Differential mRNA expression of the two mineralocorticoid receptor splice variants within the human brain: structure analysis of their different DNA binding domains.

In human brain tissue, cortisol action, at basal concentrations, is mediated by the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). An in-frame insertion of 12 bp in the MR-DNA-binding domain due to alternative splice site usage between exons 3 and 4 results in an MR mRNA splice variant (MR+4) encoding a receptor protein with four additional amino acids compared to the wild-type MR protein. To elucidate the questions of sex, age, and/or tissue dependent differences of the relative amount of the two mRNA subtypes, we examined 131 fresh human brain tissue samples from temporal and frontal lobe or hippocampus. One hundred and twenty samples were obtained from patients with epilepsy and 11 samples from patients with brain tumours. A small but significant difference of the MR+4 mRNA splice variant proportions in cortex (9.5 +/- 0.8%) and subcortical white matter (6.6 +/- 0.7%) of the temporal lobe could be detected, indicating differential MR splice variant expression within these brain areas. Moreover, the splice variant ratios in samples of the temporal lobe cortex collected from patients with epilepsy differed from samples of patients with brain tumours. These data point to an altered expression of the MR splice variants in epilepsy, and strengthen the supposition of a tissue specific alternative splicing of the MR mRNA. The frequent occurrence of the MR+4 transcript raises the question of its functional significance. For this reason, an MR+4 DNA-binding-domain structure model was generated by computer-based homology modelling based on the known glucocorticoid receptor structure. The data obtained revealed no distorting effect of the inserted four amino acids on the adjacent secondary structures, thereby suggesting that both zinc fingers retain their function. The resulting structure of the MR+4 model leads to the supposition that the receptor retains its function. Moreover, databank analysis with respect to this kind of steroid receptor variation and our own sequence data of the closely related progesterone receptor sustained the hypothesis that only corticosteroid receptors were affected by this alternative splicing event.