Cholecystokinin-induced phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis in rat pancreatic acinar cells: modulation by extracellular calcium and manganese

On the mechanism of hormone recognition and binding by the CCK-B/gastrin receptor

Lipidation with long-chain di-fattyacyl-glycerol moieties was used to anchor gastrin in CCK peptides irreversibly to lipid bilayers lipopeptide transfer to model phospholipid bilayers is fast and quantitative, leading to a different mode of insertion of lipo-gastrin and lipo-CCK in lipid layers. Lipo-gastrin remains exposed to the bulk solvent in a predominantly random coil structure as a consequence of electrostatic repulsion, whereas lipo-CCK exhibits a pronounced tendency to form peptide domains with insertion of its C-terminus into more hydrophobic compartments of the bilayers. Thereby Ca2+ at physiological concentrations favours this aggregational phenomenon. Since both lipo-peptides were found to retain almost full receptor affinity despite their irreversible anchorage to the bilayer, a membrane-bound pathway in the receptor recognition and binding process is indeed possible. According to the data collected in this study, CCK might possibly use this pathway, whereas accumulation of gastrin on the cell membrane with prefolding of the ligand at the water/lipid interface is hardly conceivable. Nevertheless the observed receptor interaction of the deliberately membrane-anchored gastrin offers interesting constraints for computational docking experiments on a modelled CCK-B/gastrin receptor by additionally taking into account information derived from mutagenesis studies. Despite the limitations of such modelling experiments, the resulting picture of the gastrin/receptor complex allowed the visualization and rationalization of the experimental results of the extensive structure-function studies performed previously on this family of gastrointestinal hormones.

Metal ion binding affinities of gastrin and CCK in membrane mimetic environments

The fully active gastrin and CCK analogues [Nle 15]-gastrin-17 and [Nle, Thr]-CCK-9 were analysed for their Ca2+ and Tb3+ affinities in various membrane mimetic conditions. In TFE both gastrin and CCK exhibited high affinities for calcium and terbium. At saturation level identical metal ion/peptide ratios were determined with Ca2+ and Tb3+, i.e. R = 3 for gastrin and R = 1 for CCK, confirming the very similar coordination properties of the two metal ions. The conformational effects of both metal ions were found to be very similar with a disordering effect in the case of gastrin and a conformational transition to beta-turn type structure in the case of CCK. In order to mimic more properly physiological conditions, similar experiments were performed in the presence of phospholipid bilayers. No interaction of the peptides with the bilayers was observed even in the presence of mmolar Ca2+ concentrations. Induced lipid interaction via N-terminal lipo-derivatization of gastrin and CCK allowed to translocate quantitatively the two hormones into phospholipid bilayers and to examine the effect of extravesicular Ca2+ on the conformation of the peptide headgroups and on their display at the water/lipid interphase. The CCK moiety of the lipo-CCK inserted into phospholipid bilayers interacts with the lipid phase and addition of Ca2+ enhances the clustering of the peptide headgroups in a more beta-sheet type conformation. Conversely, insertion of lipo-gastrin into the bilayers leads to full exposure of the gastrin headgroup to the bulk water in predominantly random coil structure. Again Ca2+ provokes aggregation. As the lipo-peptide/phospholipid system still represents only an artificial model, it remains hazardous to derive a biological relevance from these data. The significantly higher affinity of lanthanide ions than Ca2+ for the peptides could well play a role in the inhibitory activity of lanthanum on the signal transduction of the CCK family of hormones.

Secretin potentiates cholecystokinin-stimulated amylase release by AR4-2J cells via a stimulation of phospholipase C

Alterations in the activity of phospholipase C (PLC) are thought to be the primary intracellular events leading to pancreatic acinar cell exocytosis of zymogen granules. When multiple hormones, each of which may stimulate different signal transduction pathways, bind to cell surface receptors, the cell must integrate these signals into a common response through communication (cross-talk) among intracellular second messengers. We show that cholecystokinin (CCK) induces amylase secretion from AR4-2J pancreatic acinar cells via stimulation of PLC activity. Secretin indirectly stimulated the PLC pathway through cross-talk of the activated cAMP pathway to potentiate the CCK-stimulated amylase secretion. Therefore, secretin potentiated the acinar cell secretory response to CCK by cAMP-mediated cross-talk with the PLC signal transduction pathway.

Induction of Ca2+ transport in liposomes by insulin

The requirement of extracellular Ca2+ for insulin action has been indicated by past studies. With a view to understand the interaction of insulin with Ca2+ in the vicinity of the cell membrane, we have examined the ability of insulin and its constituent polypeptide chains A and B to translocate Ca2+ and Mg2+ across the lipid bilayer in two sets of synthetic liposomes. The first were unilamellar vesicles made of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine and contained the Ca2+ sensor dye arsenazo III. Peptide-mediated Ca2+ and Mg2+ transport in these vesicles was monitored at 37 degrees C in a neutral buffer containing CaCl2 or MgCl2 using a difference absorbance method. In the second set, multilamellar vesicles of egg lecithin containing trapped fura-2 were employed and the cation transport was followed at 20 degrees C by fluorescence changes in the dye. Control experiments indicated that the hormonal peptides caused no appreciable perturbation of the vesicles leading to leakage of contents or membrane fusion. In both liposome systems, substantial Ca2+ and Mg2+ transport was observed with insulin and the B chain; the A chain was less effective as an ionophore. Quantitative analysis of the transport kinetic data on the B chain showed a 1:1 peptide-Ca2+ complex formed inside the membrane. In light of the available structural data on Ca2+ binding by insulin and insulin receptor, our results suggest the possibility of the hormone interacting with the receptor with the bound Ca2+.