Immunoaffinity purification of aromatase cytochrome P-450 from human placental microsomes, metabolic switching from aromatization to 1 beta and 2 beta-monohydroxylation, and recognition of aromatase isozymes

Microsomal estrogen synthetase (aromatase) cytochrome P-450 was purified from fresh human placental microsomes by monoclonal anti-aromatase P-450 antibody-Sepharose 4B chromatography. The purified P-450 showed a single band of 55 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the aromatase specific activity on reconstitution was 70 nmol/min/mg protein. The purified P-450 was stable with a t 1/2 of approximately 2 years on storage at -90 degrees C and showed Km = 43 nM for androstenedione aromatization. However, it was unstable under spectral measurement conditions in the presence of sodium dithionite and carbon monoxide and the carbon monoxide difference spectra showed a maximum at 450 nm and a specific content of 9.1 nmol of P-450/mg protein, giving a turnover number of approximately 7.7 per min for the purified aromatase. The one-step immunochemical purification method gave a 490-fold increase of specific activity with 55% yield of aromatase activity of the original microsomes. Analysis of androgen metabolism by the purified aromatase and an apparent large kinetic isotope effect found at the secondary positions when using [19(-3)H3, 4(-14)C] androgens revealed metabolic switching from the first 19-hydroxylation to 1 beta- and 2 beta- monohydroxylation by aromatase. Substrate specificity for [19(-3)H3]androstenedione and testosterone was indicated by differences in the extent of metabolic switching (18% and 30%) and in the 2 beta/1 beta ratio (60/40 and 10/90, respectively). The mouse monoclonal antibody used for immunoaffinity purification suppresses aromatase activity of human placenta, but was totally ineffective for aromatase in goldfish brain and rat ovary. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies to human placental aromatase P-450 suppressed both human placental and rat ovarian aromatase but were ineffective for goldfish brain aromatase. The study indicates that they are isozymes of aromatase based on different structures of P-450.     

Aromatase isozyme in goldfish brain and stereochemistry of the aromatization [Poster 40]

Aromatase activity of goldfish brain synaptosomes was not suppressed by a mouse anti-human placental aromatase cytochrome P-450 monoclonal antibody. A rabbit antiserum to human placental aromatase cytochrome P-450 did not show a significant suppression of the goldfish brain activity when compared to the placental aromatase. However, the stereomechanism of 1,2-hydrogen elimination during the brain aromatization was determined to be stereospecific 1ß, 2ß-elimination which was identical to that of human placentas and ovaries.     

Hormonal regulation of estradiol biosynthesis, aromatase activity, and aromatase mRNA in rat ovarian follicles and corpora lutea

To determine the molecular basis for changes in aromatase (P450arom) activity in rat ovarian follicles and corpora lutea, seven clones for rat P450arom cDNA have been identified and isolated from a rat granulosa cell λgtll cDNA expression library using a 62 mer deoxyoligonucleotide probe (derived from an amino acid sequence of purified human placental aromatase) and a human placental P450arom cDNA probe. One of the rat P450arom cDNA clones contained an insert 1.2 kb in size. Both the human 1.8 kb cDNA and the rat 1.2 kb cDNA probes hybridized to a single species of P450arom mRNA that was 2.6 kb in size. Northern blot analysis revealed that corpora lutea isolated on day 15 of pregnancy contained high amounts of P450arom mRNA, whereas granulosa cells of antral follicles of hormonally primed, hypophysectomized rats (i.e., those from which mRNA was isolated to construct the cDNA library) contained only low amounts of P450arom mRNA. The lower amounts of P450arom in granulosa cells of preovulatory follicles in the estradiol-follicle-stimulating hormone primed hypophysectomized rats were unexpected because follicles incubated in medium containing testosterone substrate produce more estradiol than do corpora lutea isolated on day 15 of pregnancy and incubated under similar conditions. Additional studies will determine the hormonal events responsible for the elevated amounts and constitutive maintenance of P450arom mRNA and aromatase activity in luteal cells in vivo and in vitro.     

Cloning of a complete cDNA encoding human aromatase: immunochemical identification and sequence analysis

A complete cDNA clone encoding a human aromatase was isolated from a human placental cDNA library in lambda gt11. An antibody to the polypeptide specified by the isolated clone was prepared, and Western blot analysis and antibody inhibition experiments of human placental aromatase activity confirmed the identification of the clone as aromatase cDNA. The isolated aromatase cDNA clone of 3030 bp with two unique EcoRI sites contained a 3'-noncoding region of 1397 bp, an open reading frame of 1509 bp encoding 503 amino acid residues, and a 5'-noncoding region of 124 bp. Analysis of the amino acid sequence of aromatase and comparison of aromatase with other forms of cytochrome P-450 indicated that this enzyme is a unique form of the cytochrome P-450 superfamily.     

The expression of a functional cDNA encoding the chicken cytochrome P-450arom (aromatase) that catalyzes the formation of estrogen from androgen

A complementary DNA (cDNA) copy of the aromatase P-450 has been isolated from a chicken ovary library using as probe a partial cDNA believed to encode the human placental aromatase. The predicted amino acid sequence of the chicken aromatase cDNA possesses regions of homology to that of its human counterpart, but only limited homology to other cytochrome P-450 enzymes. The introduction of the cDNA clone into COS-1 cells results in the production of high levels of aromatase activity. The chicken enzyme is targeted to the appropriate subcellular fraction in the transfected COS cells, and the apparent Km of the chicken aromatase activity, measured in microsomes prepared from the transfected cells, is similar to that of the enzyme prepared from chicken ovary microsomes. These findings establish that the cDNA clone encodes chicken ovarian aromatase and demonstrate that this protein can catalyze the three successive oxidation reactions necessary to form estrogen from androgen.     

Steroid metabolising enzymes in the determination of brain gender

The neurotrophic effects of oestrogen formed in the brain are important in brain sexual differentiation of the central nervous system and behaviour. Aromatase, converting testosterone to oestradiol-17β, is a key enzyme involved in brain development. In primary cell cultures of foetal hypothalamus, we have found that male neurones consistently have higher aromatase activity than in the female. Using a specific antibody to the mouse aromatase, immunoreactivity was localized in the neural soma and neurites in hypothalamic cultures. Additionally more male foetal hypothalamus neurones express aromatase than in the female. Testosterone increases aromatase activity in parallel with a greater number of aromatase-immunoreactive neurones. Testosterone also increases soma size, neurite length, and branching of cultured hypothalamic neurones. The neuronal aromatase activity appears to be sensitive to the inductive effects of androgen only during the later stages of foetal development. Endogenous inhibitors of the aromatase are also likely to have a regulatory role. This work suggests that regulation of a network of aromatase neurones, sensitive to the hormonal environment of the hypothalamus, may determine when oestrogens are available for neurotrophic effects underlying brain differentiation.     

Aromatase activity in the rat brain: Hormonal regulation and sex differences

The intracellular conversion of testosterone to estradiol by the aromatase enzyme complex is an important step in many of the central actions of testosterone. In rats, estrogen given alone, or in combination with dihydrotestosterone, mimics most of the behavioral effects of testosterone, whereas treatment with antiestrogens or aromatase inhibitors block facilitation of copulatory behavior by testosterone. We used a highly sensitive in vitro radiometric assay to analyze the distribution and regulation of brain aromatase activity. Studies using micropunch dissections revealed that the highest levels of aromatase activity are found in an interconnected group of sexually dimorphic nuclei which constitutes a neural circuit important in the control of male sexual behavior. Androgen regulated aromatase activity in many diencephalic nucleic, including the medial preoptic nucleus, but not in the medial and cortical nuclei of the amygdala. Additional genetic evidence for both androgen-dependent and -independent control of brain AA was obtained by studies of androgen-insensitive testicular-feminized rats. These observations suggest that critical differences in enzyme responsiveness are present in different brain areas. Within several nuclei, sex differences in aromatase induction correlated with differences in nuclear androgen receptor concentrations suggesting that neural responsiveness to testosterone is sexually differentiated. Estradiol and dihydrotestosterone acted synergistically to regulate aromatase activity in the preoptic area. In addition, time-course studies showed that estrogen treatment increased the duration of nuclear androgen receptor occupation in the preoptic area of male rats treated with dihydrotestosterone. These results suggest possible ways that estrogens and androgens may interact at the cellular level to regulate neural function and behavior.     

Sexual dimorphism in the developmental regulation of brain aromatase

Steroid sex hormones have an organizational role in gender-specific brain development. Aromatase (cytochrome P450_AR), converting testosterone (T) to estradiol-17β (E₂) is a key enzyme in brain development and the regulation of aromatase determines the availability of E₂ effective for neural differentiation. Gender differences in brain development and behaviour are likely to be influenced by E₂ acting during sensitive periods. This differentiating action has been demonstrated in rodent and avian species, but also probably occurs in primates including humans. In rodents, E₂ is formed in various hypothalamic areas of the brain during fetal and postnatal development. The question considered here is whether hypothalamic aromatase activity is gender-specific during sensitive phases of behavioural and brain development, and when these sensitive phases occur. In vitro preoptic and limbic aromatase activity has been measured in two strains of wild mice, genetically selected for behavioural aggression based on attack latency, and in the BALB/c mouse. Short attack latency males show a different developmental pattern of aromatase activity in hypothalamus and amygdala to long attack latency males. Using primary brain cell cultures of the BALB/c mouse, sex differences in hypothalamic aromatase activity during both early embryonic and later perinatal development can be demonstrated, with higher E₂ formation in males. The sex dimorphisms are brain region specific, since no differences between male and female are detectable in cultured cortical cells. Immunoreactive staining with a polyclonal aromatase antibody identifies a neuronal rather than an astroglial localization of the enzyme. T increases fetal brain aromatase activity and numbers of aromatase-immunoreactive hypothalamic neuronal cell bodies. T appears to influence the growth of hypothalamic neurons containing aromatase. Differentiation of sexually dimorphic brain mechanisms may involve maturation of a gender-specific network of estrogen-forming neurons which are steroid-sensitive in early development.     

Immunochemical specificity of placental NADPH cytochrome c (P-450) reductase in neoplastic and non-neoplastic human tissue.

NADPH cytochrome c (P-450) reductase was purified from human placental microsomes using a combination of affinity and gel filtration chromatography. Affinity chromatography using agarose-hexane-adenosine 2'5 diphosphate resulted in two protein bands being detected by SDS-PAGE of approximate MwS 68 and 75 kDa. Fractions containing the two proteins were pooled, and then resolved using Sephacryl S-200. Both of the purified proteins displayed enzyme activity, measured by their ability to reduce cytochrome c. The 75 kDa protein obtained was used to immunize three female New Zealand white rabbits. The IgG fraction was partly purified from rabbit sera which suppressed placental microsomal NADPH cytochrome c reductase activity by > 80% using 33% ammonium sulphate. The procured antibody suppressed androstenedione aromatase activity in microsomal preparations of human placental and breast adipose tissue, and NADPH cytochrome c reductase activity in prostate (benign and malignant), MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, breast adipose, Hep G2 hepatoma cells and placental microsomal preparations. The extent of NADPH cytochrome c reductase inhibition varied in the order of malignant prostate < benign prostate < MDA < breast adipose < Hep G2 < placenta. The results suggest that human placental NADPH cytochrome c (P-450) reductase shares common antigenic epitopes pertinent to its capability of reducing cytochrome c in all of the above-mentioned tissues. In attempting to associate possible changes in NADPH cytochrome c reductase activity imposed by neoplasia to the obtained immunochemical cross reactivity and enzyme activity results, it was noted that microsomes obtained from MDA cells exhibited enzyme activity significantly less than that of breast adipose microsomes (1.6 and 8.1 nmol/min/mg protein, respectively) and by comparison showed 6% less homology towards the placental antibody. The results obtained for benign and malignant prostate showed no significant difference between the neoplastic states as adjudged by enzyme activity and immunochemical assays.     

Expression of human placental aromatase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A full-length human placental aromatase cDNA clone, Aro 2, was isolated upon screening a human placental cDNA library with an aromatase cDNA probe and an oligonucleotide probe whose sequence was derived from a human aromatase genomic clone. Nucleotide sequence microheterogeneity was found in the 3'-untranslated region among Aro 2 and in two previously described human aromatase cDNA clones. Both the minor sequence differences and the expression of a single protein species in placental tissue suggest the presence of different alleles for aromatase. Northern blot analyses using one cDNA and two oligonucleotide probes are consistent with the two mRNA messages of 2.9 and 2.5 kilobases arising in human placenta as a consequence of differential processing. Several yeast expression plasmids containing the aromatase cDNA we cloned were constructed. The enzyme was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The expressed activity was inhibited by the known aromatase inhibitor, 4-hydroxyandrostenedione. A level of 2 micrograms aromatase/mg partially purified yeast microsomes was estimated by analyses of carbon monoxide difference spectra on microsomal fractions from yeast carrying plasmid pHARK/VGAL. Using [1 beta, 2 beta-3H]androst-4-ene-3,17-dione as the substrate, an apparent Michaels-Menken constant (Km) of 34 nM and a maximum velocity (Vmax) of 23 pmol [3H]water formed per min/mg protein were obtained for the yeast synthesized aromatase by transformation with plasmid pHARK/VGAL. The kinetic results are similar to those determined for human placental aromatase, and suggest that the yeast synthesized aromatase will be useful for further structure-function studies.     

Molecular characterization and expression of equine testicular cytochrome P450 aromatase

We characterized testicular equine aromatase and its expression. A 2707 bp cDNA was isolated, it encoded a polypeptide of 503 residues with a deduced molecular mass of 57.8 kDa. The sequence features were those of a cytochrome P450 aromatase, with a 78% polypeptide identity with the human counterpart. The gene has a minimal length of 74 kb comprising at least 9 exons and expresses a 2.8 kb mRNA in the testis. Transient cDNA transfections in E293 cells and in vitro translations in a reticulocyte lysate system allowed aromatase protein and activity detections. The activity increased with androstenedione as substrate in a dose-dependent manner. The isolation of testicular aromatase by a new immunoaffinity method demonstrated that the protein could exist either glycosylated or not with a 2 kDa difference. All these results taken together allow new structural studies to progress in the understanding of this cytochrome P450.     

Multiple functions of aromatase and the active site structure; aromatase is the placental estrogen 2-hydroxylase

Androgen aromatase was found to also be estrogen 2-hydroxylase. The substrate specificity among androgens and estrogens and multiplicity of aromatase reactions were further studied. Through purification of human placental microsomal cytochrome P-450 by monoclonal antibody-based immunoaffinity chromatography and gradient elution on hydroxyapatite, aromatase and estradiol 2-hydroxylase activities were co-purified into a single band cytochrome P-450 with approx. 600-fold increase of both specific activities, while other cytochrome P-450 enzyme activities found in the microsomes were completely eliminated. The purified P-450 showed M_r of 55 kDa, specific heme content of 12.9 ± 2.6 nmol·mg⁻¹ (±SD, N = 4), reconstituted aromatase activity of 111 ± 19 nmol·min⁻¹·mmg⁻¹ and estradiol 2-hydroxylase activity of 5.85 ± 1.23 nmol·min⁻¹·mg⁻¹. We found no evidence for the existence of catechol estrogen synthetase without concomitant aromatase activity. The identity of the P-450 for the two different hormone synthetases was further confirmed by analysis of the two activities in the stable expression system in Chinese hamster ovarian cells transfected with human placental aromatase cDNA, pH β-Aro. Kinetic analysis of estradiol 2-hydroxylation by the purified and reconstituted aromatase P-450 in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.6) showed K_m of 1.58 μM and V_max of 8.9 nmol·min⁻¹·mg⁻¹. A significant shift of the optimum pH and V_max, but not the K_m, for placental estrogen 2-hydroxylase was observed between microsomal and purified preparations. Testosterone and androstenedione competitively inhibited estradiol 2-hydroxylation, and estrone and estradiol competitively inhibited aromatization of both testosterone and androstenedione. Estrone and estradiol showed K_i of 4.8 and 7.3 μM, respectively, for testosterone aromatization, and 5.0 and 8.1 μM, respectively, for androstenedione aromatization. Androstenedione and testosterone showed K_i of 0.32 and 0.61 μM, respectively, for estradiol 2-hydroxylation. Our studies showed that aromatase P-450 functions as estrogen 2-hydroxylase as well as androgen 19-, 1β-,and 2β-hydroxylase and aromatase. The results indicate that placental aromatase is responsible for the highly elevated levels of the catechol estrogen and 19-hydroxyandrogen during pregnancy. These results also indicate that the active site structure holds the steroid ssubstrates to face their β-side of the A-ring to the heme, tilted in such a way as to make the 2-position of estrogens and 19-, 1-, and 2-positions of androgens available for monooxygenation.     

Brain formation of oestrogen in the mouse: Sex dimorphism in aromatase development

Steroid sex hormones have an organizational role in gender-specific brain development. Aromatase, converting testosterone (T) to oestradiol-17β (E₂), is a key enzyme in the brain and regulation of this enzyme is likely to determine availability of E₂ effective for neural differentiation. In rodents, oestrogens are formed very actively during male perinatal brain development. This paper reviews work on the sexual differentiation of the brain aromatase system in vitro. Embryonic day 15 mouse hypothalamic culture aromatase activity (AA: mean V_max = 0.9 pmol/h/mg protein) is several times greater than in the adult, whereas apparent K_m is similar for both (30–40 nM). Using microdissected brain areas and cultured cells of the mouse, sex differences in hypothalamic AA during both early embryonic and later perinatal development can be demonstrated, with higher E₂ formation in the male than in the female. The sex differences are brain region-specific, since no differences between male and female are detectable in cultured cortical cells. AA quantitation and immunoreactive staining with an aromatase polyclonal antibody both identify neuronal rather than astroglial localizations of the enzyme. Kainic acid eliminates the gender difference in hypothalamic oestrogen formation indicating, furthermore, that this sex dimorphism is neuronal. Gender-specific aromatase regulation is regional in the brain. Oestrogen formation is specifically induced in cultured hypothalamic neurones of either sex by T, since androgen has no effect on cortical cells. Androgen is clearly involved in the growth of hypothalamic neurones containing aromatase. It appears that differentiation of the brain involves maturation of a gender-specific network of oestrogen-forming neurones.     

Purification, molecular cloning, and genomic organization of human brain long-chain acyl-CoA hydrolase

An acyl-CoA hydrolase, referred to as hBACH, was purified from human brain cytosol. The enzyme had a molecular mass of 100 kDa and 43-kDa subunits, and was highly active with long-chain acyl-CoAs, e.g. a maximal velocity of 295 micromol/min/mg and K(m) of 6.4 microM for palmitoyl-CoA. Acyl-CoAs with carbon chain lengths of C(8-18) were also good substrates. In human brain cytosol, 85% of palmitoyl-CoA hydrolase activity was titrated by an anti-BACH antibody, which accounted for over 75% of the enzyme activity found in the brain tissue. The cDNA isolated for hBACH, when expressed in Escherichia coli, directed the expression of palmitoyl-CoA hydrolase activity and a 44-kDa protein immunoreactive to the anti-BACH antibody, which in turn neutralized the hydrolase activity. The hBACH cDNA encoded a 338-amino acid sequence which was 95% identical to that of a rat homolog. The hBACH gene spanned about 130 kb and comprised 9 exons, and was mapped to 1p36.2 on the cytogenetic ideogram. These findings indicate that the long-chain acyl-CoA hydrolase present in the brain is well conserved between man and the rat, suggesting a conserved role for this enzyme in the mammalian brain, and enabling genetic studies on the functional analysis of acyl-CoA hydrolase.     

Sex differences in the regulation of embryonic brain aromatase

Oestrogen formed from androgen by aromatization plays a critical role in the sexual differentiation of the male brain and behaviour. A question which has still to be answered is what regulates the gender-specific changes in aromatase activity forming oestrogen during sensitive periods of brain growth. Using a primary cell culture technique and sexed embryos, we have shown that in the fetal mouse brain, oestrogen formation in the male is neuronal rather than glial and aromatase activity is regionally localized, being higher in the hypothalamus than in the cortex. The aromatase activity measured from cells in culture has the same enzyme binding affinity (apparent K_m 40 nM) as intact brain samples. Neurones developing in the embryonic male brain (embryonic day (ED) 15) contain higher aromatase activity (V_max, 895 fmol/h/mg protein) than the female (V_max, 604). Although a sex difference exists at early stages of embryonic development (ED 13), the embryonic aromatase system is regulated by steroids later in fetal development. The developing aromatase-containing neuroblasts probably form processes which connect to other aromatase neurones. Immunoreactive staining with an aromatase polyclonal antibody identifies an increase in numbers of aromatase-immunoreactive hypothalamic neuronal cell bodies following testosterone treatment. Testosterone treatment also causes both stimulation of neurite growth and branching as well as functional maturation of aromatase neurones. In particular, there is an increase in aromatase activity per neurone as well as a dramatic increase in the number of neurones expressing the enzyme. Both the functional and morphological changes depend on androgen receptor stimulation for several days in vitro. This conclusion is supported by colocalization studies which reveal a high number of fetal hypothalamic aromatase neurones co-expressing androgen receptor. We conclude that testosterone influences the growth of male hypothalamic neurones containing aromatase at a sensitive period of brain development. Endogenous steroid inhibitors of aromatase, probably formed within the neuroglia, also play a role in the control of oestrogen production. An endogenous 5-reduced metabolite of testosterone, 5-androstanedione, is almost as potent in inhibiting neuronal hypothalamic aromatase activity (K_i = 23 nM) as the synthetic non-steroidal inhibitors such as the imidazole, fadrozole, and the triazoles, arimidex and letrozole. It is clear that the oestrogen-forming capacity of the male hypothalamus has the special characteristics and plasticity of regulation which could affect brain differentiation at specific steroid-sensitive stages in ontogeny.     

The role of estrogen as a parahormone in brain and pituitary

Where aromatase and estrogen receptors are co-localized in brain and pituitary, estrogen functions as a parahormone, and estrogen levels which determine the occurrence or magnitude of a response are those in close proximity to targets. Teleost fish, a vertebrate group characterized by exceptionally high aromatase in neuroendocrine tissues, are technically advantageous animal models for studying the cellular location of aromatase, natural changes correlated with seasonal reproductive cycles, substrate-dependence of the reaction, steroid induction of enzyme activity, and possible non-genomic actions of estrogen on cultured neurons. In addition, characterization of steroid receptors reveals that the androgen receptor, like aromatase, is present in unusually high concentrations (10- to 100-fold higher than in mammalian brain). Since androgen receptors and aromatase both utilize testosterone as a ligand, their high abundance in teleost brain may be the consequence of a functional interdependence during evolution, although the primary causal factor is unknown. These studies illustrate the usefulness of unconventional species and a comparative approach for obtaining new insights into brain-steroid interactions.