Ethanol increases tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression in N1E-115 neuroblastoma cells.

Catecholamines appear to be involved in behavioral responses to acute and chronic ethanol consumption. Since tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is the rate-limiting enzyme for catecholamine biosynthesis and is regulated by second messenger systems known to be modulated by ethanol, we studied ethanol-induced changes in TH gene expression. In the N1E-115 neural cell line, Northern and Western blot analyses showed that treatment with 25-200 mM ethanol for 3 days caused a dose-dependent increase in TH mRNA and protein levels. N1E-115 cells were also stably transfected with pTH5'CAT, a plasmid containing 773 base pairs of the TH promoter fused to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. Subclones expressing pTH5'CAT showed ethanol-induced increases in CAT activity, suggesting that ethanol modulates TH gene transcription. Furthermore, simultaneous treatment of transfected cells with 100 mM ethanol and 1 nM to 1 microM prostaglandin E1 increased prostaglandin E1-mediated stimulation of TH-promoter activity. Similarly, simultaneous treatment of transfected cells with 100 mM ethanol and either 10 mM (-)-N6-(R-phenylisopropyl)adenosine or 0.5 mM 8-bromo-cAMP also resulted in increased TH-promoter activity compared to treatment with these agents without ethanol. These results suggest that ethanol treatment of N1E-115 cells has a prominent effect on both basal and cAMP-regulated TH expression. Ethanol-induced changes in TH expression may be a critical molecular event in adaptation of the central nervous system to ethanol.

Alternative RNA splicing that determines agrin activity regulates binding to heparin and alpha-dystroglycan.

Agrin is a component of the extracellular matrix that regulates aspects of neuromuscular junction differentiation. Identification of agrin-binding proteins has lead to the suggestion that alpha-dystroglycan is a muscle cell surface proteoglycan that mediates agrin activity. To further test this hypothesis, we have compared the ability of differentially active agrin isoforms to interact with a model component of proteoglycans, heparin, as well as with the putative proteoglycan alpha-dystroglycan. We demonstrate that an alternately spliced exon (encoding the sequence lysine, serine, arginine, lysine: Y site) is necessary for agrin-heparin interactions. We also show that alternate splicing at another site (Z site) dramatically affects interaction of alpha-dystroglycan with agrin. We propose a model in which multiple distinct domains of agrin interact with both protein and sugar moieties of alpha-dystroglycan. The isoform-specific binding of agrin to alpha-dystroglycan is consistent with a functional role for this interaction during synaptogenesis.

Characterization of promoter elements mediating ethanol regulation of hsc70 gene transcription.

Chronic exposure to ethanol increases transcription of the molecular chaperone Hsc70 in NG108-15 neuroblastoma X glioma cells. This and other ethanol-induced changes in gene expression may contribute to central nervous system tolerance and dependence in alcoholics. Here, we characterized sequences in the hsc70 promoter that are required for ethanol-induced transcriptional regulation. Deletion analysis of the hsc70 promoter showed that the 74-base pair region proximal to the transcription start site was sufficient for ethanol responsiveness. Point mutation or deletion of a consensus Spl-binding site at -67/-61 base pairs greatly reduced the induction by ethanol. Hsc70 promoter constructs with diminished ethanol responsiveness in NG108-15 cells similarly had decreased transcriptional activation by exogenous Sp1 in Drosophila SL2 cells. Some artificial promoter constructs containing multiple Sp1 sites were highly responsive to ethanol, but others were not, suggesting that the organization of the proximal promoter region was an additional factor that affected the ethanol response. Gel mobility shift analysis confirmed that an Sp1-like protein bound to the -67/-61 consensus Sp1 site. However ethanol exposure did not alter Sp1 DNA-binding activity. Together, our findings show that ethanol induction of Hsc70 requires a functional Sp1-binding site. Additional proximal promoter elements may also play a role in determining whether an Sp1-containing promoter will respond to ethanol.