| Abstract: | The physicochemical properties of size, shape and surface charge have been determined for the soluble fraction of cytoplasmic glucocorticoid receptors which are located in the HeLa S3 cell cytoplasm after incubation of whole cells with glucocorticoid at 37 degrees C. Under hypotonic buffer conditions approximately 80% of the total recovered 3H]triamcinolone acetonide receptor complexes sedimented through a 5-20% density gradients to the tube bottom, and approximately 90% eluted from a Sephacryl S-300 gel exclusion column in the void volume. Increasing the KCl] of the buffer in the sucrose density gradients, and gel exclusion columns to 0.15 M caused a reduction in the percentage of this large aggregate to approximately 64% and approximately 75%, respectively. Further increases in the KCl] during analysis to 0.4 M reduced the percentage of rapidly sedimenting receptors to approximately 62%, and shifted the sedimentation coefficient of the slower sedimenting receptors from approximately 5.2 S to 3.9 S. These conditions also decreased the fraction of receptor in the void volume of gel exclusion columns to 67%. Ion exchange analysis of receptor binding to DEAE cellulose, hydroxylapatite, phosphocellulose, and DNA cellulose revealed heterogenous populations of receptor species; comprising both "unactivated" and "activated" receptor forms. The ratios of unactivated/activated receptors was highly dependent on the matrix employed and differed substantially among those evaluated. For example, by the criteria of DEAE cellulose and phosphocellulose chromatography approximately 60% of the total 37 degrees C cytoplasmic receptors were in the "activated" state. A large fraction of these receptors, however, failed to bind to DNA cellulose. These results demonstrate that the glucocorticoid receptors which remain in the HeLa S3 cytoplasm at 37 degrees C do not bind to ion exchange materials, which are used as indexes of receptor "activation," in a uniform manner. We hypothesize that the diminished DNA binding capability of these receptors accounts for their cellular localization in the HeLa S3 cell cytoplasm at 37 degrees C. |
