We showed previously that glomerular mesangial cells displayed increased fibronectin, laminin, and type IV collagen synthesis and mRNA levels when grown in medium containing 30 mM glucose compared with those cells grown in 10 mM glucose [S. H. Ayo, R. A. Radnik, W. F. Glass II, J. A. Garoni, E. R. Rampt, D. R. Appling, and J. I. Kreisberg. Am. J. Physiol. 260 (Renal Fluid Electrolyte Physiol. 29): F185-F191, 1990]. However, total protein synthesis and actin mRNA were unchanged. In this report, we show that an increase in medium glucose concentration resulted in an increase in diacylglycerol (DAG) mass and transiently increased protein kinase C (PKC) activity as assessed by the translocation of PKC from the soluble to the particulate fraction. Effects of increased glucose on DAG were evident at 30 min and were maintained through 1 wk of growth in medium containing 30 mM glucose. Although total PKC activity (i.e., soluble plus particulate fractions) did not change with high-glucose treatment, the percent activity associated with the particulate fraction (i.e., activated PKC) increased significantly after 60 min in RPMI 1640 medium with 30 mM glucose. The distribution of PKC returned to control values by 24 h. High glucose did not stimulate phosphoinositide hydrolysis, as evidenced by the absence of an increase in the water-soluble inositol phosphates, indicating that DAG was not generated through the action of a phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C. Cells treated with the cell-permeable DAG analogue 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl glycerol to activate PKC displayed approximately two-fold increases of fibronectin, laminin, and type IV collagen mRNA levels after normalization against actin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Nodular expansion of glomerular mesangium with increased amounts of extracellular matrix (ECM) material is pathognomic of diabetic nephropathy. The precise mechanisms involved in this accumulation are unknown. Recently, we reported using a solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique that glomerular mesangial cells, the principal cell type residing in glomerular mesangium, accumulate 50-60% more fibronectin (FN), laminin (LM), and type IV collagen (T-IV) when cultured in medium containing high glucose (30 mM) (S. H. Ayo, R. A. Rodnik, J. Garoni, W. F. Glass II, and J. I. Kreiberg. Am. J. Pathol. 136: 1339-1348, 1990). ECM assembly is controlled by its rate of synthesis and degradation, as well as its binding and rate of incorporation into the ECM. To elucidate the mechanisms involved, pulse-chase experiments were designed to estimate ECM protein synthesis from the incorporation of Trans-35S [( 35S]methionine, [35S]cysteine) into immunoprecipitated FN, LM, and T-IV. mRNA levels were examined, and degradation rates were estimated from the disappearance of radioactivity from matrix proteins in mesangial cells previously incubated with Trans-35S. One week of growth in 30 mM glucose resulted in approximately 40-50% increase in the synthesis of all three matrix proteins compared with 10 mM glucose-grown cells. This was accompanied by a significant increase in the transcripts for all three matrix proteins (approximately twofold). The specific activity of the radiolabel in trichloroacetic acid-precipitable cell protein showed no difference between cells grown in 10 or 30 mM glucose, indicating that total protein synthesis was unchanged. After 1 wk, the rate of FN, LM, and T-IV collagen degradation was unchanged.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Previously, we reported that mesangial cells increased fibronectin, laminin and type IV collagen synthesis when cultured in the presence of high glucose (30 mM). Although mRNA levels for all three extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins were also increased in high glucose conditions, the mechanism for this increase was not known. In order to determine whether increased transcription was involved in the observed increase in fibronectin mRNA levels mesangial cells were transfected with a construct containing the 5'-flanking region of the fibronectin (FN) gene [position +69 to -510 base pairs (bp)] fused to the coding region of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene [FN-CAT (-510)]. Cells were transiently and stably transfected with this construct. Under serum-free conditions, high glucose increased CAT activity only in the presence of TGF beta 1 (referred to as TGF beta). The experiments were performed without serum because FN-CAT (-510) contains a serum responsive element. The increase in CAT was approximately twofold in transiently transfected cells and threefold in stably transfected cells. TGF beta alone increased CAT activity approximately 30%. Stimulation of fibronectin gene expression appeared to occur at the level of a cAMP response element (CRE) located -170 bp of the FN gene because cells transfected with a construct containing an oligonucleotide encoding for this CRE fused to a minimal fibronectin promoter (-56 bp) and a CAT reporter gene [CRE (-170) FN-CAT] displayed similar increments of CAT activity after treatment with high glucose and TGF beta. Gel shift mobility assays with a CRE oligonucleotide revealed multiple complexes with mesangial cell nuclear proteins.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)