Pronounced alterations of cellular metabolism and structure due to hyper- or hypo-osmosis

Cell volume alteration represents an important factor contributing to the pathology of late-onset diseases. Previously, it was reported that protein biosynthesis and degradation are inversely (trans) regulated during cell volume regulation. Upon cell shrinkage, protein biosynthesis was up-regulated and protein degradation down-regulated. Cell swelling showed opposite regulation. Recent evidence suggests a decrease of protein biodegradation activity in many neurodegenerative diseases and even during aging; both also show prominent cell shrinkage. To clarify the effect of cell volume regulation on the overall protein turnover dynamics, we investigated mouse embryonic stem cells under hyper- and hypotonic osmotic conditions using a 2-D gel based proteomics approach. These conditions cause cell swelling and shrinkage, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the adaption to altered osmotic conditions and therefore cell volume alterations affects a broad spectrum of cellular pathways, including stress response, cytoskeleton remodeling and importantly, cellular metabolism and protein degradation. Interestingly, protein synthesis and degradation appears to be cis-regulated (same direction) on a global level. Our findings also support the hypothesis that protein alterations due to osmotic stress contribute to the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases due to a 60% expression overlap with proteins found altered in Alzheimer's, Huntington's, or Parkinson's disease. Eighteen percent of the proteins altered are even shared with all three disorders.