Nutrition and somatomedin XXIX. Molecular regulation of IGFBP-1 in hepatocyte primary culture.

The insulinlike growth factors (IGFs) circulate in association with insulinlike growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) that modulate IGF action, but mechanisms of IGFBP regulation are poorly understood. We investigated the regulation of IGFBPs in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes, measuring the appearance of export proteins by ligand blotting after separation via SDS/PAGE, and evaluating mRNA with cDNA probes. Northern blotting studies revealed that IGFBP-1 was expressed at high levels in cultured hepatocytes, in which sustained release of both insulinlike growth factor I and albumin marks preservation of differentiated status. In contrast, transcripts of IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-2 were not detected. Release of IGFBP-1 was unaffected by exposure to glucose (20-500 mg/dl) or to provision of amino acids (0.25-6.25 times normal rat arterial plasma levels). Hormonal studies revealed little effect of glucagon, inhibition by insulin, stimulation by dexamethasone, and blunting of dexamethasone effects by added insulin. Adding dexamethasone provided progressive stimulation: 5-, 11-, and 26-fold at 10(-9), 10(-8), and 10(-7) M, all P less than 0.01; increases in IGFBP-1 protein (ligand blot) and IGFBP-1 mRNA (Northern blot) were highly correlated (r = 0.62, P less than 0.001). In contrast, adding insulin resulted in progressive suppression of both IGFBP-1 protein and IGFBP-1 mRNA, 43% at 10(-10) M, 74% at 10(-9) M, and 83% (maximal) at 10(-8) M; ED50 of approximately 10(-10) M is within the physiological range of insulin concentrations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)