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptors (TRH-Rs) to determine whether the size of the hormone-responsive phosphoinositide pool in mammalian cells is directly related to receptor number. Infection of HeLa cells with increasing numbers of AdCMVmTRHR caused time-dependent graded expression of TRH-Rs. Measurement of cytoplasmic free Ca2+ in individual cells permitted quantitation of the fraction of cells responsive to TRH. Infection with 100 AdCMVmTRHR particles/cell or more led to TRH responsiveness in > or = 90% of HeLa cells. Measurement of prelabeled phosphoinositides hydrolyzed during prolonged TRH stimulation assesses the size of the TRH-responsive pool. In cells infected with AdCMVmTRHR for 24 h, the size of the TRH-responsive phosphoinositide pool increased with increasing TRH-R expression. The TRH-responsive pool also increased with time after infection as the number of TRH-Rs increased. Similar observations were made in GHY and KB cells. These data confirm our previous suggestion (Cubitt, A. B., Geras-Raaka, E., and Gershengorn, M. C. (1990) Biochem. J. 271, 331-336) that there are hormone-responsive and -unresponsive pools of cellular phosphoinositides and that the maximal size of the TRH-responsive pool is directly related to the number of TRH-Rs.

Decreased levels of internalized thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptors after uncoupling from guanine nucleotide-binding protein and phospholipase-C.

Internalization of TRH receptor (TRH-R) is dependent on sequences/structures in the receptor carboxyl-terminal tail. Here, we studied whether coupling to guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G-protein) and phospholipase-C (PLC) is involved in internalization. We constructed two mutant TRH-Rs: delta 218-263 TRH-R, in which most of the residues that form the putative third intracellular loop were deleted, and D71A TRH-R, in which an Asp in the putative second transmembrane helix was mutated to Ala; these TRH-Rs did not activate PLC when expressed transiently in COS-1 cells. In contrast to wild-type (WT) TRH-Rs, approximately 60% of which were internalized at steady state after binding methyl-HisTRH, only approximately 15% of delta 218-263 and D71A TRH-Rs were internalized. Thus, mutant TRH-Rs that do not activate PLC, most likely because they are uncoupled from G-proteins, are internalized to lesser extents than WT TRH-Rs. We also studied the effects of U73122 (1-[6-[[17 beta-3-methoxyestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17-yl]amino] hexyl]-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione), an amino steroid that inhibits receptor-mediated activation of PLC. In COS-1 and AtT-20 cells transfected with WT TRH-Rs and in GH3 cells, U73122 virtually abolished TRH activation of PLC and partially reduced the fraction of WT TRH-Rs internalized. Thus, uncoupling WT TRH-Rs from PLC decreases internalization. We conclude that TRH-R coupling to G-protein and PLC increases the number of TRH-Rs internalized at steady state even though the primary signals for agonist-induced internalization are present in the receptor. These data support the idea that a quaternary complex of TRH/TRH-R/G protein/PLC is normally internalized.

Agonist-stimulated internalization of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor is dependent on two domains in the receptor carboxyl terminus.

The thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)-TRH receptor (TRHR) complex undergoes rapid transformation in cells to an acid-resistant form which appears to represent internalized agonist-receptor complex. Since residues in the carboxyl terminus of other G protein-coupled receptors appear to be involved in internalization, we studied the role of this domain in the TRHR. A mutant TRHR, C335Stop, missing the last 59 residues including 2 cysteine residues, undergoes minimal transformation to an acid-resistant form even though it binds agonist with equal affinity and activates inositol phosphate second messenger formation as effectively as wild type TRHR. Two distinct domains within the carboxyl terminus between residues 335 and 368 were shown to affect transformation equally. First, a domain between residues 360 and 367 was identified because a TRHR with codon 360 mutated to a stop codon attained a steady-state level of internalized receptor that was approximately 50% of wild type TRHR, whereas a mutant with codon 368 changed to a stop was internalized to the same extent as wild type TRHR. Second, the need for a proximal Cys residue(s), Cys-335 or Cys-337, was shown by mutating these residues to Ser or Gly. We conclude that rapid internalization of the TRHR is dependent on two dissimilar domains within the receptor carboxyl terminus.

Mechanism of regulation of thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor messenger ribonucleic acid in stably transfected rat pituitary cells.

We showed previously that the level of TRH receptor (TRH-R) mRNA in rat pituitary GH3 cells is down-regulated by TRH. Here, we study the mechanism of regulation of TRH-R mRNA in a line of GH3 cells that are stably transfected with mouse pituitary TRH-R cDNA (GH-mTRHR-1 cells). GH-mTRHR-1 cells were found to have 2.4 times the number of TRH-Rs and to stimulate a 2.5-fold greater increase in inositol phosphates in response to TRH than the parent cell line and to show TRH-induced down-regulation of TRH-R number. GH-mTRHR-1 cells contained 26 +/- 1.6 molecules of mouse TRH-R mRNA/cell and 230 +/- 31 molecules of mRNA for the neomycin resistance gene (NEO) with which it was cotransfected. In GH-mTRHR-1 cells, TRH caused a dose-dependent transient decrease in mouse TRH-R mRNA, with a nadir to 20% of control levels after 6 h. In contrast, TRH did not affect NEO mRNA or glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA, an endogenous gene product. TRH stimulated the rate of transcription of mouse TRH-R DNA by approximately 2-fold, but did not affect total poly(A) RNA synthesis. Most importantly, TRH caused a 4-fold increase in the rate of degradation of mouse TRH-R mRNA, but did not affect degradation of GAPDH mRNA. The half-lives of mouse TRH-R and GAPDH mRNAs were 3 and more than 20 h in control cells and 0.75 and more than 20 h in cells treated with 1 microM TRH for 1.5 h, respectively. These data show that the predominant effect of TRH on mouse TRH-R mRNA in GH-mTRHR-1 cells is to enhance the rate of its degradation. We suggest, therefore, that down-regulation of TRH-R mRNA caused by TRH in the parent GH3 cell line is secondary to increased TRH-R mRNA degradation.