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Departments of Endocrinology and Metabolism (B.Z.D., M.P.-T.S., H.C.v.B., E.F., O.B., W.M.W.) and Anatomy and Embryology (W.T.L., W.H.L.), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Onno Bakker, Ph.D., Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, F5-171, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: . o.bakker{at}amc.uva.nl
| Abstract |
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- hydroxylase, and spot 14. Combining immunohistochemistry and image analysis we found and quantified the same zonal distribution for 5'-deiodinase type 1 as for TRß1. Western blot analysis revealed a profound diurnal variation for TRß1 protein expression, with highest levels at the beginning of the dark period. TRß1 diurnal variation partly overlaps with the T3-responsive genes, cholesterol 7
-hydroxylase and spot 14. Furthermore, TRß1 distribution along the porto-central axis does not change during the day, indicating that the zonal expression of TRß1 is stable. This is the first time that zonal distribution in liver has been demonstrated for a member of the nuclear receptor family. This finding together with the observed diurnal rhythm has major implications for interpreting and timing experiments concerning the TR and its downstream actions in liver.
| Introduction |
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1 knockout mice, indicating importance of TRß1 for D1 expression in liver (3). The liver is the organ where many metabolic processes occur simultaneously. A growing body of evidence indicates that not all processes take place in every liver parenchymale cell, but that the various metabolic reactions occur in different locations along the porto-central axis of the liver units (4, 5). For instance, lipogenesis and glycolysis are predominant in liver cells around the central vein, whereas lipolysis and gluconeogenesis are found in the area around the portal vein. This so-called metabolic zonation can be of a stable or dynamic kind, which means that the expression of certain enzymes is restricted to certain cells regardless of the metabolic or hormonal state, whereas the expression of other enzymes can expand or shrink along the porto-central axis depending on the metabolic state or the time of the day. Enzymes with a stable distribution can be located pericentrally [glutamine synthetase (GS)] or periportally (fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase) (6). Similarly, enzymes with a dynamic distribution can be located pericentrally (ornithine aminotransferase) (7) or periportally (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxy-kinase) (8).
A number of T3-responsive genes involved in metabolism are zonally expressed in liver. In the case of GS, both mRNA and protein expression are restricted to the area around the central vein (9) in a stable fashion (10), whereas phosphoenolpyruvate carboxy-kinase expression is dynamic and focused around the portal vein (11). Other T3-responsive genes, such as malic enzyme (12), spot 14 (13, 14), acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (13), cholesterol 7
-hydroxylase (CYP7a) (15, 16, 17), and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (18, 19), are expressed in different zones within the liver (see Table 1
). To further clarify some of the mechanisms governing this zonal expression we studied the expression of the TRß1 in rat liver using polyclonal antibodies we developed recently. We performed immunohistochemistry to localize and Western blotting to quantify the protein in the liver of rats. We also studied the distribution of two different T3-responsive genes (GS and D1).
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| Materials and Methods |
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For immunohistochemistry, the 6-µm thick, paraformaldehyde-fixed (4% in PBS for 16 h at 4 C), paraffin-embedded liver sections were subjected to microwave irradiation [Tris-buffered saline (TBS), pH 7.6, at 750 watts for 10 min] before immunodetection to unmask the antigenic epitope. The sections were incubated with antiserum (1:250 dilution) in TBS (pH 7.6), 5% (wt/vol) low fat milk, and 0.5% (wt/vol) Triton X-100 for 1 h at 22 C and then overnight at 4 C. Secondary antibody (1:250 dilution) incubation was performed for 60 min at 22 C in PBS (pH 7.6) with 0.5% (wt/vol) Triton X-100. The sections were then washed and incubated in buffer (0.1 M Tris, 0.1 M NaCl, and 50 mM MgCl2; pH 10.2) for 10 min. Twenty minutes after adding nitro blue tetrazolium 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-phosphate (Roche Molecular Biochemicals) and levamisole (Sigma, St. Louis, MO), the staining reactions were stopped by washing with TBS.
Image analysis has been described previously (21). Briefly, the image acquisition was performed with a Photometrics CCD camera on a Carl Zeiss Axiophot microscope (New York, NY). The images were converted into OD by calculating the negative logarithm of the transmission image (I) divided by an image of the light source (I°; OD= -10log (I/I°). Image is processed by a automatic segmentation and skeletonization of central and portal zones images. The distance transformation with respect to these skeletons gives for each point in the image pair the distance to the nearest terminal branches of the portal vein and central vein. The relative position on the porto-central radius was calculated as: portal distance image/(central distance image + portal distance image).
Western blots
Liver or HeLa cells were homogenized in 0.25 M sucrose containing Complete protease inhibitor (Roche Molecular Biochemicals) using a Polytron homogenizer (Brinkmann Instruments, Inc., Westbury, NY) for 10 sec at maximum speed. The protein concentration of these whole cell extracts was determined using a reagent obtained from Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (Munich, Germany). Subsequently, 25 µg protein were loaded on a 10% SDS-PAGE gel. After semidry blotting onto membrane (Protran BA45, Schleicher \|[amp ]\| Schuell, Inc., Dassel, Germany), the blots were blocked for 45 min in TBS containing 0.2% (wt/vol) casein hydrolysate (Roche Molecular Biochemicals) and 0.5% (wt/vol) Tween 20 (blocking buffer). Next, the blots were incubated for 2 h at 22 C with the primary antiserum anti-TRß1 (1:250 dilution) or monoclonal anti-GS (1:1,000 dilution) or overnight at 4 C with anti-D1 (1:250). After 30 min of incubation with secondary antibodies (1:20,000 dilution) in blocking buffer, the blots were washed and LumiLight Plus substrate (Roche Molecular Biochemicals) was added. The signals were visualized and quantified using a LumiImager (Roche Molecular Biochemicals).
Scatchard analysis
Binding of T3 to rat liver nuclei was studied using Scatchard analysis as described previously (22). Binding was measured in livers from rats killed at 1330 h (n = 6) and at 1930 h (n = 5). Binding data are expressed per mg DNA.
Transfection assay
HeLa cells were transfected with 1 µg plasmid pRShtrß1 (23), and COS cells were transfected with 5 µg rat TRß2 (a gift from Dr. W. W. Chin, Boston, MA) per 10 µl Lipofect (Life Technologies, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD) according to the manufacturers protocol. The cells were harvested 48 h after transfection and used for Western blots.
Statistical analysis
All data are presented as the mean ± SD. Variations between groups were evaluated with the unpaired, two-tailed t test. A difference was considered statistically significant at P < 0.05. All data were evaluated using SPSS version 9 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL).
| Results |
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1 or TRß2 expressed in COS cells (Fig. 1
1 (amino acids 402410), TR
2 (amino acids 425442), and TRß2 (amino acids 131145) on a nitrocellulose membrane.
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| Discussion |
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From our data it appears that the expression of TRß1 protein, a member of the nuclear receptor family, is zonally distributed in the liver, and its highest expression is restricted to a smaller pericentral zone than the T3-producing enzyme 5'-D1. However, due to a possible limited sensitivity of our antiserum, we cannot rule out that the actual expression extends further along the porto-central axis, resulting in a broader porto-central gradient than is seen on the images. In addition to the zonal expression, the cellular receptor concentration varies with a diurnal rhythm (Fig. 3
). At the beginning of the dark period, when the rats are nutritionally active (30), maximum TRß1 protein expression is observed, which is also reflected in an increase in maximal binding capacity. These results suggest that the timing of experiments concerned with the TR and its actions in liver is important.
The overlap found in the liver between TRß1 and D1 expression suggests a relationship similar to that in inner ear development, where deiodinase type 2 expression appears to be the trigger for TRß1 action (31). A possible spatio- temporal control of T3 availability would therefore mean that in this case TRß1 action in the liver could be partly dependent on locally produced T3. On the other hand, D1 expression itself is regulated by thyroid hormone (2), and in our study appears to increase together with TRß1 expression at the beginning of the dark period. Furthermore, it has been shown in transfection studies that TRß1 can regulate its own expression through TREs in its promoter, and that this may happen under certain circumstances in vivo as well (Ref. 32 and references therein).
The biological relevance of our study results is underlined by the finding that certain T3-responsive genes, such as CYP7a, GS, and spot 14, are expressed mainly in the pericentral zones in conjunction with TRß1. CYP7a, a key enzyme for the production of bile acids from cholesterol, can be regulated in rat liver by several effectors, including thyroid hormones (15, 33, 34). When comparing the diurnal rhythm of CYP7a with that of TRß1, it can be seen that TRß1 protein expression peaks earlier than that of CYP7a mRNA, protein, and enzyme activities (35), which would be expected if T3 is one of the effectors of CYP7a. The difference between the two is that the CYP7a expression is of a dynamic kind. In the morning only a few pericentral hepatocytes contained CYP7a mRNA, whereas approximately half of the hepatocytes along the porto-central axis contained CYP7a mRNA in the evening (16), indicating the involvement of additional mechanisms.
A similar zonation expression pattern and diurnal variation also strengthen the link between TRß1 and the S14 gene. The S14 gene encodes a protein in liver that is induced by T3 and dietary carbohydrate and possesses several TREs located between -2.8 and -2.5 kb upstream of the transcription start site (36, 37). Furthermore, the S14 mRNA exhibits a 3-fold diurnal variation, with a peak in the evening and a nadir in the morning (24), similar to the TRß1 protein expression in our experiments. Thus, all T3-dependent genes discussed in this paper show an overlap between the topographical position and the diurnal rhythm of TRß1 and the gene products.
In conclusion, we have shown that the expression of the TRß1 protein is of a stable pericentral type and argued that its expression overlaps with some (but not all) well known T3-dependent genes. In cases where there is no or only a partial overlap, TR
1 may play a role. This isoform is also present in rat liver, where it makes up about 20% of the total T3-binding capacity in rat liver (38). It remains unknown at present whether the diurnal changes in TRß1 expression are regulated by the biological clock or by food intake.
| Acknowledgments |
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1. | Footnotes |
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Abbreviations: CYP7a, Cholesterol 7
-hydroxylase; D1, 5'-deiodinase type 1; GS, glutamine synthetase; TBS, Tris-buffered saline; TRE, thyroid hormone response element.
Received August 20, 2001.
Accepted for publication November 29, 2001.
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