Regulation of enzyme turnover during tissue differentiation. Interactions of insulin, prolactin and cortisol in controlling the turnover of fatty acid synthetase in rabbit mammary gland in organ culture

1. Explants of mammary gland from mid-pregnant rabbits were cultured in Medium 199 containing combinations of insulin, prolactin and cortisol. With hormone combinations which included prolactin, a sustained increase in the apparent rate of synthesis and in the amount of fatty acid synthetase was measurable immunologically. Maximum increase was produced with insulin, prolactin and cortisol present together. 2. With prolactin present alone, synthetase activity in the explants decreased to undetectable values after 1 day in culture, whereas the incorporation of l-[U-14C]leucine into immunodetectable material increased. Prolactin may therefore direct the synthesis of immunologically cross-reactive precursors of fatty acid synthetase which are enzymically inactive. 3. Culture with dibutyryl cyclic AMP plus theophylline in the presence of insulin, prolactin and cortisol delayed the increase in the rate of synthesis and accumulation of the synthetase. These compounds may also prevent the apparent decrease in the rate of degradation of the synthetase which occurs on day 2 of culture. 4. A large decrease in the apparent rate of degradation of the synthetase on day 2 of culture occurs during culture with hormone combinations which include prolactin. The protein obtained by centrifugation of explant homogenates for 6min at 14000gav. is degraded continuously throughout the culture period. 5. This decrease in the apparent rate of degradation of the synthetase was measured by radio-immunological precipitation. It is probably part of a regulated programme of enzyme degradation and not a reflexion of the reutilization of radioactive amino acids for the following reasons. (a) The calculated increase in the amount of the synthetase in explants on day 2 of culture with insulin, prolactin and cortisol was approximately equal to the measured increase of the enzyme complex which accumulates in the explants. This suggests little or no enzyme degradation has occurred. (b) Explants were cultured for 24h with insulin, prolactin and cortisol. They were then incubated with l-[U-14C]leucine, washed and incubated again for up to 4½h. l-[U-14C]Leucine rapidly equilibrated with the intracellular amino acid pool. Within 10min of incubation after washing explants to remove endogenous l-[U-14C]leucine the previously linear incorporation of l-[U-14C]-leucine into total explant protein ceased. This suggests that protein is synthesized from an amino acid pool which rapidly equilibrates with amino acids in the culture medium. (c) Explants were cultured for 24h as described in (b) but after washing they were cultured with insulin, prolactin and cortisol for 24h. Approx. 90% of the radioactivity lost from the ‘free’ intracellular amino acid pool and from amino acids derived from the degradation of explant protein in this period was detected in the culture medium. This suggests that the ‘free’ intracellular amino acids and amino acids derived from protein degradation can equilibrate with amino acids in the medium. A residual ‘free’ radioactive amino acid pool was present in the tissue. (d) Casein represents approx. 20% of the protein synthesized after 1 day in culture with insulin, prolactin and cortisol. Histological evidence suggests that on day 2 of culture, casein is unlikely to be degraded in the tissue. No increase in the radioactivity incorporated into casein can be measured in the 23h after incubation of explants with l-[U-14C]leucine as described in (b). This suggests that the incorporation of radioactivity into proteins during culture after incubation with l-[U-14C]leucine is minimal. (e) Inhibition of protein synthesis in explants by cycloheximide after incubation with l-[U-14C]leucine does not reveal a latent continuous degradation of fatty acid synthetase on day 2 of culture which might have been masked by the high rates of protein synthesis and therefore the accumulation of the enzyme. 6. The conclusion is discussed that there is a real decrease (or even cessation) in the rate of degradation of fatty acid synthetase during the period when the enzyme accumulates in explants cultured with hormone combinations which contain prolactin.