Increased glomerular collagen IV mRNA in streptozotocin-diabetic rats and stimulation of matrix transcripts by high glucose levels in short-term mesangial cell culture provide evidence that stimulation of matrix synthesis is important in early diabetic glomerulopathy. To test whether transcriptional modulation of collagen IV genes is operative, we stably transfected a murine mesangial cell line with a "minigene" expressing luciferase driven by 5'-flanking and first-intron regions of the murine COL4A1 gene to assess the response to high glucose and the associated signaling pathway. Luciferase activity was stimulated in a dose- and time-dependent manner [near-maximal stimulation in 450 mg/dl glucose (G450) was more than twofold the level in 100 mg/dl (G100) at 48 h]; high concentrations of D-mannitol were without effect. Neither low (2 ng/ml) nor high doses (2 micrograms/ml) of insulin modified luciferase activity in either G100 or G450. We next studied whether activation of protein kinase C (PKC) mediates the effect of high glucose. Treatment with the active phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate for 2-4 h or with a diacylglycerol analogue for 24 h significantly stimulated luciferase activity preferentially in G100; the PKC inhibitors staurosporine or calphostin C significantly reduced the activity preferentially in G450. Thus high glucose levels promote transcriptional activity of COL4A1 gene in this reporter mesangial cell line, perhaps through PKC activation.
The polyol pathway in diabetes is activated in tissues that are not dependent on insulin for glucose uptake. To examine the role of the polyol pathway in renal extracellular matrix accumulation, we incubated murine proximal tubule cells in either normal or high glucose concentration in the presence or absence of the aldose reductase inhibitor sorbinil. Rising medium glucose from 100 to 450 mg/dl for 72 hours increased cell sorbitol levels sevenfold. Addition of 0.4 mM sorbinil reduced sorbitol content to virtually undetectable levels as measured by gas chromatography. Sorbinil (0.1 to 0.2 mM) also reduced the secretion of collagens types IV and I in the high glucose concentration after 48 to 72 hours but had no appreciable effect in the normal glucose concentration. Concordantly, 0.1 mM sorbinil inhibited the high glucose-induced stimulation of alpha 1(IV) and alpha 2(I) mRNA levels without affecting levels in normal glucose concentration. To study the role of transcriptional activation of collagen genes, we transfected proximal tubule cells with a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene linked to the promoter and regulatory elements of alpha 1(IV) gene. CAT activity increased several-fold in the cells grown in the high versus normal glucose concentration; this transcriptional activation in culture media containing high glucose concentration was reduced by treatment of the cells with 0.1 mM sorbinil. Thus, high ambient glucose activates the polyol pathway in proximal tubule cells, and may mediate the high glucose-induced stimulation of gene expression for collagens types IV and I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.