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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Laser Ablation and Intravital Microscopy to Study Intestinal Remodeling
Published on: June 9, 2023
Chromogranin A, an "on/off" switch controlling dense-core secretory granule biogenesis
T Kim1, J H Tao-Cheng, L E Eiden
1Section on Cellular Neurobiology, Laboratory of Developmental Neurobiology, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Abstract:
We present evidence that regulation of dense-core secretory granule biogenesis and hormone secretion in endocrine cells is dependent on chromogranin A (CGA). Downregulation of CGA expression in a neuroendocrine cell line, PC12, by antisense RNAs led to profound loss of dense-core secretory granules, impairment of regulated secretion of a transfected prohormone, and reduction of secretory granule proteins. Transfection of bovine CGA into a CGA-deficient PC12 clone rescued the regulated secretory phenotype. Stable transfection of CGA into a CGA-deficient pituitary cell line, 6T3, lacking a regulated secretory pathway, restored regulated secretion. Overexpression of CGA induced dense-core granules, immunoreactive for CGA, in nonendocrine fibroblast CV-1 cells. We conclude that CGA is an "on/off" switch that alone is sufficient to drive dense-core secretory granule biogenesis and hormone sequestration in endocrine cells.
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