Dw. Laney et al., UP-REGULATION OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI HEAT-STABLE ENTEROTOXIN RECEPTOR INREGENERATING RAT-LIVER, The American journal of physiology, 266(5), 1994, pp. 70000899-70000906
Guanylate cyclase C (GC-C) is a transmembrane protein that serves as a
receptor for the recently characterized endogenous ligand guanylin an
d for Escherichia coli heat-stable toxin (STa). Binding of either guan
ylin or STa to intestinal GC-C results in net chloride secretion. Alth
ough GC-C is expressed in the rat intestine throughout life, its expre
ssion in the rat liver has previously been shown to occur only during
the perinatal period. As a step toward elucidating the role of this re
ceptor in the liver, we tested the hypothesis that GC-C mRNA expressio
n could be induced in the adult rat liver following 1) partial hepatec
tomy, a stimulus for hepatocyte proliferation; 2) intraperitoneal carb
on tetrachloride injection, a model of hepatocyte regeneration in the
presence of inflammatory changes; and 3) subcutaneous turpentine injec
tion, which generates an acute phase response without hepatocyte proli
feration. We demonstrated expression of GC-C mRNA in the regenerating
rat liver following either partial hepatectomy or CCl4-induced hepatic
necrosis. We have also shown that GC-C mRNA expression occurred in as
sociation with an acute phase reaction. Coordinate with the expression
of GC-C mRNA, there was upregulation of radiolabeled STa binding to l
iver plasma membranes prepared from turpentine-treated rats. Maximal e
xpression of GC-C occurred in preparations enriched for the canalicula
r domain. Although the function of GC-C in the liver is unknown, local
ization to the canalicular domain would be consistent with a role for
GC-C in hepatic chloride secretion, especially in the perinatal liver
and during hepatocyte regeneration.