In adult rat liver, amounts of the urea cycle enzymes are regulated by diet, glucocorticoids, and cAMP. Rat hepatocytes cultured in chemically defined medium were used to precisely define the roles of glucocorticoids and cAMP in regulation of these enzymes at the pretranslational level. With the exception of ornithine transcarbamylase mRNA, cultured rat hepatocytes retain the capacity to express mRNAs for the urea cycle enzymes at the same level observed for liver of intact rats. In the absence of added hormones, mRNAs for argininosuccinate synthetase and argininosuccinate lyase remained at or above normal in vivo levels, while mRNAs for the other three enzymes declined to very low levels. Messenger RNAs for carbamyl phosphate synthetase I, argininosuccinate synthetase, argininosuccinate lyase, and arginase increased in response to either dexamethasone or 8-(4-chlorophenylthio) cAMP (CPT-cAMP). Half-maximal responses occurred at 2-3 nM dexamethasone and at 2-7 microM CPT-cAMP. Cycloheximide abolished the response to dexamethasone but not to CPT-cAMP, suggesting that dexamethasone induced expression of an intermediate gene product required for induction of these mRNAs. The effects of a combination of both hormones were additive for argininosuccinate lyase mRNA and synergistic for carbamyl phosphate synthetase I, argininosuccinate synthetase, and arginase mRNAs. Messenger RNA for ornithine transcarbamylase showed little or no response to any condition tested. Depending on the particular mRNA and hormonal condition tested, increases in mRNA levels ranged from 1.4- to 70-fold above control values.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Primary cultures of rat hepatocytes produce tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and plasminogen activator-inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1). Incubation of hepatocytes with 50 microM 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)cAMP (CPT-cAMP) results in a 4-fold increase in tPA activity, whereas the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (1 microM) causes a more than 90% decrease. In combination, dexamethasone completely overcomes the CPT-cAMP effect and markedly decreases PA activity. PAI-1 is induced by both CPT-cAMP and dexamethasone, and the effects of these agents are additive. Accumulation of tPA mRNA is increased more than 4-fold by CPT-cAMP and is greatly decreased by incubation with dexamethasone. Dexamethasone in combination with CPT-cAMP totally blocks this cAMP effect. The protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide does not prevent either the dexamethasone-induced decrease or the CPT-cAMP-induced increase in tPA message and, in fact, augments the cAMP-induced increase in tPA mRNA. Hepatocyte PAI-1 mRNA levels are increased 2-fold by incubation with either CPT-cAMP or dexamethasone; in combination, these effectors cause a 4-fold increase in PAI-1 mRNA. Cycloheximide alone causes a marked increase in PAI-1 mRNA, but does not block the induction by either CPT-cAMP or dexamethasone. We conclude that incubation of hepatocytes with CPT-cAMP induces tPA activity by increasing tPA mRNA accumulation and that dexamethasone causes a decrease in tPA activity by both decreasing tPA mRNA and increasing PAI-1 mRNA and activity. Concomitant protein synthesis is not required for the regulation of tPA or PAI-1 mRNA by either CPT-cAMP or dexamethasone, indicating a primary effect of these agents on gene transcription or mRNA stability.
Dexamethasone is necessary and sufficient to induce mRNA for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (GTP) (PEPCK) by 19-fold in rat hepatocytes cultured in serum-free medium. However, the time required for maximum induction is 16 h. The slow induction suggested that glucocorticoids regulate the expression of an intermediate gene product(s) which is required for glucocorticoid stimulation of PEPCK-gene expression. Consistent with this notion was the finding that cycloheximide completely blocked the response to dexamethasone. In contrast, cycloheximide did not block the response to a cyclic AMP analogue.
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