Regulation of β-adrenoceptor density and mRNA levels in the rat heart cell-line H9c2

Abstract

The regulation of the expression of β-adrenoceptors (β-ARs) is not thoroughly understood. We demonstrate that the rat heart cell-line H9c2 expresses both β1- and β2-ARs. In radioligand-binding experiments, the maximal binding capacity of (-)-[125I]-iodocyanopindolol was determined as 18±0.6 fmol/mg of protein with a KD of 35.4±4.1 pM. Competitive radioligand-binding experiments with subtype-specific β-antagonists reveal a subtype ratio of β1- to β2-ARs of 29%:71%. With competitive reverse-transcriptase PCR we found β2-mRNA to be up to 1600 times more frequent than β1-mRNA. Treatment of the H9c2 cell-line with the β-adrenergic agonist (-)-isoproterenol (10-6 M), the antagonist (-)-propranolol (10-6 M) and the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (500 nM) induces regulatory effects on both the β-AR protein and mRNA level. Isoproterenol treatment leads to down-regulation of the total receptor number by 56±4%, due to a decrease in β2-ARs, while maintaining the β1-AR number constant. On the transcription level, both β1-and β2-mRNAs are decreased by 30% and 42% respectively. mRNA stability measurements reveal a reduced half-life of β2-mRNA from 9.3 h to 6.5 h after isoproterenol treatment. Incubation of cells with (-)-propranolol does not affect the amounts of β-ARs and their mRNAs. Dexamethasone induces a 1.8±0.2-fold increase in β-AR number over the basal level as well as a 1.9±0.2-fold increase in the amount of β2-mRNA. Because the half-life of β2-mRNA was unaffected by dexamethasone, the increased β2-mRNA level must be due to an enhanced transcription rate. The β1-mRNA levels are unchanged during dexamethasone-incubation of the cells. Our data clearly demonstrate that treatment of H9c2 rat heart cells with isoproterenol and dexamethasone induces alterations in the level of RNA stability as well as gene transcription, leading to altered receptor numbers.