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The goal of the present study was to investigate a possible role for regulators of G protein-signaling (RGS) proteins in opioid receptor (OR) desensitization using cultured Xenopus laevis dermal melanophores. Morphine-induced pigment aggregation in a melanophore cell line stably expressing the murine mu OR (muOR) was quantified over time. Responses of the muOR (a G(i)-linked receptor) exhibited a time-dependent desensitization, which varied with the concentration of morphine used. In contrast, much less desensitization was observed in response to melatonin, effects mediated through the cells' endogenous melatonin receptor (which is also G(i)-linked). To further study OR desensitization, melanophores lacking a muOR were transiently transfected with plasmids encoding the muOR alone or in combination with plasmids encoding one of several RGS subtypes (RGS1, RGS2, RGS3, or RGS4). Overexpression of RGS2, but not the other RGS subtypes, produced a rightward shift in the morphine concentration-response curve. RGS protein overexpression also decreased the magnitude of morphine-induced responses. Finally, the effect of a mutant form of Galpha(i1), which is insensitive to RGS action, was investigated with respect to its ability to alter the response of the muOR to morphine. Expression of the mutant Galpha(i1) prolonged morphine-induced pigment aggregation and produced leftward shifts in concentration-response curves, compared with expression of wild-type Galpha(i1). These results demonstrate that specific RGS proteins can dampen signals initiated by agonist activation of the muOR, and support a possible role for RGS proteins in OR desensitization.

Several inducible gene expression systems have been developed in vitro in recent years to overcome limitations with traditional transgenic mice. One of these, the tetracycline-regulated system, has been used successfully in vivo. Nevertheless, concerns remain about the ability of this system to direct high levels of transgene expression in vivo and to enable such expression to be turned on and off effectively. We report here the generation, using a modified tetracycline-regulated system under the control of the neuron-specific enolase promoter, of several lines of mice that direct transgene expression to specific brain regions, including the striatum, cerebellum, CA1 region of the hippocampus, or deep layers of cerebral neocortex. Transgene expression in these mice can be turned off completely with low doses of doxycycline (a tetracycline derivative) and driven to very high levels in the absence of doxycycline. We demonstrate this tissue-specific, inducible expression for three transgenes: those that encode luciferase (a reporter protein) or DeltaFosB or the cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) (two transcription factors). The various lines of transgenic mice demonstrate an inducible system that generates high levels of transgene expression in specific brain regions and represent novel and powerful tools with which to study the functioning of these (or potentially any other) genes in the brain.

Increasing evidence supports a role for adaptations in the cAMP pathway in mediating aspects of neural plasticity. These adaptations include altered levels of the catalytic (C) and regulatory (R) subunits of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) in specific neuronal cell types. In an effort to understand the mechanisms underlying this regulation of PKA, the effects of perturbing the cAMP pathway on PKA expression were examined in the locus ceruleus-like CATH.a cell line and the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line. Exposure of CATH.a and SH-SY5Y cells to forskolin, a direct activator of adenylyl cyclase, resulted in a time-dependent decrease in levels of immunoreactivity of C and the two types of R (RI and RII). This decrease in PKA subunit immunoreactivity was not attenuated by pretreatment of the cells with the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. Moreover, exposure of the cell lines to forskolin had no effect on levels of mRNA for these PKA subunits over a wide time course. In contrast, treatment of cells with a cAMP antagonist (Rp-8-bromo-cAMPS) dramatically increased levels of PKA subunit immunoreactivity, particularly that of RI. No change in RI mRNA levels, however, was observed under these conditions. The PKA catalytic inhibitor H-89 did not attenuate the forskolin-induced down-regulation. The PKA subunit down-regulation was blocked, however, by treatment of the cells with Leu-Leu-Leu or lactacystin, inhibitors of proteasomes that are implicated in the regulated proteolysis of specific cellular proteins. Together, these findings demonstrate that regulation of PKA subunit expression by forskolin or a cAMP antagonist occurs primarily through post-transcriptional mechanisms and suggests the involvement of proteasome-mediated degradation in these phenomena.