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Histone H3 Phosphorylation in the Rat Pineal Gland: Adrenergic Regulation and Diurnal Variation

Departments of Physiology (W.G.D., D.M.P., A.R., A.K.H.) and Medicine (C.L.C., T.G.A.), Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H7

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. A. K. Ho, Department of Physiology, 7-26 Medical Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H7. E-mail: anho{at}ualberta.ca.

In this study, we investigated phosphorylation of Ser10 in histone H3 by norepinephrine (NE) in the rat pineal gland. In whole-animal studies, we demonstrated a marked increase in histone H3 phosphorylation in the rat pineal gland during the first half of the dark period. Exposure to light during this period caused a rapid decline in histone H3 phosphorylation with an estimated t_1/2 of less than 15 min, indicating a high level of dephosphorylation activity. Corresponding studies in cultured pineal cells revealed that treatment with NE produced an increase in histone H3 phosphorylation that peaked between 2 and 3 h and declined rapidly by 4 h. The NE-induced histone H3 phosphorylation was blocked by cotreatment with propranolol or KT5720, a protein kinase A inhibitor, but not by prazosin or other kinase inhibitors. Moreover, only treatment with dibutyryl cAMP but not other kinase activators mimicked the effect of NE on histone H3 phosphorylation. The NE-stimulated H3 phosphorylation was markedly increased by cotreatment with a serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor, tautomycin or okadaic acid, supporting a high level of ongoing histone H3 dephosphorylation activity. Together, our results indicate that histone H3 phosphorylation is a naturally occurring event at night in the rat pineal gland that is driven almost exclusively by a NEß-adrenergiccAMP/protein kinase A signaling mechanism. This transient histone H3 phosphorylation probably reflects the nocturnal activation of multiple adrenergic-regulated genes in the rat pineal gland.

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