Functional study of amylin and regulation of amylin receptor

Abstract

Amylin, a 37 amino acid peptide secreted from pancreatic beta cells upon stimulation by meal/glucose, belongs to the family of the calcitonin or calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and shares up to 50% homology with CGRP, which is a well-documented pain-related peptide. The amylin receptor is composed of a calcitonin receptor (CTR) and receptor activity modifying proteins (RAMPs). Numerous studies have shown that amylin plays an important role in glucose homeostasis and food intake. Few studies have been conducted with respect to the effect of amylin in the central or peripheral neuraxis. In this thesis, immunohistochemical study revealed a dense network of amylin-immunoreactive (irAMY) cell processes in the superficial dorsal horn of the mice. Numerous dorsal root ganglion and trigeminal ganglion cells expressed moderate to strong irAMY. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed amylin receptor mRNA in the mouse spinal cord, brain stem, cortex, hypothalamus and hippocampus. The nociceptive or antinociceptive effects of amylin were evaluated in the tail flick and acetic acid-induced writhing test. Amylin (1-10 µg, i.t.) reduced the number of writhing in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment of the mice with the amylin receptor antagonist salmon calcitonin (8-32) [sCT(8-32)]or AC187 by i.t. antagonized the effect of amylin on acetic acid-induced writhing test. Locomotor activity was not significantly modified by amylin injected either i.p. (0.01-1 mg/kg) or i.t. (1-10 µg). Measurement of c-fos mRNA by RT-PCR or proteins by Western blot showed that the levels were up-regulated in the spinal cord of mice in acetic acid-induced visceral pain model and the increase was attenuated by pretreatment with amylin. Pretreatment of sCT[8-32] or AC187 significantly reversed the effect of amylin on c-fos expression in the spinal cord. As the neuronal response to amylin is closely dependent on the molecular property of amylin receptor, the localization, internalization and regulation of the calcitonin and amylin receptor were examined in the second part of the thesis. Immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated the surface expression of CTRa, and intracellular distribution of RAMP1. Moreover, co-expression of CTRa translocated the RAMP1 to the cell surface and generated the amylin receptor phenotype. Both immunocytochemistry and on cell western analysis showed the internalization of CTRa and amylin receptor (CTRa/RAMP1) stimulated by different agonists, which was partially ß-arrestin dependent. Moreover, RAMP1 did not change the surface expression pattern of CTRa, but co-localized with the receptor with and without agonist treatment. sCT and amylin activated the ERK1/2 in HEK293 cells stably expressing amylin receptors, indicating the involvement of MAPK in amylin receptor signaling cascade. Collectively, these results led us to conclude that 1) irAMY is expressed in dorsal root ganglion neurons with their cell processes projecting to the superficial layers of the dorsal horn, and that the peptide by interacting with amylin receptors in the spinal cord may be antinociceptive; 2) RAMP1 does not change the pattern of CTR cell-surface localization and internalization, but receptor phenotype, presumably through a direct or indirect effect on the ligand-binding site; 3) amylin internalizes the amylin receptor (CTRa/RAMP1 complex); which is partially ß-arrestin dependent. Our studies extend the current knowledge of amylin on the spinal cord and new insight on the cellular and molecular mechanism underlying the antinociceptive effect of amylin. Also we demonstrate for the first time agonist induced-internalization of CTR/RAMP complex and its possible regulation pathway.