thapsigargin and cobaltous-chloride

The secretory pathway of neurons and endocrine cells contains a variety of mechanisms designed to combat cellular stress. These include not only the unfolded protein response pathways but also diverse chaperone proteins that collectively work to ensure proteostatic control of secreted and membrane-bound molecules. One of the least studied of these chaperones is the neural- and endocrine-specific molecule known as proSAAS. This small chaperone protein acts as a potent anti-aggregant both in vitro and in cellulo and also represents a cerebrospinal fluid biomarker in Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, we have examined the idea that proSAAS, like other secretory chaperones, might represent a stress-responsive protein. We find that exposure of neural and endocrine cells to the cell stressors tunicamycin and thapsigargin increases cellular proSAAS mRNA and protein in Neuro2A cells. Paradoxically, proSAAS secretion is inhibited by these same drugs. Exposure of Neuro2A cells to low concentrations of the hypoxic stress inducer cobalt chloride, or to sodium arsenite, an oxidative stressor, also increases cellular proSAAS content and reduces its secretion. We conclude that the cellular levels of the small secretory chaperone proSAAS are positively modulated by cell stress.

Topics: Animals; Arsenites; Cell Hypoxia; Cell Line; Cobalt; Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP; Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress; Heat-Shock Proteins; Mice; Molecular Chaperones; Neuropeptides; Oxidative Stress; Protective Agents; Rats; RNA, Messenger; Sodium Compounds; Stress, Physiological; Thapsigargin; Tunicamycin; Up-Regulation

Hypoxia profoundly influences tumor development and response to therapy. While progress has been made in identifying individual gene products whose synthesis is altered under hypoxia, little is known about the mechanism by which hypoxia induces a global downregulation of protein synthesis. A critical step in the regulation of protein synthesis in response to stress is the phosphorylation of translation initiation factor eIF2alpha on Ser51, which leads to inhibition of new protein synthesis. Here we report that exposure of human diploid fibroblasts and transformed cells to hypoxia led to phosphorylation of eIF2alpha, a modification that was readily reversed upon reoxygenation. Expression of a transdominant, nonphosphorylatable mutant allele of eIF2alpha attenuated the repression of protein synthesis under hypoxia. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident eIF2alpha kinase PERK was hyperphosphorylated upon hypoxic stress, and overexpression of wild-type PERK increased the levels of hypoxia-induced phosphorylation of eIF2alpha. Cells stably expressing a dominant-negative PERK allele and mouse embryonic fibroblasts with a homozygous deletion of PERK exhibited attenuated phosphorylation of eIF2alpha and reduced inhibition of protein synthesis in response to hypoxia. PERK(-/-) mouse embryo fibroblasts failed to phosphorylate eIF2alpha and exhibited lower survival after prolonged exposure to hypoxia than did wild-type fibroblasts. These results indicate that adaptation of cells to hypoxic stress requires activation of PERK and phosphorylation of eIF2alpha and suggest that the mechanism of hypoxia-induced translational attenuation may be linked to ER stress and the unfolded-protein response.

Topics: 3T3 Cells; Animals; Cobalt; eIF-2 Kinase; Endoplasmic Reticulum; Enzyme Activation; Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2; Fibroblasts; Gene Deletion; Genes, Dominant; HeLa Cells; Homozygote; Humans; Hypoxia; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; Immunoblotting; Kinetics; Methionine; Mice; Models, Biological; Oxygen; Phosphorylation; Plasmids; Protein Biosynthesis; Protein Folding; Proteins; Serine; Thapsigargin; Time Factors; Transcription Factors; Transfection

The environmental contaminants methylmercury (MeHg) and mercuric chloride (HgCl2) stimulated the spontaneous release of [3H]noradrenaline ([3H]NA) from hippocampal slices in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Both MeHg and HgCl2 were similarly potent, with an EC50 of 88.4 microM and 75.9 microM, respectively. The releasing effects of MeHg and HgCl2 increased in the presence of desipramine, showing that the mechanism does not involve reversal of the transmitter transporter, and were completely blocked by reserpine preincubation, indicating a vesicular origin of [3H]NA release. The voltage-gated Na+ channel blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX) did not affect the response to mercury compounds. [3H]NA release elicited by MeHg was partially dependent on extracellular Ca2+, since it decreased significantly in a Ca2+-free EGTA-containing medium whereas HgCl2 induced a release of [3H]NA independent of extracellular Ca2+. Neither Ca2+-channels blockers, cobalt chloride (CoCl2) and (omega-conotoxin-GVIA, nor the Na+/Ca2+-exchanger inhibitor benzamil reduced MeHg-evoked [3H]NA release. Moreover, thapsigargin or caffeine, endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-depletors, did not modify metal-evoked [3H]NA release, whereas ruthenium red, which inhibits the mitochondrial Ca2+ transport, decreased the effect of both MeHg and HgCl2. All these data indicate that, in hippocampal slices, mercury compounds release [3H]NA from the vesicular pool by a mechanism involving Ca2+ mobilization from mitochondrial stores.

Topics: Adrenergic Uptake Inhibitors; Amiloride; Animals; Caffeine; Calcium; Calcium Channel Blockers; Chelating Agents; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Cobalt; Desipramine; Egtazic Acid; Enzyme Inhibitors; Hippocampus; Male; Mercuric Chloride; Methylmercury Compounds; Norepinephrine; omega-Conotoxin GVIA; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reserpine; Ruthenium Red; Sodium Channel Blockers; Sodium-Calcium Exchanger; Synapses; Tetrodotoxin; Thapsigargin

Porcine somatotropes can be separated by Percoll density gradient centrifugation into low (LD) and high density (HD) subpopulations that differ ultrastructurally and functionally. Here, we report the effects of growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF) on the cytosolic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) of single LD and HD somatotropes. Resting [Ca2+]i in LD somatotropes was 2-fold higher than in HD cells. GRF induced [Ca2+]i increases in a similar percentage of somatotropes from both subsets. However, amplitude and kinetics of the responses were markedly different. In all responsive LD somatotropes, GRF evoked a rapid initial peak followed by a sustained plateau (plateau-type response). Blockade of extracellular Ca2+ entry by 3 mM EDTA, 2 mM CoCl2, or 100 microM verapamil completely abolished the plateau phase without affecting the initial Ca2+ spike. Conversely, only the plateau phase was preserved in thapsigargin (TG)-treated LD cells. The vast majority of GRF-responsive HD somatotropes exhibited a transient [Ca2+]i peak that returned gradually to baseline (transient-type response). This response was completely blocked by removal of extracellular Ca2+, whereas TG treatment had no effect. Taken together, our results indicate that the response of LD somatotropes to GRF depends on mobilization of Ca2+ of both extra- and intracellular origin, whereas that of HD somatotropes seems to be exclusively dependent on extracellular Ca2+ entry through L-type voltage sensitive Ca2+ channels (VSCC). These findings are the first to demonstrate a differential effect of GRF on Ca2+ mobilization in two somatotrope subpopulations, and suggest the existence of differences in the GRF receptor(s) expressed in each subpopulation and/or in the intracellular signalling pathways activated upon GRF binding.

Topics: Animals; Calcium; Calcium Channel Blockers; Cell Compartmentation; Cell Separation; Centrifugation, Density Gradient; Chelating Agents; Cobalt; Cytosol; Edetic Acid; Extracellular Space; Female; Growth Hormone; Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone; Ion Transport; Pituitary Gland, Anterior; Receptors, Neuropeptide; Receptors, Pituitary Hormone-Regulating Hormone; Signal Transduction; Swine; Thapsigargin; Verapamil

Recent data suggest an important role for calcium (Ca2+) in human placental endocrinology. Thus, the regulation of Ca2+ influx seems to be implicated in the modulation of human placental lactogen and hCG release. A possible mechanism of influx regulation is through receptor-operated channels. One of the most characterized receptor gating Ca2+ channels, the ATP receptor, stimulates the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in various tissues. The aim of this study was to determine whether ATP receptors gating Ca2+ channels are also present in placental cells. We thus determined the effect of ATP on [Ca2+]i in human term trophoblastic cells loaded with the Ca(2+)-responsive fluorescent dye fura-2. ATP stimulated a 4.3 +/- 0.4 (+/- SE)-fold increase in [Ca2+]i, with a half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 1.5 mumol/L. The pharmacological activation profile suggests the presence of purinergic P2u receptors (nucleotide receptors), because uridine 5'-triphosphate (UTP) also stimulated [Ca2+]i (4.0-fold increase, with an EC50 of 10 mumol/L). The ATP-stimulated [Ca2+]i was partly sensitive to pertussis toxin; we observed a 58% inhibition of ATP-induced [Ca2+]i with the toxin without effect on basal [Ca2+]i. The ATP- and UTP-stimulated [Ca2+]i declined with time in the presence of ATP (or UTP). The rate of deactivation was rapid (t1/2, < 60 s with 10(-5) mol/L ATP) and concentration dependent. The deactivation occurring during one application of ATP or UTP resulted in a diminution of subsequent responses. The recovery was incomplete even with long waiting times (up to 30 min). ATP and UTP also stimulated inositol phosphate production with EC50 values of 11 and 15 mumol/L, respectively, but not human placental lactogen or hCG release in experiments in which known secretagogues were effective. The results suggest the presence in human term placental cells of P2u receptors pharmacologically similar to those observed in other tissues, especially in the pituitary and amnion. The physiological significance of this stimulation of [Ca2+]i by ATP and UTP in the human placenta remains to be investigated.

Topics: Adenosine Triphosphate; Calcium; Calcium Channels; Cells, Cultured; Cobalt; Female; Humans; Ion Channel Gating; Kinetics; Nickel; Nifedipine; Pertussis Toxin; Placenta; Pregnancy; Receptors, Purinergic P2; Terpenes; Thapsigargin; Trophoblasts; Uridine Triphosphate; Virulence Factors, Bordetella