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From the First Department of Pathology,*
Hamamatsu
University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan; the Cancer Research
Institute,
China Medical University, Shenyang,
China; and the Department of Oncological
Pathology,
Cancer Center, Nara Medical
College, Nara, Japan
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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| Materials and Methods |
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Wistar rats purchased from Nippon SLC Co. (Hamamatsu, Japan) were bred and maintained in the Institute for Experimental Animals at the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. After overnight mating, the presence of a vaginal plug or sperm-positive vaginal smear in the morning was considered as gestational day 0.5. All pregnant rats were housed in individual cages and allowed food and water ad libitum under controlled conditions of temperature (23 ± 2°C) and lighting (12-hour light-dark cycle). The timed pregnant female rats were sacrificed by exsanguination through the abdominal aorta after deep anesthesia with diethyl ether. Embryos from gestational day 15.5 to 21.5 (term = 22 days) were removed from the mothers, and fetal rat lungs were obtained by microdissection under stereoscopic microscope. Postnatal 1-day-old, 1-week-old, and adult rats were sacrificed by inhalation of diethyl ether, and lungs were rapidly removed from the chest cavity. Fetal and postnatal lung tissues were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -70°C. All of these procedures were performed according to the guidelines for animal experiments in the institute.
RNA Isolation
Total RNA was isolated from the lung of fetal rats (ranging in age from gestational day 15.5 to 21.5 and postnatal 1-day-old, 1-week-old, and 14-week-old rat) using the commercially available ISOGEN kit (Nippongene, Tokyo, Japan). Poly(A)+ RNA was then prepared by using Oligotex-dT 30 Super (Roche, Tokyo, Japan) according to the manufacturers instructions.
Differential Display
Differential display was performed by using the RNAimage Kit 10
(GenHunter, Brookline, MA) according to the manufacturers protocol.
This kit contains three anchored oligo-dT primers
(H-T11A, H-T11C, and
H-T11G) and eight arbitrary primers (H-AP73~80)
with 24 possible combinations of upstream and downstream primers.
Briefly, 0.2 µg of total RNA, treated with DNase I (MessageClean Kit,
GenHunter, Brookline, MA), was reverse transcribed to a first strand
complementary DNA (cDNA) using an anchored oligo-dT primer,
5'-AAGCTTTTTTTTTTTG-3' (H-T11G). Following the
reverse transcription, cDNAs were amplified by polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) using the same anchored oligo-dT primer
(H-T11G) and an arbitrary primer,
5'-AAGCTTCTATTTC-3' (H-AP80) in the presence of
-[35S]dATP (NEN, Boston, MA). The amplified
products were then separated by electrophoresis on a 6% denaturing
polyacrylamide gel and visualized by autoradiography.
Characterization of the Differentially Expressed Band
The differentially expressed bands were dissected from the dried gel and eluted in distilled water, followed by boiling for 15 minutes. Reamplified PCR products with the same pair of primers used in the initial PCR reaction were then subcloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega, Madison, WI) and sequenced by the dye-deoxy terminator methods with a Thermo Sequenase II dye terminator cycle sequencing kit (Amersham, Buckinghamshire, UK) and an ABI 373A DNA Sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Homology search was performed using the BLAST program at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Northern Blot Analysis
Northern blot analysis was carried out according to the standard
methods.12
Total RNA (25 µg/lane) from fetal, newborn,
and adult rat tissues were fractionated by formaldehyde-1% agarose gel
electrophoresis and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane (Micron
Separations Inc., Westborough, MA). RNA was fixed to the membrane by
baking at 80°C for 2 hours. The membrane was prehybridized in 50%
formamide, 5x saline sodium citrate (SSC), 5x Denhardts solution,
5.0 mmol/L EDTA, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and 100 µg/ml
denatured salmon sperm DNA at 42°C for 4 hours. The cDNA probe
isolated from the differential display gel was labeled with
[
-32P]dCTP (ICN, Costa Mesa, CA) using
Random Primer DNA Labeling Kit version 2.0 (Takara, Osaka, Japan) and
hybridized in 50% formamide, 5x SSC, 5x Denhardts solution, 5.0
mmol/L EDTA, 0.1% SDS, 100 µg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA, and
10% dextran sulfate at 42°C for 14 hours. The membrane was washed
twice with 1x SSC, 0.1% SDS at room temperature for 15 minutes and
twice with 0.25% SSC, 0.1% SDS at 58°C for 15 minutes and exposed
to X-OMAT AR film (Kodak, Rochester, NY) with intensifying screens at
-80°C for 48 hours. The membrane was subsequently rehybridized with
mouse glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) cDNA as an
internal control for equivalent RNA loading. The size of the
hybridizing RNA was inferred by comparing ribosomal RNAs in an adjacent
lane.
cDNA Library Construction and Screening for Full Sequence
A 1-day-old newborn rat lung cDNA library (oligo-dT primed) was constructed in Lambda Zap II vector following the manufacturers instruction (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). A total of 300,000 plaque-forming units (pfu) was plated at 30,000 pfu/150-mm agar plate. The plaques were lifted onto Hybond-N+ nylon transfer membranes (Amersham), alkali denatured, and fixed to the membranes by a UV cross-linker (Stratagene). The membranes were screened with the 32P-labeled cDNA probe generated by random prime labeling under high stringency conditions.12 Positive plaques were picked from plates and subjected to secondary and tertiary screening at lower titers to ensure the purity of the clones. pBluescript SK(-) plasmids containing the positive cDNA were rescued from the Lambda Zap II vector using ExAssist helper phage according to the in vivo excision protocol (Stratagene). The cDNAs were sequenced by the dye primer method with a Thermo Sequenase fluorescent labeled primer cycle sequencing kit with 7-deaza-dGTP (Amersham) and a DSQ-2000L DNA sequencer (Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan).
Reverse Transcription (RT)-PCR
To obtain the full-length cDNA, RT-PCR was performed as follows. Total RNA (4 µg) of adult rat lung was reverse transcribed using a oligo(dT)1218 primer. The upstream primers, 5'-CCCTGCG(A/GAGGGAGCGCTGA(T/C)C-3', just outside the predicted initiation codon were designed based on sequence data obtained from mouse and human isoforms of the Na/Pi cotransporter type IIb.9,11 PCR was performed using the upstream primers paired with a downstream primer, 5'-GATGATTGACGAGGACGTGC-3' (nucleotide 502521, in rNaPi IIb), under 94°C denaturation, 55°C annealing, and 72°C extension temperatures for 22 cycles. The predicted product size with these primers was 512 bp. The RT-PCR products were subcloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega) and sequenced.
In Situ Hybridization and Tissues
Sense and antisense complementary RNA (cRNA) probes were synthesized from the linearized pBluescript SK(-) plasmid containing the longest cDNA fragment of rNaPi IIb, designated HG80 28a, obtained from the cDNA library screening by in vitro transcription in the presence of digoxigenin (DIG)-labeled UTP (Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany) with the use of T7 and T3 RNA polymerase, respectively, following the protocol recommended by the company. The cRNA probes were alkali hydrolyzed to generate probes about 500 bases long. The mouse surfactant protein C (SP-C) probe13 was a gift from Dr. N. Miura, Second Department of Biochemistry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. The SP-C sequence homology between mouse14 and rat15 at the cDNA level was 92%. For developmental studies, Wistar rat embryos aged gestational day 15.5 to 18.5, 20.5, and 21.5, postnatal 1-day-old, and adult rat lung tissues were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer (PB) at 4°C overnight and processed under RNase-free conditions for standard paraffin embedding.
In situ hybridization on sections was performed as previously described16 with minor modifications. Briefly, 4-µm sections were deparaffinized, washed with PB, treated with proteinase K (10 µg/ml) at 37°C for 30 minutes, washed again with PB, fixed again in 4% paraformaldehyde in PB, treated with 0.1% Nonidet P-40 in 2x SSC at 37°C for 30 minutes, treated with 0.2N HCl at room temperature for 20 minutes to inactivate internal alkaline phosphatase, treated with 0.1 mol/L triethanolamine-HCl (TEA) pH 8.0, acetylated with 0.25% acetic acid in 0.1 mol/L TEA, pH 8.0, dehydrated through a graded series of ethanol, and air-dried. The cRNA probes were hybridized to the tissue sections at 50°C for 16 hours in a moisture chamber. After hybridization, sections were washed in 5x SSC briefly, 50% formamide in 2x SSC at 50°C for 30 minutes, and 10 mmol/L Tris pH 7.6, 5 mmol/L EDTA, and 500 mmol/L NaCl (TNE) at 37°C for 15 minutes. Sections were then treated with RNase A (25 µg/ml) at 37°C for 30 minutes and washed in TNE at 37°C for 10 minutes. Next, sections were washed twice in 2x SSC and 0.2x SSC at 50°C for 15 minutes. To further reduce background signals, sections were rinsed in 0.1% Nonidet P-40 in 2x SSC at 37°C for 10 minutes. Finally, sections were dehydrated in a graded ethanol series and air-dried. The hybridization signal was detected using DIG Nucleic Acid Detection Kit (Boehringer Mannheim). Controls included tissue sections that were hybridized with sense cRNA probes and those incubated in hybridization buffer without probes added.
| Results |
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To isolate genes involved in lung development, mRNA expression in
the embryonic and postnatal lung was compared by differential display
analysis. One band appeared faintly on gestational day 16.5 and
increased in expression with development (Figure 1A)
. This cDNA fragment, designated HG80,
was subcloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector for sequencing. The HG80 cDNA
was 247 bp long and contained both upstream (H-AP80) and downstream
(H-T11G) primer sequences used for amplification.
Sequence alignment revealed that HG80 had substantial similarity to the
mouse type IIb Na/Pi cotransporter (Npt2b).9
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We confirmed the differential expression of HG80 in the developing
lung by Northern blot analysis (Figure 1B)
. The
32P-labeled HG80 cDNA probe hybridized to a
single mRNA that was faintly expressed in gestational day 17.5 lung
tissue but was rapidly augmented after gestational day 18.5.
cDNA Cloning
Screening of a 1-day-old newborn rat lung cDNA library with the HG80 as a probe resulted in the isolation of six individual overlapping cDNA clones, the largest of which, HG80 28a, was about 3.8 kb. Sequence comparison with the Npt2b (GenBank accession no. AF081499) and NaPi3b (GenBank accession no. AF111856) suggested that approximately 100 nucleotides were missing at the 5' end. To obtain the full-length cDNA sequence, RT-PCR was performed as described in Materials and Methods. Three clones of the RT-PCR products were sequenced. The full-length cDNA sequence contains 3950 nucleotides with an open reading frame of 2088 nucleotides. The deduced amino acid sequence consisted of putative eight hydrophobic transmembrane domains and contained clusters of cysteine residues in the C-terminal region and showed the highest homology with Npt2b. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of the rat with that of mouse Npt2b and human NaPi3b confirmed a high degree of sequence similarity: 93.7 and 80.4%, respectively. Identity with the rat Na/Pi cotransporter type II (NaPi2A, GenBank accession no. L13257) was 65.6% at the amino acid level.17 Taken together, we assigned this gene as the rat counterpart of Npt2b and NaPi3b, and designated it as rNaPi IIb (GenBank accession no. AF157026).
Northern Blot Analysis
Northern blot analysis was performed to characterize the rNaPi IIb
gene expression. Total RNAs were isolated from the brain, heart, lung,
stomach, small intestine, colon, liver, spleen, kidney, thymus, and
adrenal gland of 14-week-old Wistar rats. Northern blot analysis using
the HG80 cDNA probe identified a single 4.0-kb transcript expressed
predominantly in the lung (Figure 1C)
. Signals were also detected in
the kidney and, to a lesser degree, in the small intestine, colon, and
thymus. No hybridization signals were observed in the brain, heart,
stomach, liver, spleen, or adrenal gland.
Expression of rNaPi IIb during Lung Development Analyzed by in Situ Hybridization
In situ hybridization was performed to determine the spatial and temporal expression of rNaPi IIb mRNA in the developing rat lung. In mammalian lung development, the following different but partially overlapping stages have been suggested based on morphological criteria1,18 : the embryonic (gestational day 11.514 in the rat), pseudoglandular (gestational day 1518), canalicular (gestational day 1920), saccular (gestational day 2122), and postnatal stages (late saccular stage, alveolar stage, and stage of microvascular maturation). Lung sections on and after the pseudoglandular stage were prepared because, with differential display and Northern blot analysis, rNaPi IIb mRNA expression was first detected on gestational days 16.5 and 17.5, respectively.
In the pseudoglandular stage, the primitive bronchial tree composed of
tall columnar epithelial cell lining, which grows into the surrounding
mesenchyme, resembles an exocrine gland on light microscopy. During the
late pseudoglandular stage, the most prominent structural change is a
marked increase in the number of epithelial tubules in the peripheral
area of the developing lung.18
Fetal lungs on gestational
day 15.5, corresponding to the early pseudoglandular stage, did not
demonstrate any detectable rNaPi IIb message, even after prolonged
color development (data not shown). On gestational day 16.5, faint and
indistinct hybridization signals were first detected in a minority of
epithelial cells at several distal edges of the primitive bronchial
tree (data not shown). On the next day (gestational day 17.5), diffuse,
weak hybridization signals which appeared to be restricted to the
rounded ends of the primitive bronchial tree were detected (data not
shown). On gestational day 18.5, rNaPi IIb signals were very strong and
distinctly confined to the bulbous ends of the branching bronchial tree
(Figure 2, A
-C). Clusters of positive
cells were sharply demarcated from adjacent negative epithelial cells.
No hybridization signals were detected in the more proximal bronchial
tubules and mesenchyme during this pseudoglandular stage.
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In the saccular stage, the acinar tubules become further differentiated
into primitive alveolar ducts or terminal sac and the lung exhibits an
increase in its alveolar appearance with the more expanded terminal
sacs, which are already lined by both mature type II cells and
flattened type I cells. The distribution of rNaPi IIb mRNA expression
in the early saccular stage (gestational day 21.5) was similar to that
of the previous canalicular stage (Figure 2, D and E)
. On postnatal day
1, corresponding to the late saccular stage, the positive cuboidal
cells of the terminal sac were observed to be more sparse (data not
shown). No hybridization signals were detected in the flattened cells
of the terminal sac, bronchiolar epithelial cells, vascular cells, and
interstitial cells in this stage.
In the adult rat lung, hybridization signals were localized to the
cuboidal cells of the alveolar epithelium, located in the corners of
the alveoli (Figure 2F)
. No hybridization signals were detected in the
flattened cells of the alveolar epithelium, bronchiolar epithelium, and
interstitium. These positive cells scattered in the alveolar area were
obviously alveolar type II cells, based on their morphological
appearance and pattern of distribution.
To confirm this, we performed in situ hybridization with
antisense rNaPi IIb cRNA probe and SP-C cRNA probe on mirror sections,
because it had been shown that SP-C expression was strictly specific to
alveolar type II cells of the rat lung at this stage.15,21
SP-C and rNaPi IIb mRNA were expressed in the same cells (Figure 3)
. This result confirmed that the rNaPi
IIb mRNA was also expressed in type II cells.
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| Discussion |
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The functional significance of rNaPi IIb in type II alveolar cells is probably related to surfactant production, because in alveolar type II cells phosphate may be an essential constituent of phospholipids, which are the major components of surfactant. Clerici et al22 suggested that phosphate availability for surfactant synthesis might be accomplished by a sodium-dependent phosphate uptake, and that the gene we report here performs this function. If rNaPi IIb plays a critical role in collecting inorganic phosphate for making phospholipids, the expression of this gene in alveolar type II cells but not in bronchiolar epithelium, including Clara cells, demonstrated here will further clarify the issue of whether phospholipids and SP-C are synthesized in Clara cells.
There are currently few lineage markers available for type II alveolar cells of the lung. To date, SP-C is the only marker that is specific to type II cells in the lung. rNaPi IIb is a candidate marker, because it is continuously expressed in type II alveolar cells. RT-PCR demonstrated that SP-C mRNA was detected on day 13 of gestation,23 whereas rNaPi IIb expression seems to appear 3 days later. Thus, rNaPi IIb mRNA can be used as a later marker for studying the spatial and temporal differentiation of alveolar type II cells.
The histological lineage of adenocarcinoma of the lung remains unclear, and rNaPi IIb may be a useful marker to analyze the histopathogenesis of lung cancer. Characterization of human adenocarcinoma by this probe is also expected. We also expect that this gene may be useful for analyses of pathological conditions of alveolar cells, including various types of alveolar cell damage.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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Supported from the grant in aid from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control (to T. T. and M. T.), the Smoking Research Foundation (to H. S.), and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Japan (to H. S. and M. T.). Y. Z. is an awardee of Association of International Education, Japan (AIEJ) Short-term Student Exchange Promotion Program (Inbound) Peace and Friendship Scholarship.
Accepted for publication April 3, 2000.
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