TITLE:
Gene Regulation of Catecholamine Biosynthetic Enzymes by Nitric Oxide in PC12 Cells
AUTHORS:
Dominique Ansell, Julie Grandbois, T. C. Tai
KEYWORDS:
NO, PC12 Cells, TH, DBH, PNMT, Catecholamines
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: Nitric
oxide (NO) regulates a wide range of physiological processes. Recent
studies show that NO can regulate the release of catecholamines (CA) from the
adrenal medulla. In the current study, the PC12 cell line was used to examine
the effect of NO on the regulation of the CA biosynthetic enzymes: tyrosine
hydroxylase (TH), dopamine-β-hydroxylase
(DBH) and phenylethanolamine Nmethyltransferase (PNMT). Treatment of PC12 cells
with the NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) for 6 hours significantly
increased TH, DBH and PNMT mRNA levels. In addition, NO potentiates the regulation
of gene expression of all three CA biosynthetic enzymes by glucocorticoids and
cholinergic agonists. The signaling pathways involved in NO regulation of CA
biosynthetic enzymes were investigated with the use of specific kinase
activators and inhibitors, with results supporting a contributing role of PKA,
PKC and PKG in SNP-mediated induction for all three CA genes (p