Glucagon-Like Peptide-2 (GLP-2) Modulates the cGMP Signalling Pathway by Regulating the Expression of the Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase Receptor Subunits in Cultured Rat Astrocytes

• Published in: Molecular neurobiology Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 242 - 250
• Main Authors: Velazquez, Esther, Blazquez, Enrique, Ruiz-Albusac, Juan Miguel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Humana Press Inc 01.10.2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Astrocytes; Astrocytes - drug effects; Astrocytes - enzymology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Cells, Cultured; Cellular biology; Cyclic GMP; Cyclic GMP - metabolism; Epidermal growth factor; Epidermal Growth Factor - pharmacology; Gene expression; Glucagon-like peptide 2; Glucagon-Like Peptide 2 - pharmacology; Guanylate cyclase; Guanylate Cyclase - metabolism; Humans; Insulin; Insulin - pharmacology; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I - pharmacology; Intracellular Space - drug effects; Intracellular Space - metabolism; Nervous system; Neurobiology; Neurology; Neuropeptides; Neurosciences; Nitroprusside - pharmacology; Peptides; Protein Subunits - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear - metabolism; Rodents; Signal transduction; Signal Transduction - drug effects; Sodium; Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase; Western blotting; cGMP; GLP-2; Astrocytes; EGF; Insulin; Guanylyl cyclase
• ISSN: 0893-7648; 1559-1182
• DOI: 10.1007/s12035-012-8298-1

The aim of this work was to study the effect of glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) on the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signalling pathway and whether insulin or epidermal growth factor (EGF) might modulate the effects of GLP-2. GLP-2 produced a dose-dependent decrease in intracellular sodium nitroprusside-induced cGMP production. However, insulin induced an increase in the levels of cGMP that was dose-dependently decreased by the addition of GLP-2. By contrast, EGF induced a decrease in cGMP production, which was further reduced by the addition of GLP-2. To assess whether variations in cGMP production might be related with changes in some component of soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), the expression of the α 1, α 2, and β 1 subunits were determined by Western blot analysis. At 1 h, GLP-2 produced a decrease in the expression of both α 1 and β 1 in the cytosolic fraction, but at 24 h only β 1was reduced. As expected, insulin induced an increase in the expression of both subunits after 1 h of incubation; this was decreased by the addition of GLP-2. Likewise, incubation with EGF for 24 h produced a decrease in the expression of both subunits that was maximal when GLP-2 was added. In addition, incubation with insulin for 1 h produced an increase in the expression of the α 2 subunit, which was reduced by the addition of GLP-2. These results suggest that GLP-2 inhibits cGMP production by decreasing the cellular content of at least one subunit of the heterodimeric active form of the sGC, independently of the presence of insulin or EFG. This may open new insights into the actions of this neuropeptide.