The peripheral myelin gene PMP22 is the rat and human homologue of the murine growth arrest‐specific gene gas3. Besides a putative role of PMP22 in myelination, a regulatory function in cell growth has been suspected. Here we have investigated both the expression of PMP22 during cell cycle progression of cultured rat Schwann cells and the influence of altered levels of PMP22 on Schwann cell growth. When resting cells were stimulated to begin the cell cycle, the regulation of PMP22 mRNA resembled the growth arrest‐specific pattern of gas3 expression observed previously in NIH3T3 fibroblasts. To prove a growth regulatory function of PMP22, we generated Schwann cell cultures by infection with retroviral PMP22 expression vectors that constitutively expressed PMP22 cDNA sequences, in either the sense or antisense orientation. Transduced cells carrying the sense construct overexpressed PMP22 mRNA and protein, whereas in cells infected with an antisense PMP22 expression vector PMP22 mRNA levels were reduced markedly. Altered levels of PMP22 significantly modulated Schwann cell proliferation, as judged by 5‐bromo‐2′‐deoxy‐uridine incorporation into replicated DNA. In asynchronously dividing cultures enhanced expression of PMP22 decreased DNA synthesis to 60% of the control level. Conversely, reduced levels of PMP22 mRNA led to enhanced DNA synthesis of approximately 150%. Further cell cycle analyses by flow cytometry revealed that overexpression of PMP22 delayed serum‐ and forskolin‐stimulated entry of resting Schwann cells from G0/G1 into the S + G2/M phases by approximately 8 h, whereas underexpression of PMP22 mRNA slightly increased the proportion of cells that entered the S + G2/M phases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The influence of hypo-osmotic cell swelling on the activity of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases Erk-1 and Erk-2 (where Erk stands for extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase) was studied in cultured rat astrocytes. Hypo-osmotic treatment led within 10 min to an increased activity of Erk-1 and Erk-2, which became maximal at 20 min and returned to the basal level within 60 min. Moreover, exposure to hypo-osmotic conditions induced a biphasic increase in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i): a rapid peak-like increase was followed by a sustained plateau. The absence of extracellular Ca2+ completely abolished Erk activation as well as the plateau of the [Ca2+]i response after hypo-osmotic stimulation. Application of wortmannin and agents to elevate intracellular cAMP levels also completely blocked Erk activation but were without effect on the biphasic [Ca2+]i response to hypo-osmotic treatment of the cells, suggesting a role of PtdIns 3-kinase and the Ras/Raf pathway downstream of the calcium signal. Protein kinase C (PKC) and Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent kinases are unlikely to play a role in the hypo-osmolarity-induced signalling towards MAP kinases, as revealed by the blockage of PKC and CaM kinases. Inhibition of tyrosine kinases, pertussis-toxin- or cholera-toxin-sensitive G-proteins and phospholipase C had no effect on the [Ca2+]i response; the Erk response to hypo-osmolarity was also largely unaltered. This is different from the swelling-induced MAP kinase activation in hepatocytes, which was shown to occur via a calcium-independent but G-protein- and tyrosine kinase-dependent mechanism. Thus osmo-signalling towards MAP kinases might exhibit cell-type-specific features.

Neurons from embryonic (E18) rat hippocampus were chosen to identify and characterize neurite growth-stimulating proteins accumulating in serum-free conditioned media (CM) obtained from primary or secondary cultures of cerebral astrocytes (less than 5% nonglial cells) using a quantitative cell culture bioassay. CM were fractionated by FPLC on an anion exchange column (Mono Q) and by gel filtration (Superose 6). Column fractions were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using antibodies to laminin (LN) and fibronectin (FN). The neurite-promoting activity (NPA) was tested by incubating aliquots of the eluted fractions with poly-L-lysine precoated glass coverslips prior to addition of neurons suspended in chemically defined medium. We provide evidence that the NPA in astroglial CM could be assigned mainly to a negatively charged, highly sulfated LN complex consisting predominantly of the B-chains of LN and presumably a sulfated proteoglycan that was sensitive for chondroitinase and to a lower degree to heparinase degradation. In addition, a smaller proportion of the NPA was associated with uncomplexed LN and free FN. FN reached approximately 10 times the concentration of LN in astroglial CM. As revealed by immunofluorescence microscopy, both LN and FN are simultaneously expressed by cultured astrocytes; however, only the production of FN, measured by ELISA, increased during the time astrocytes were in culture, whereas the release of LN remained unchanged. We conclude that, besides the most active LN complex, FN bound to a polycationic matrix is able to induce neurite growth in hippocampal neurons in vitro.

The peripheral myelin gene PMP22 is the rat and human homologue of the murine growth-arrest-specific gene gas3. The biological function of PMP22 is unknown, but recent progress in the analysis of rat Schwann cells expressing altered levels of PMP22 revealed that one role of PMP22 is as a negative growth modulator. We have investigated the influence of rat PMP22 (rPMP22) and a mutant of PMP22 (rPMP22(Tr)) resembling the murine trembler mutation on cell growth of retrovirus-vector-infected mouse NIH3T3 cells. Transduced cells carrying the two different sense constructs expressed rPMP22 and rPMP22(Tr )mRNAs and proteins. Elevated levels of rPMP22 and rPMP22(Tr )significantly reduced fibroblast growth as judged by proliferation assays. Despite a negative modulatory influence of rPMP22 and rPMP22(Tr )on cell proliferation, cell cycle analyses by flow cytometry did not reveal an influence of rPMP22 or rPMP22(Tr )on the synchronous progression of resting NIH3T3 cells from G0 into S phase. However, cell cycle analyses by flow cytometry of asynchronously dividing cultures demonstrated that the expression of rPMP22 and rPMP22(Tr )increased the fraction of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Furthermore, cell death analyses revealed that, in contrast to control cells and cells carrying the rPMP22(Tr )construct, a significantly increased fraction of NIH3T3 cells expressing rPMP22 exit the proliferation compartment showing hallmarks of programmed cell death. These results indicate that (i) rPMP22 and rPMP22(Tr )act as negative modulators of proliferation in murine fibroblasts probably through extension of the G1 phase of the cell cycle and (ii) rPMP22 but not rPMP22(Tr )promotes programmed death of these cells.

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