Tadpole Red Blood Cells Research Articles

Characteristics of 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine (T3)-uptake system of tadpole red blood cells: effect of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on cellular T3 response

We characterized the 3,5,3'-L-triiodothyronine (T3)- uptake system on the plasma membrane of Rana catesbeiana tadpole red blood cells (RBCs) in the presence of a variety of inhibitors and potentially competing amino acids. Saturable [125I]T3 uptake was inhibited by phloretin, monodansylcadaverine, bromosulfophthalein, sodium taurocholate and tryptophan. Saturable uptake obeyed simple Michaelis-Menten kinetics with an apparent Km of 110 nM and a Vmax of 2.5 pmol/min per 10(6) cells at 23 degrees C. These results suggested that a large proportion of T3 transported into RBCs was mediated by the aromatic amino acid transporter (System T)-linked transporter. To investigate the effect of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on [125I]T3 uptake, RBCs were incubated with [125I]T3 in the presence of each chemical. Among the test chemicals, di-n-butyl phthalate, n-butylbenzyl phthalate and the miticide, dicofol, were the most powerful inhibitors of [125I]T3 uptake, with an IC50 of 2.2 microM, which was one order of magnitude greater than that for T3 (IC50, 0.14 microM), and diethylstilbestrol and ethinylestradiol were modest inhibitors. Tributyltin accelerated saturable initial [125I]T3 uptake by 2-fold at 3.2 microM. When RBCs were cultured with 10 nM T3 at 25 degrees C for 2 days in the presence of monodansylcadaverine, ethinylestradiol, ioxynil or dicofol at the defined concentrations, these compounds inhibited significantly the induction of the thyroid hormone receptor alpha gene by T3. However, not all chemicals competed with T3 binding to the receptor at the same concentrations. Our results raise the possibility that the T3-uptake system on the plasma membrane of the tadpole RBCs could be a candidate target site for some EDCs and can modulate cellular T3 response.

Low-temperature arrest of the triiodothyronine-dependent transcription in Rana catesbeiana red blood cells.

We examined possible molecular mechanisms for the low-temperature arrest of T3-induced Rana catesbeiana metamorphosis. Scatchard plots revealed that the ratios of maximum binding capacity/dissociation constant for high-affinity sites of tadpole serum proteins for T3 at 20 and 28 C was 3.3-4.6 times less than that at 4 C, due to the decrease in maximum binding capacity values. Kinetic studies of T3 uptake into tadpole red blood cells demonstrated that the ratio of maximum uptake rate/Michaelis constant at 23 C was approximately 13 times greater than that at 4 C. The process of intracellular transport of T3 into the nucleus was not arrested at 4 C. The ratio of T3 incorporated into nuclei to that taken up into red blood cells was not significantly different at 4, 20, and 28 C, indicating the absence of temperature-sensitive sites in this process. T3 binding to the T3 receptors alpha and beta were not temperature sensitive at least at 4 and 20 C. Transcription of the tr genes, early primary T3 response genes, was activated by 10 nM T3 at 20 and 28 C but was barely detected at 4 C. These results indicate that the major molecular event causing the low-temperature arrest of amphibian metamorphosis occurs after T3 entry into the nucleus but before or during the transcriptional activation of the tr genes. Plasma proteins binding T3 and the cellular thyroid hormone uptake system on the plasma membrane may contribute to the slowing of the incorporation of T3 into nucleus at 4 C by decreasing the uptake velocity of T3.

Effect of glucocorticoids on thyroid hormone action in cultured red blood cells from Rana catesbeiana tadpoles.

Metamorphosis in anuran amphibia requires thyroid hormone (TH) and can be induced prematurely by the administration of TH. There is also evidence that the developmental effects of TH in these forms are modified by other hormones. For example, PRL has been shown to retard and corticosterone (B) to accelerate some, but not all, components of TH-induced metamorphosis. Red blood cells (RBCs) of Rana catesbeiana tadpoles exhibit a 4- to 5-fold increase in thyroid hormone receptor (TR) number (sites per nucleus) in vivo during either spontaneous or TH-induced metamorphosis. In the present study this TH-induced effect on RBC TR number was examined in an in vitro culture system. RBC TR number was increased by T3 in vitro; the maximum effect (2-fold increase) was obtained after exposure to 0.3 nM T3 for 60 h. This T3-induced increase in TR number was completely abolished in the presence of either 34 nM B or 10 nM dexamethasone, whereas basal TR number was unaffected. The effect appears to be a specific effect of glucocorticoid (GC), because it was not mimicked by the sex steroid, testosterone, and it was not obtained when RU-486, a glucocorticoid antagonist, was included with B in the medium. Other experiments demonstrated that the T3-induced increase in RBC TR was associated with an increase in the TR alpha messenger RNA level. This increase in TR alpha messenger RNA was reduced, but not eliminated, in the presence of concentrations of GC that abolished the TH-induced increase in TR, suggesting that the effects of GC occur in part at a pretranslational level. Using a GC binding assay, tadpole RBCs were found to contain approximately 10(4) GC receptors/cell. These findings indicate that B may be a physiological modulator of TH action in tadpole RBCs. This inhibitory effect of GC contrasts with previous reports that GC accelerates some of the morphological effects of TH in developing tadpoles, indicating that the nature of this modulating effect on TH action is tissue specific.

Cloning of a thyroid hormone‐responsive Rana catesbeiana c‐erbA‐β gene

Two types of thyroid hormone receptor (c-erbA) gene have been identified in mammals and in lower species including chickens and the amphibian Xenopus laevis. The two genes are located on different chromosomes and have been named TR alpha and TR beta. We have described previously the cloning of a TR alpha cDNA from Rana catesbeiana (RC) tissues (RC15) and we now report the cloning of a TR beta cDNA from this species. The cloning strategy employed utilized the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with primers based on the sequences of the X. laevis TR beta cDNA (XenTR beta) and an RCTR beta genomic clone, which, by analogy with XenTR beta, contains some of the 3' end of the open reading frame together with 3'-untranslated sequences. At the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively, the cloned RCTR beta cDNA is 90% and 98% homologous with XenTR beta, and 72% and 76% homologous with RC15. Following in vitro transcription and translation, the cDNA was shown to encode a 48 kilodalton protein which binds 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) with high affinity (mean Kd: 0.032 nM). Samples of total or poly(A) +RNA from tadpoles at different stages of metamorphosis and from adult frogs were analyzed for the presence of TR beta-specific transcripts by slot blot analysis using as probe a 258 bp section of the RCTR beta cDNA. This section of the cDNA does not hybridize to the corresponding section of RC15. In confirmation of previous findings, beta-specific transcripts were not detected in RNA from tadpole red blood cells (RBCs) and none was found in RBCs from adult frogs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Rana catesbeiana tadpole red blood cells express an alpha, but not a beta, c-erbA gene.

Thyroid hormone (TH) receptor number in red blood cells (RBCs) from Rana catesbeiana (RC) tadpoles increases 4-fold during both spontaneous and TH-induced metamorphosis, an effect that we have previously shown to be preceded by an increase in the level of c-erbA-related mRNA. The goals of the present study were to obtain an RC c-erbA alpha cDNA that contains the entire open reading frame for a putative TH receptor protein, to determine if this protein has characteristics typical of a TH receptor, and to assess its contribution to the developmentally related increase in TH receptor number. To accomplish this, the missing 5'-sequence of a previously isolated partial RC c-erbA alpha cDNA (RC12) was synthesized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and spliced to RC12 to yield a 1490-basepair cDNA (RC15) that contained the entire coding sequence of the receptor protein. Transcription of RC15 followed by translation of its mRNA in a rabbit reticulolysate system yielded a 50-kilodalton protein on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The protein binds T3 with high affinity (Kd, approximately 0.1 nM), and its affinity for T3 is at least 5 times that for T4. The results of cotransfection studies indicate that RC15 can function as a TH receptor; when COS cells were cotransfected with a construct consisting of RC15 cloned in the expression vector CMV4 and TK28 mult, a construct containing rat GH gene TH response element sequences up-stream of a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity is expressed in the presence, but not in the absence, of T3. To determine whether RBCs contain any c-erbA beta mRNA transcripts that might contribute to the developmentally related increase in the transcripts detected using RC c-erbA alpha cDNAs, alpha- and beta-specific cDNAs were synthesized by PCR and used as probes in a variety of hybridization assays. In all experiments using conditions in which c-erbA beta transcripts were detectable in other tissues, there was no evidence that tadpole RBCs contained such species. Lack of any beta-specific transcripts was confirmed by PCR, using as template cDNA prepared by reverse transcription of RC RBC RNA. It was also noted that the RBC at metamorphic climax is the tissue with the highest content of alpha-specific c-erbA transcripts. It is concluded that the c-erbA alpha gene encodes a TH receptor, and that only the alpha-gene is expressed in tadpole RBCs and subject to regulation during development and by TH.

Putative nuclear triiodothyronine receptors in tadpole liver during metamorphic climax.

It has been shown previously that the maximum binding capacity (MBC) of the putative T3 receptors in tadpole red blood cells (RBCs) is increased during development and can be stimulated by treatment with thyroid hormone (TH). The present study was performed to determine if the MBC of tadpole liver nuclei is also increased during development or after treatment with TH. Because of the relatively high levels of endogenous TH in tadpoles during climax, the use of an in vivo saturation assay employing [125I]T3 was not feasible. Thus, MBC was determined by measuring by RIA the amount of T3 bound to the liver nuclei in tadpoles pretreated with sufficient T3 to saturate the receptors. Values were then corrected for the nonsaturable fraction using data obtained in tadpoles given a large dose of T3 (10 nmol). After this dose, essentially all of the T3 in the nucleus was bound to nonsaturable sites. MBC values estimated by this method and by Scatchard analysis were comparable. In contrast to the observations in tadpole RBCs, no significant change in the MBC of liver nuclei occurred as the tadpole progressed from early prometamorphosis to metamorphic climax; in tadpoles at stages XII-XIV and XIX-XXIII, MBC values were 0.308 +/- 0.024 (+/- SE) and 0.260 +/- 0.035 pmol/mg DNA, respectively. Furthermore, treatment of tadpoles with T4 (1 nmol T4; 14 days before study), which resulted in a marked increase in receptor number in RBCs, had no effect on MBC in hepatic nuclei. The amounts of nucleus-bound endogenous T3 in liver and RBCs were also determined. From these data and the MBC values, it was calculated that hepatic and RBC nuclear receptors were, respectively, 80% and more than 90% occupied with T3. These findings indicate that there is tissue specificity in the response of receptor MBC to TH during metamorphosis, and that most of the TH on the receptor during climax is T3.

The life span of red blood cells in the amphibian larvae, Rana catesbeiana

Nearly one hundred amphibian tadpoles were made anemic by phenylhydrazine injection. During the recovery period radioactive thymidine was incorporated into the DNA of the nucleated amphibian red blood cells. Over the next 135 days blood was drawn and smears of circulating red blood cells were prepared. The blood smears from each tadpole were autoradiographed and percentage of labeled nuclei (PLN) determined. The average life span of tadpole red blood cells was calculated from the change in PLN, and is about 100 days. It is concluded that during the transition from tadpole to frog, the tadpole red blood cell life span must be drastically shortened to account for the hemoglobin transition observed during amphibian metamorphosis.

Amphibian Red Blood Cell Ferritin

Erythroid ferritin was isolated from tadpole red blood cells, an unusually abundant source, with an iron content of 12%. The apoprotein was characterized by sedimentation equilibrium studies, sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis, and by determination of amino acid composition. Tadpole red cell apoferritin has a molecular weight of 478,000, a subunit size of 19,600, and an amino acid composition similar to that of horse spleen apoferritin, particularly in its proline content. However, there is little or no cysteine in the tadpole protein in contrast to that from horse spleen; two other tadpole red cell proteins also have little or no cysteine. The amount of ferritin in amphibian red blood cells decreased from 0.9% of the soluble protein in the tadpole to 0.08% in the frog as measured immunologically; ferritin could not be detected in lysates of frog cells using gel electrophoresis. A large non-hemoglobin iron pool in the tadpole red cell was indicated not only by the amount of ferritin but also by the observation that cell suspensions could incorporate 14C-amino acids into hemoglobin without incorporating 59Fe into hemoglobin. Red cell suspensions from adult frogs incorporated 14C-amino acids and 59Fe into hemoglobin.

The synthesis of hemoglobin and non-hemoglobin protein of amphibian red blood cells related to metamorphosis

1. 1. Protein synthesis (incorporation of [ 14C]phenylalanine) was studied in tadpole ( Rana catesbiana) red blood cell suspensions. Since hemoglobin changes during metamorphosis, red blood cells were examined from animals in different stages of development, in the winter and summer, and after injection of l-thyroxine. The non-hemoglobin protein of tadpole red blood cells was found to be involved in metamorphosis; it was isolated and characterized. 2. 2. Protein synthesis in tadpole red cells was inhibited by puromycin and chloramphenicol. The incorporation of [2- 14C]uridine into nucleic acid was observed and was reduced by actinomycin D. 3. 3. Hemoglobin was the main protein synthesized by red cells of winter tadpoles (stages XI–XIII). Protein synthesis was reduced in red cells of summer tadpoles of all stages; non-hemoglobin protein was synthesized preferentially. After thyroxine injection red cells from winter animals behaved similarly to red cells from summer animals of the same stage. The non-hemoglobin protein amounts to 5–10% of hemoglobin and disappears late in metamorphosis when the adult hemoglobin appears. 4. 4. Non-hemoglobin protein has an s 0.5% 20 2.3, a molecular weight of 30 000 and is heterogeneous on electrophoresis. The protein has no carbonic anhydrase activity and no cysteine (similar to tadpole hemoglobin). 5. 5. The possible identity of the non-hemoglobin protein with globin subunits or apoferritin subunits is considered.