Molecular identification of the apical Ca2+ channel in 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3-responsive epithelia

In mammals, the extracellular calcium concentration is maintained within a narrow range despite large variations in daily dietary input and body demand. The small intestine and kidney constitute the influx pathways into the extracellular Ca2+ pool and, therefore, play a primary role in Ca2+ homeostasis. We identified an apical Ca2+ influx channel, which is expressed in proximal small intestine, the distal part of the nephron and placenta. This novel epithelial Ca2+ channel (ECaC) of 730 amino acids contains six putative membrane-spanning domains with an additional hydrophobic stretch predicted to be the pore region. ECaC resembles the recently cloned capsaicin receptor and the transient receptor potential-related ion channels with respect to its predicted topology but shares less than 30% sequence homology with these channels. In kidney, ECaC is abundantly present in the apical membrane of Ca2+ transporting cells and colocalizes with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3-dependent calbindin-D28K. ECaC expression in Xenopus oocytes confers Ca2+ influx with properties identical to those observed in distal renal cells. Thus, ECaC has the expected properties for being the gatekeeper of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3-dependent active transepithelial Ca2+ transport.

Hormone-stimulated Ca2+ reabsorption in rabbit kidney cortical collecting system is cAMP-independent and involves a phorbol ester-insensitive PKC isotype

BACKGROUND

Hormones such as parathyroid hormone (PTH), arginine vasopressin (AVP), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) are generally believed to act through cAMP to stimulate active Ca2+ reabsorption in the distal part of the nephron.

METHODS

This study investigates the relationship between intracellular cAMP levels and the rate of Ca2+ reabsorption in immunodissected rabbit connecting and cortical collecting tubules cultured to confluence on permeable supports.

RESULTS

Basolateral PTH, AVP, and PGE2 and apical adenosine dose dependently increased Ca2+ reabsorption from 48 to 110 nmol. hr-1. cm-2. Measurement of intracellular cAMP levels revealed that in the case of PTH and AVP, the dose-response curve for the increase in cAMP virtually matched that for transcellular Ca2+ transport. By contrast, with PGE2, this curve was shifted two decades to the right, whereas in the case of adenosine, no increase in cAMP was observed. The results with the latter two hormones disagree with the classic concept that Ca2+ reabsorption is stimulated via a cAMP-dependent mechanism. Furthermore, the potent adenylyl cyclase inhibitor 2', 5'-dideoxyadenosine (DDA; 100 micrometers) suppressed the PTH- and AVP-induced increase in cAMP completely without affecting Ca2+ reabsorption. Similarly, concentrations of PGE2, which maximally stimulated Ca2+ reabsorption without increasing cAMP, were not inhibited by DDA. The specific protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor chelerythrine (5 micrometers) inhibited PTH-, AVP-, PGE2-, and adenosine-stimulated Ca2+ reabsorption by 77%, 67%, 79%, and 100%, respectively. Down-regulation of phorbol ester-sensitive PKC isotypes by prolonged (120 hr) treatment with 0.1 micrometers 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate did not interfere with the inhibitory action of chelerythrine on hormone-stimulated Ca2+ transport.

CONCLUSION

PTH, AVP, PGE2, and adenosine stimulate Ca2+ reabsorption via a pathway that is independent of cAMP and that involves a phorbol ester-insensitive PKC isotype.

Adenosine-stimulated Ca2+ reabsorption is mediated by apical A1 receptors in rabbit cortical collecting system

Confluent monolayers of immunodissected rabbit connecting tubule and cortical collecting duct cells, cultured on permeable supports, were used to study the effect of adenosine on net apical-to-basolateral Ca2+ transport. Apical, but not basolateral, adenosine increased this transport dose dependently from 48 +/- 3 to 110 +/- 4 nmol.h-1.cm-2. Although a concomitant increase in cAMP formation suggested the involvement of an A2 receptor, the A2 agonist CGS-21680 did not stimulate Ca2+ transport, while readily increasing cAMP. By contrast, the A1 agonist N6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) maximally stimulated Ca2+ transport without significantly affecting cAMP. Adenosine-stimulated transport was effectively inhibited by the A1 antagonist 1,3-dipropyl-8-cyclopenthylxanthine but not the A2 antagonist 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine, providing additional evidence for the involvement of an A1 receptor. Both abolishment of the adenosine-induced transient increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration by 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid and downregulation of protein kinase C (PKC) by prolonged phorbol ester treatment were without effect on adenosine-stimulated Ca2+ transport. The data presented suggest that adenosine interacts with an apical A1 receptor to stimulate Ca2+ transport via a hitherto unknown pathway that does not involve cAMP formation, PKC activation, and/or Ca2+ mobilization.

Coxsackievirus protein 2B modifies endoplasmic reticulum membrane and plasma membrane permeability and facilitates virus release

Digital-imaging microscopy was performed to study the effect of Coxsackie B3 virus infection on the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration and the Ca2+ content of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). During the course of infection a gradual increase in the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration was observed, due to the influx of extracellular Ca2+. The Ca2+ content of the ER decreased in time with kinetics inversely proportional to those of viral protein synthesis. Individual expression of protein 2B was sufficient to induce the influx of extracellular Ca2+ and to release Ca2+ from ER stores. Analysis of mutant 2B proteins showed that both a cationic amphipathic alpha-helix and a second hydrophobic domain in 2B were required for these activities. Consistent with a presumed ability of protein 2B to increase membrane permeability, viruses carrying a mutant 2B protein exhibited a defect in virus release. We propose that 2B gradually enhances membrane permeability, thereby disrupting the intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis and ultimately causing the membrane lesions that allow release of virus progeny.

Kissing of the two predominant hairpin loops in the coxsackie B virus 3' untranslated region is the essential structural feature of the origin of replication required for negative-strand RNA synthesis

Higher-order RNA structures in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of enteroviruses are thought to play a pivotal role in viral negative-strand RNA synthesis. The structure of the 3'UTR was predicted by thermodynamic calculations using the STAR (structural analysis of RNA) computer program and experimentally verified using chemical and enzymatic probing of in vitro-synthesized RNA. A possible pseudoknot interaction between the 3D polymerase coding sequence and domain Y and a "kissing" interaction between domains X and Y was further studied by mutational analysis, using an infectious coxsackie B3 virus cDNA clone (domain designation as proposed by E. V. Pilipenko, S. V. Maslova, A. N. Sinyakov, and V.I. Agol (Nucleic Acids Res. 20:1739-1745, 1992). The higher-order RNA structure of the 3'UTR appeared to be maintained by an intramolecular kissing interaction between the loops of the two predominant hairpin structures (X and Y) within the 3'UTR. Disturbing this interaction had no effect on viral translation and processing of the polyprotein but exerted a primary effect on viral replication, as was demonstrated in a subgenomic coxsackie B3 viral replicon, in which the capsid P1 region was replaced by the luciferase gene. Mutational analysis did not support the existence of the pseudoknot interaction between hairpin loop Y and the 3D polymerase coding sequence. Based on these experiments, we constructed a three-dimensional model of the 3'UTR of coxsackie B virus that shows the kissing interaction as the essential structural feature of the origin of replication required for its functional competence.

Ruthenium red selectively depletes inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-sensitive calcium stores in permeabilized rabbit pancreatic acinar cells

Rabbit pancreatic acinar cells, permeabilized by saponin treatment, rapidly accumulated 3.5 nmol of Ca2+/mg protein in an energy-dependent pool when incubated at an ambient free Ca2+ concentration of 100 nM. Maximal loading of the internal stores was reached at 10 min and remained unchanged thereafter. Complete inhibition of the Ca2+ pump with thapsigargin revealed that this plateau was the result of a steady-state between slow Ca2+ efflux and ATP-driven Ca2+ uptake. Sixty percent of the pool could be released by Ins(1,4,5)P3, whereas GTP released another twenty percent. The striking finding of this study is that the energy-dependent store could also be released by ruthenium red. Uptake experiments in the presence of ruthenium red revealed that the dye, at concentrations below 100 microM, selectively reduced the size of the Ins(1,4,5)P3-releasable pool. Ruthenium red had no effect on the half-maximal stimulatory concentration of Ins(1,4,5)P3. At concentrations beyond 100 microM, the dye also affected the GTP-releasable pool. Comparison with thapsigargin revealed that ruthenium red released Ca2+ from stores loaded to steady-state at a rate markedly faster than can be explained by inhibition of the ATPase alone. From the data presented, we concluded that ruthenium red selectively releases Ca2+ from the Ins(1,4,5)P3-sensitive store by activating a Ca2+ release channel, whereas Ca2+ release from the GTP-sensitive store is predominantly caused by inhibition of the Ca2+ pump. The postulated ruthenium red-sensitive Ca2+ release channel might be similar to the ryanodine-receptor in muscle.

Receptor-evoked Ca2+ mobilization in pancreatic acinar cells: evidence for a regulatory role of protein kinase C by a mechanism involving the transition of high-affinity receptors to a low-affinity state

In order to establish a regulatory role for phosphoproteins in the process of receptor-stimulated Ca2+ mobilization, isolated pancreatic acinar cells, loaded with fura-2, were stimulated with cholecystokinin-octapeptide (CCK8) in the presence of either staurosporine, a general inhibitor of protein kinase activity, or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA), an activator of protein kinase C. Staurosporine alone did not affect the average free cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i,av) in a suspension of acinar cells. However, in the presence of 1.0 microM staurosporine the stimulatory effect of submaximal concentrations of CCK8 was significantly enhanced. The potentiating effect of the inhibitor was paralleled by the increased production of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. In addition, staurosporine evoked a transient increase in [Ca2+]i,av in cells prestimulated with a submaximal concentration of CCK8. The data obtained with staurosporine indicate that CCK8-stimulated phosphorylations exert a negative feedback role in the process of receptor-mediated Ca2+ mobilization. The involvement of protein kinase C was investigated by studying the effects of TPA on CCK8-induced Ca2+ mobilization. The phorbol ester induced a rightward shift of the dose/response curve for the CCK8-evoked increase in [Ca2+]i,av, which, in contrast to the unlimited shift obtained with the receptor antagonist D-lorglumide, reached a maximum of approximately one order of a magnitude at 10 nM TPA. The inhibitory effect of TPA was completely overcome by CCK8 at concentrations at or beyond 10 nM. This observation has led to the hypothesis that protein kinase C, directly or indirectly, converts the CCK receptor from a high-affinity state to a low-affinity state. Substantial evidence in favour of this hypothesis was provided by the observation that the increase in [Ca2+]i,av evoked by the CCK8 analogue JMV-180, which acts as an agonist at the high-affinity receptor, was completely blocked by TPA pretreatment. TPA also evoked a rightward shift of the dose/response curve for the carbachol-induced increase in [Ca2+]i,av, indicating that the protein-kinase-C-mediated transition of the affinity state of receptors is a more general phenomenon. In the presence of submaximal CCK8 concentrations, TPA dose-dependently decreased the poststimulatory elevated [Ca2+]i,av to the prestimulatory level, indicating that protein kinase C also inhibits the process of sustained Ca2+ mobilization. The effects of TPA were counteracted by staurosporine, suggesting that the effects of the inhibitor itself were indeed due to inhibition of the receptor-mediated activation of protein kinase C.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)