Intranuclear localization and receptor proteins for 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol in chick intestine

1. The intranuclear distribution of cholecalciferol and its metabolites was studied in the intestine of rachitic chicks. 2. At high doses of cholecalciferol the nuclei contain the vitamin and its 25-hydroxy metabolite, but over 80% of this is localized on the nuclear membranes. The hormone, 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, is found within the cell nuclei irrespective of the intake of cholecalciferol, but significant amounts could not be found with chromatin isolated free of nuclear membranes. 3. 1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol is associated in the nucleus with an acidic protein. Since one of the actions of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol is to control the synthesis of mRNA for calcium-binding protein it was to be expected that the hormone would be bound to chromatin, as with the other steroid hormones. It is suggested that the hormone-receptor complex exists as part of an equilibrium mixture of the complex bound to the DNA and in a free form. 4. A protein extract of nuclei was obtained, which when incubated at 4 degrees C for 1h took up the 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. The nature of this binding was studied. 5. There appear to be two nuclear proteins able to bind the hormone one of which is the intestinal nuclear receptor. The binding sites on this protein are saturable with the hormone, have an association constant of 2x10(9)m(-1) and show a high chemical specificity for the 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. The number of nuclear binding sites for the hormone provided by this receptor is similar to the maximum intestinal hormone concentration so far observed. Its sedimentation coefficient is 3.5S, and is very close to that observed for the nuclear protein to which is attached the 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol formed in vivo from vitamin D. 6. The cytoplasmic protein has an association constant of 1x10(9)m(-1)and a sedimentation coefficient of 3.0S, but its relation with the nuclear receptor is not yet clear.     

The appearance of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 receptor during chick embryo development

The appearance of the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 receptor in intestine, kidney, and chorioallantoic membrane of chick embryo was followed by sucrose density gradient sedimentation analysis and Scatchard plot analysis. The receptor from each of these organs sediments as a single 3.7S component. At 19 days of embryonic life, intestine had the highest specific 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 binding activity followed by kidney and chorioallantoic membrane. The 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 binding activity increased gradually at 12-15 days and rapidly until 20 days in intestine. In kidney, this protein increased rapidly from 12 to 16 days and did not change subsequently. In chorioallantoic membrane, the receptor increased slowly from 8 through 15 days, rapidly until 19 days, and decreased at 20 days. The injection of hydrocortisone into the chick embryo at 10 days increased receptor number in intestine, kidney, and chorioallantoic membrane by a factor of 2 at 12 days. Injection of this hormone after this time had little or no effect.     

Parenteral 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol in hepatic osteomalacia.

Despite regular long-term parenteral vitamin D2 treatment, four patients with biliary cirrhosis had multiple symptoms of bone disease and bone biopsy specimens showed osteomalacia without osteoporosis. Three patients also had a proximal myopathy. Plasma calcium values (after correction for albumin), phosphorus, magnesium, and serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D were within normal limits. Treatment with 1,25-dihydroxy-cholecalciferol (1,25-(OH)2D3) relieved symptoms in three of the four patients and improved those in the fourth. Histological examination of bone showed improvement in all four patients, but serum and urinary biochemical changes were not pronounced. We conclude that 1,25-(0H)2D3 treatment has a beneficial effect on bone and muscle in hepatic osteomalacia, either because vitamin D 1-hydroxylation fails in biliary cirrhosis or because hepatic osteomalacia is resistant to vitamin D2 metabolites.     

Early rise in cyclic GMP after 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol administration in the chick intestinal mucosa

cGMP and cAMP levels were measured in the duodenal mucosa of 12-day-old chicks that had been raised from hatching in vitamin D-depleting conditions and at the time of use were moderately hypocalcemic. After administration of a dose (250 ng) of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, the cGMP levels increased about twofold in 2–3 hr and returned to control levels between 4 and 6 hr. Our data suggest that 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol behaves like other steroid hormones which induce an early rise in cGMP in their respective target tissues.     

Effect of oestrogen and 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol on 25-hydroxycholecalciferol metabolism in primary chick kidney-cell cultures.

Primary cultures of chick kidney cells convert 25-hydroxycholecalciferol into more-polar metabolites. Cells from vitamin D-deficient chicks have high 25-hydroxycholecalciferol 1 alpha-hydroxylase (1 alpha-hydroxylase) activity, but no 25-hydroxycholecalciferol 24-hydroxylase (24-hydroxylase) activity. Physiological concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxycholeclaciferol suppress 1 alpha-hydroxylase and induce 24-hydroxylase activity. The inhibition of 1 alpha-hydroxylase preceded the induction of 24-hydroxylase. In contrast, oestradiol-17 beta had no effect on the activity of either hydroxylase under a variety of experimental conditions. These results clearly demonstrate that 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, but not oestrogen, acts directly on the kidney cells to regulate the metabolism of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol.     

Evaluation of a photolabile derivative of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 as a photoaffinity probe for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 receptor in chick intestinal cytosol

We evaluated the viability of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitaminD₃-3β-[N-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)glycinate] (1,25-(OH)₂-D₃-ANG), an analog of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ (1,25-(OH)₂-D₃) as a photoaffinity probe for 1,25-(OH)₂-D₃ receptor in chick intestinal cytosol. A competitive-binding assay revealed that chick intestinal cytosolic 1,25-(OH)₂- D₃ receptor bound to 1,25-(OH)₂-D₃-ANG approximately 20-times less effectively than it did to 1,25-(OH)₂-D₃. Irradiation of 1,25-(OH)₂-D₃- ANG in the presence of chick intestinal cytosolic preparation significantly diminished subsequent binding to ³H-1,25-(OH)₂-D₃, suggesting that the photoaffinity analog was covalently attached to the receptor. Therefore the nitroarylazide derivative of 1,25-(OH)₂-D₃ may be a valuable photoaffinity probe for the characterization of the 1,25-(OH)₂-D₃ receptor.     

The assembly of the DNA complex present in chick embryo cell cytosol

• 1.1. Chromatography of chick embryo fibrobast cytosol labelled with [³H]thymidine or [³H]uridine precursors has shown the presence of early labelled DNA and RNA eluting at a position corresponding to a relative molecular mass of approximately 1.5–10⁵.
• 2.2. The early DNA-RNA (heteroduplex?) then moves progressively to a higher molecular weight peak, relative molecular mass approximately 10⁶.
• 3.3. The process appears similar in cytosol from cultured cells and from whole aminiotically labelled chick embryo: consequently the cytosolic DNA complex is not an artefact of cell culturing.
• 4.4. The relative contribution of artefactual and specific cytosol-associated DNA material is discussed: it is concluded that while both are present in cytosol as prepared, it is possible to discriminate between specific and artefactual DNA material.

     

Treatment of renal osteodystrophy with 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol.

Nine patients with renal osteodystrophy were tested for 6.5 to 35 months with 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25-DHCC). A close biochemical follow-up was performed during the first 6 months of treatment, including biweekly determinations of serum calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase and creatinine levels. A bone biopsy, radiologic investigations and determinations of plasma levels of immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (IPTH) and intestinal absorption of calcium 47 were performed before and after the 6 months. Although the five patients with osteitis fibrosa showed a significant improvement, the four with predominantly osteomalacic lesions showed no response to treatment. These four had a normal initial plasma iPTH level, higher serum calcium levels than the other five patients, extreme sensitivity to 1,25-DHCC, with frequent episodes of hypercalcemia, and only a slightly increased serum alkaline phosphatase level, which remained unchanged during treatment. All but one of the patients, irrespective of the histologic abnormality, showed a decrease in the uptake of radionuclide by bone after treatment. The renal function of one patient, a man with long-standing stable renal failure who had not undergone dialysis, deteriorated during treatment.     

Synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol and 24,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol by calvarial cells. Characterization of the enzyme systems.

The synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [1,25(OH)2D3] and 24,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [24,25(OH)2D3] from 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D3] has previously been shown to occur in cells isolated from bone. The main findings of the present study are that the enzyme systems which catalyse these syntheses are: (1) active at 'in vitro' substrate concentrations over the range of 2-50 nM; (2) regulatable in a complex way by 1,25(OH)2D3, 24,25(OH)2D3, 25,26-dihydroxycholecalciferol and 25(OH)D3, but not by cholecalciferol ('vitamin D3'); and (3) have relatively short half-lives (approx. 5 h).     

Evidence for a 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol-dependent spermine-binding protein in chick duodenal mucosa

The spermine-binding activity of a cytosol protein fraction from chick duodenal mucosa changes in relation to the circulating level of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. The spermine-binding activity increases very rapidly within 1–2 hours after the rachitic chick was dosed intracardially with 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. The clear and reproducible response is prevented by actinomycin D and cycloheximide. This increase is one of the earliest events induced by the active form of vitamin D₃ in the duodenal cell of rachitic chicks.     

Nuclear origin of progesterone receptor of the chick oviduct cytosol

Summary Progesterone receptor (PR) was studied immunoelectron microscopically from fixed vibratome sections of the chick oviduct and biochemically from the fractionated oviduct homogenate. Immunoelectron microscopically both unoccupied and occupied PR were localized inside the nuclei. Only a few cells showed PR immunoreactivity in the endoplasmic reticulum which probably represents newly synthetized PR. Biochemically unoccupied PR was in the cytosol fraction. The cytosol and nuclear PR as well as the non-transformed 8S-form and the transformed 4S-forms of cytosol PR were recognized by the anti-PR antibody (IgG-RB). The lack of PR immunostaining in the cytoplasm is therefore not due to lack of recognition by IgG-RB. We propose that in the chick oviduct progesterone receptor is a nuclear protein but synthetized in the endoplasmic reticulum.     

Development of spinal motor networks in the chick embryo.

We have examined the cellular and synaptic mechanisms underlying the genesis of alternating motor activity in the developing spinal cord of the chick embryo. Experiments were performed on the isolated lumbosacral cord maintained in vitro. Intracellular and whole cell patch clamp recordings obtained from sartorius (primarily a hip flexor) and femorotibialis (a knee extensor) motoneurons showed that both classes of cell are depolarized simultaneously during each cycle of motor activity. Sartorius motoneurons generally fire two bursts/cycle, whereas femorotibialis motoneurons discharge throughout their depolarization, with peak activity between the sartorius bursts. Voltage clamp recordings revealed that inhibitory and excitatory synaptic currents are responsible for the depolarization of sartorius motoneurons, whereas femorotibialis motoneurons are activated principally by excitatory currents. Early in development, the dominant synaptic currents in rhythmically active sartorius motoneurons appear to be inhibitory so that firing is restricted to a single, brief burst at the beginning of each cycle. In E7-E13 embryos, lumbosacral motor activity could be evoked following stimulation in the brainstem, even when the brachial and cervical cord was bathed in a reduced calcium solution to block chemical synaptic transmission. These findings suggest that functional descending connections from the brainstem to the lumbar cord are present by E7, although activation of ascending axons or electrical synapses cannot be eliminated. Ablation, optical, and immunocytochemical experiments were performed to characterize the interneuronal network responsible for the synaptic activation of motoneurons. Ablation experiments were used to show that the essential interneuronal elements required for the rhythmic alternation are in the ventral part of the cord. This observation was supported by real-time Fura-2 imaging of the neuronal calcium transients accompanying motor activity, which revealed that a high proportion of rhythmically active cells are located in the ventrolateral part of the cord and that activity could begin in this region. The fluorescence transients in the majority of neurons, including motoneurons, occurred in phase with ventral root or muscle nerve activity, implying synchronized neuronal action in the rhythm generating network. Immunocytochemical experiments were performed in E14-E16 embryos to localize putative inhibitory interneurons that might be involved in the genesis or patterning of motor activity. The results revealed a pattern similar to that seen in other vertebrates with the dorsal horn containing neurons with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-like immunoreactivity and the ventral and intermediate regions containing neurons with glycine-like immunoreactivity.     

Cytoplasmic receptor protein for etiochalanolone in chick embryo liver.

Acute intermittent porphyria is a gentic disease associated with changes in the activity of some of the hepatic enzymes in the heme biosynthetic pathway and in the activity of delta4-5alpha-steroid reductase, an enzyme involved in steroid metabolism. Embryonic chick liver has been used as a model system to study the effects of several naturally occurring 5beta steroid metabolites on delta-aminolevulinic acid synthetase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the heme pathway (Granick, S., and Kappas, A. (1967) J. Biol. Chem. 242, 4587-4593). In this study we have identified in vitro a hepatic cytoplasmic receptor which binds [3H]-etiocholanolone (a 5beta-H androgen metabolite). The steroid-receptor complex has an apparent Kd value of 3.5 times 10(-6) M at 0-4degrees; the number of binding sites per cell is 23,000. The macromolecular complex sediments at approximately 4 S in a 5 to 20% sucrose gradient and is unaffected by KCl concentrations up to 0.4 M. The steroid-receptor complex can be destroyed by heat (60degrees) or proteolytic digestion and is inhibited by sulfhydryl-blocking agents. Competition studies revealed that among the nonradioactive steroids tested, all of the primary androgens and the progestins as well as their 5alpha and 5beta metabolites block the binding of [3H]etiochalanolone. Only the glucuronide derivative of etiocholanolone, glucocorticoids and their metabolites, 17beta-estradiol, and cyproterone compete poorly for the receptor. The steroid receptor described here appears to be different from the androgen receptor isolated from rat liver and prostate.     

Specific binding of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol in human medullary thyroid carcinoma.

A specific 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol-binding protein has been detected in high-salt cytosols prepared from human medullary thyroid carcinomas. The binding protein had the same equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd = 0.17 +/- 0.05 nM; n = 4) and sedimentation coefficient on sucrose gradients (3.7S) as than seen in established vitamin D target tissues. This protein was not detected in normal thyroid cytosols, which may reflect the low proportion of C-cells within the gland.     

The distal nephron in the chick embryo as a target tissue for 1-alpha-25-dihydroxycholecalciferol

A histological and ultrastructural study as well as an autoradiographic analysis after injection of tritiated 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25-DHCC) were conducted on the distal convoluted tubules of chick embryos. Distal tubules in the embryo were shown to have the same spatial distribution as described for the adult kidney; they presented a convoluted portion located in the vicinity of the central intralobular veins and straight portions irradiating from this region towards the periphery. The epithelium in these tubules was well differentiated; its cells had numerous interdigitating folds in their lateral boundaries which were especially numerous at the basal ends. This device greatly increased the membrane surface available for interchange and was interpreted as an expression of active water and/or mineral transport. Nuclear concentration of radioactivity was found 2 h after injection of tritiated 1,25-DHCC in both the pars convoluta and the pars recta of the distal tubules. This concentration could be blocked by the previous administration of large amounts of nonradioactive 1,25-DHCC. These facts were interpreted as indicating that distal convoluted tubules in the chick embryo are functionally differentiated and contain target cells for 1,25-DHCC.     

Spermine-binding protein and polyamine metabolism in duodenal mucosa of chick embryo

The spermine-binding activity of a cytosolic protein from chick intestine increases during embryogenesis and in the first week of life. Ornithine and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activities assayed under the same experimental conditions increase showing a maximum at day 18 and 20 respectively. The behaviour of either enzyme activity is reflected in the pattern of duodenal polyamine concentration measured during the same period. The possibility that duodenal spermine-binding protein may be correlated with spermine accumulation in the tissue is discussed.     

Synthesis of side-chain homologated analogs of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol and 1,25-dihydroxyergocalciferol

A novel synthesis of side-chain homologated analogs of vitamin D isomers has been described. The synthesis allows for the insertion of the double bond into the C-24 position of the side chain. The key synthetic step involves the coupling of a new C24-vitamin D synthon with the respective side-chain fragment. The method is illustrated by the preparation of (24E)-24,24a-dehydro-24,24-dihomo-1,25-dihydroxycholecalcife rol (1) and (24b R)- and (24b S)-24,24-dihomo-1,25-dihydroxyergocalciferols (2 and 3). Trans geometry of the newly formed double bond in the side chain was confirmed by high field nuclear magnetic resonance spectra.