Metallothionein messenger RNA regulation in the mottled mouse and Menkes kinky hair syndrome.

Menkes kinky hair syndrome is an X-linked neurodegenerative disorder, causing tissue-specific increases in copper and metallothionein content. A mouse model is provided by hemizygotes for mutant alleles at the X-linked mottled locus. Herein we test the possibility that the primary defect in both species is in metallothionein gene regulation. We show that metallothionein-I messenger RNA (mRNA) (mouse) and metallothionein-II mRNA (human) are elevated in mutant fibroblasts. However, comparable dose-response curves in mutant and control cells are generated when mouse metallothionein-I mRNA concentrations are measured in cells exposed to varying concentrations of cadmium or copper (metallothionein inducers). Furthermore, when mutant and control cells are grown to achieve overlapping intracellular copper concentrations in the two cell types, metallothionein-I (mouse) and metallothionein-II (human) mRNA levels are proportional to the intracellular copper concentrations. Finally, in paired determinations in blotchy hemizygote and littermate kidneys containing comparable copper levels, metallothionein-I mRNA contents are very similar. The observations suggest that elevated intracellular copper in these mutants induces metallothionein synthesis by normal regulatory mechanisms.