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Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Fumio Sakai, MD, PhD, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 5-45, Yushima 1-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8519 Japan.
| Abstract |
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Implications: Under certain pathologic conditions, including cerebral ischemia and traumatic brain injury, glutamate neurotoxicity may initially be propagated by hypothermia due to relative failure of glutamate uptake via Human Glial Glutamate Transporter before a subsequent recovery of uptake.
| Introduction |
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Five homologous types of the glutamate transporterGLAST, GLT-1, EAAC1, EAAT4, and EAAT5have been cloned from various species. EAAC1 and EAAT4 apparently are exclusive to neurons, whereas GLAST is found in both neurons and astroglia (3,4). GLT-1, specific to astroglia (4), is an important determinant of clearance of free glutamate from the synaptic cleft (5,6) that acts to prevent abnormally increased extracellular glutamate concentrations (7). Recent observations indicate that GLT-1 can be expressed in neurons in experimental situations, which suggests that the cellular localization of GLT-1 may change under certain pathologic conditions (8). Previous studies on the change in extracellular glutamate concentration during hypothermia have been based on tissue slices and synaptosome preparations, which likely reflect the combined activation of multiple subtypes of transporters, receptors, ion channels, and pumps.
The cloning of glutamate transporter cDNAs offers the first opportunity to independently investigate individual members of this family after expression in heterologous systems. In preliminary experiments using [3H]L-glutamate, we found that the endogenous transport activity of L-glutamate in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells was less than that of human embryonic kidney 293 cells or baby hamster kidney cells. Thus, in a heterologous system using CHO cells, we investigated the temperature-related properties of hGLT-1. Although increases of extracellular glutamate during anoxia has been reported to decrease in microdialysis experiments under hypothermia (9), little is known about changes in glutamate uptake or the time course of glutamate transport activities.
| Methods |
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Unaltered (intact) CHO cells and stable hGLT-1transfected CHO cells were cultured in Dulbeccos modified Eagles medium (Gibco BRL, Grand Island, NY) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 100 U/mL penicillin G, 100 µg/mL streptomycin, and 250 ng/mL amphotericin B in a 5% CO2 atmosphere in a humidified incubator at 37°C. The transfected CHO cells were selected using 600 µg/mL Geneticin (Gibco-BRL). Cells were grown in 24-well plates, and wells containing 104 to 105 cells were used.
The culture medium in 24-well plates was exchanged with 90 µL of HEPES-Tris buffer solution containing or lacking Na+ (in mM): NaCl or choline chloride 140, KCl 2.5, CaCl2 1.2, MgCl2 1.2, K2HPO4 1.2, HEPES 10, Tris 5, and dextrose 10. Samples were divided to 9 µL on 96-well plates and were preincubated at 37°C. The reaction was started by adding 1 µL of a 1-µM stock solution of [3H]L-glutamate to 9 µL of samples to achieve a final glutamate concentration of 0.1 µM. After samples were incubated for 3, 5, 10, 30, or 60 min at 37°C, 32°C, or 23°C, the solution was removed from the well and quickly washed twice with ice-cold fresh buffer to reduce the nonspecific association of radiolabel. To each well, 10 µL of 0.5% Triton and 90 µL of Microscint 20 (Packard Instrument, Meriden, CT) were added, and radioactivity was measured using TopCount (Packard). The amount of glutamate taken up by the cells by incubation was normalized by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) analysis (12), which reflects mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase activity and thus is a general indicator of the respiratory status of the cells. Because CHO cells take up or adsorb [3H]L-glutamate independent of Na+ on the cell surface, Na+-dependent uptake of [3H]L-glutamate was calculated as the difference between the amount of radioactivity obtained using normal buffers containing Na+ and that of Na+-free buffer in which NaCl was replaced with choline chloride. After measurement of Na+-dependent radioactivity in each sample, the difference between the amount of Na+-dependent radioactivity accumulated by CHO cells expressing hGLT-1 and that shown by unaltered CHO cells was regarded as hGLT-1specific transport activity.
We investigated the effect of temperature on release of [3H]L-glutamate in CHO cells expressing hGLT-1 or intact CHO cells to assess the contribution of changes in uptake compared with the possibility of changes in release. The same cell lines used for uptake studies were used in this study. Cells were loaded with 100 µL of HEPES-Tris buffer solution containing 0.1 µM [3H]L-glutamate for 60 min at 37°C, then washed twice in ice-cold buffer solution to remove extracellular [3H]L-glutamate. Immediately after washing, CHO cells were added and resuspended in 100 µL of Na+-free buffer solution at 37°C, 32°C, or 23°C. Release of [3H]L-glutamate was determined after 0.5, 1, 3, 5, or 10 min of exposure to buffer medium, supernatants were removed and counted for tritium. The cells were scraped on the coverslips, scintillant was added, and the residual accumulated [3H]L-glutamate determined. Values were expressed as a percentage of total cell tritium content. Release evoked by normal buffer solution was determined in parallel at the same time intervals.
All data are expressed as means ± SEM. For statistical analysis of data, one-way analysis of variance with a post hoc Scheffé F or paired t-test was used. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Temperature-dependent effects were expressed as the Q10 of [3H]L-glutamate release; that is, the factor by which the activity of the transporter varies per 10°C change in temperature. The Q10 was calculated as described below, where X2 equals the experimental value at the higher absolute temperature (T2) and X1 equals the experimental value at the lower absolute temperature (TI): Q10 = (X2/X1)[10/(T2T1)] (13).
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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In measuring the amount of radiolabeled glutamate in cells with increasing duration of exposure, contributions of changes in uptake compared with possible changes in release must be assessed. In hypoxia/anoxia, the glutamate transporter loses its concentrating power because of disruption of cellular ionic gradients; running in reverse, the transporter deposits glutamate into the extracellular space, resulting in irreversible neuronal damage. We studied the release of [3H]L-glutamate with no L-glutamate presented externally to the preloaded cells; in this situation, the uptake carrier can only run backward (16). Nevertheless, such release of [3H]L-glutamate was not detected; indeed, the release of preloaded [3H]L-glutamate from CHO cells expressing hGLT-1 was significantly less than that from intact CHO cells. Similarly, the release of [3H]L-glutamate in Na+-containing buffer solution was less than that in Na+-free buffer solution. These results indicate that hGLT-1 expressed in CHO cells preserves uptake activity of L-glutamate, but not reverse uptake, beyond 60 min. We believe that the data presented do not include any potential contribution of L-glutamate release, although we could not exclude potential effects of the metabolism of L-glutamate with increasing time.
Over the ranges from 37°C to 32°C and 32°C to 23°C, the Q10 values calculated from the uptake of [3H]L-glutamate for 30 min were 3.48 and 2.37; those for 60 minutes were 2.17 and 0.91, respectively. In general, flux through a channel is relatively insensitive to temperature, with the Q10 values typically being <1.5 because of low-energy barriers associated with ionic diffusion (1719). The Q10 value for the coupled uptake current of glutamate (approximately 3) is more consistent with the energy requirement for the large conformational transitions that occur during each transport cycle (20). The Q10 values we obtained indicate that [3H]L-glutamate uptake by hGLT-1 is temperature-dependent, as reported in a previous study in rat dorsal spinal cord (21). We also demonstrated that accumulation of [3H]L-glutamate via hGLT-1 was initially reduced by the induction of hypothermia (23°C and 32°C), subsequently accelerating after 60 min, indicating time-dependent recovery. Specific uptake from 32°C to 23°C at 60 minutes, characterized by the Q10 value of 0.91, suggests that the [3H]L-glutamate transport activity of hGLT-1 may not necessarily depend on temperatures <32°C, which argues against a threshold near that temperature.
The mechanisms underlying the observed initial reduction of [3H]L-glutamate accumulation are unknown, although there are two possible explanations. One involves physical properties of cell membranes; decreases in temperature shift the lipid bilayer from a fluid to a gel phase (21). GLT-1 requires either posttranslational processing or coassembly with an interacting protein for activity. Furthermore, GLT-1 is retained in a subcellular compartment with trafficking to the cell surface (22). Such loss of membrane fluidity would affect both integral and peripheral proteins associated with the transport activity of GLT-1. The other possible explanation is up- or down-regulation of GLT-1. Transient global ischemia causes nearly synchronous down-regulation of GLT-1 mRNA at 3 hours and GLT-1 protein at 6 hours in the rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal layer, with a return to control levels by 24 hours (23). In contrast, increases in GLT-1 expression in astrocytes are a relatively gradual processes requiring several days (22). Anderson et al. (24) reported that cerebral ischemia induced an increase in the density of excitatory amino acid transporter binding sites in hippocampus and in neocortical regions that persisted for 48 hours after ischemia. Interpretation of the data obtained is difficult because the normal modulatory machinery is presumably absent in heterologous systems; however, our results are not likely to be reflections of either up- or down-regulation of GLT-1.
Net extracellular glutamate concentration represents a balance between the release of glutamate and its removal by uptake and/or diffusion. Hypothermia would reduce Ca2+-dependent synaptic glutamate release by suppression of neuronal electrophysiologic activity and Ca2+-independent glutamate release via glutamate transporters by decreased energy use in hypothermia due to decreases in both electrophysiologic activity and homeostatic functions required to maintain cellular integrity. Therefore, hypothermia may conversely lead to the initial increase of extracellular glutamate concentration under such pathologic circumstances as cerebral ischemia or traumatic brain injury, due to relative failure of glutamate uptake. Especially during hypothermia of a short period such as CPB, the excessive elevation of extracellular glutamate concentration might lead to glutamate neurotoxicity because glutamate receptors are minimally affected by mild hypothermia (25). Such scenarios are inconsistent with the long-lasting protection observed in hypothermia and the prolonged inhibition of elevation of extracellular glutamate levels observed in vivo. Further study is required to clarify the effects of hypothermia on the glutamate transporter for periods longer than 60 minutes.
In conclusion, mild and moderate hypothermia decreased glutamate uptake by hGLT-1 in a temperature- and time-dependent manner, indicating that intraoperative hypothermia may transiently decrease the uptake of extracellular glutamate. However, time- but not temperature-dependent recovery of glutamate uptake via hGLT-1 may represent another mechanism tending to restrict elevations of extracellular glutamate concentration during hypothermia.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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