Heterogeneity and properties of hepatic dexamethasone-binding proteins.

Evidence from experiments in vivo and in vitro is presented for the presence of three species of dexamethasone-binding proteins in rat liver, which are identified by chromatography on Sepharose 6B or by isoelectric focusing. Although two of these species (DI and DII) possess properties characteristic of a true receptor, the third binding protein (i.e. DIII), which migrates most slowly on Sepharose 6B, but has stability properties similar to protein DII, exhibits a 3-fold lower affinity for dexamethasone and the activated complex neither binds to DNA-cellulose nor translocates to the nucleus. Only the predominant liver receptor (DI), which is eluted first from Sepharose 6B, is present in Novikoff-hepatoma cytosol, suggesting that the major and minor species are not interconverted through simple dissociation during their isolation. The binding activities of all three species in the liver cytosol increase approx. 2-fold in vivo after adrenalectomy and show a transient 2-fold fall in vivo after the administration of cortisol. These changes in vivo in protein DIII shows a marked lag compared with those in proteins DI and DII, which change in parallel. It is therefore proposed that rat liver cytosol contains two dexamethasone receptors and a dexamethasone-binding protein that may be derived from these receptors.