Ontogenic development of vasoactive intestinal peptide receptors in rat intestinal cells and liver

Changes in the functional and biochemical characteristics of membrane receptors for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) were evaluated in vitro, using epithelial intestinal cells isolated during rat development, from day 17 of gestation to adulthood. These characteristics included cell cAMP generation, adenylate cyclase and cAMP-dependent phosphodiesterase cAMP-PDE activities, [125I]VIP-binding capacity, and the molecular components of [125I]VIP-binding sites. In 19-day-old fetuses, VIP induced a significant and persistent increase in cAMP production, which lasted for 10 min in intestinal cells. This effect, measured at 37 C in the absence of cAMP-PDE inhibitor, only lasted for 3 min in 5-day-old rats and was undetectable in adult intestine. Addition of the cAMP-PDE inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine with VIP caused, potentiated, and maintained elevated cAMP levels at the three stages considered. Intestinal cells were more sensitive to VIP in 17- and 19-day-old fetuses (ED50 = 5 and 17 X 10(-11) M VIP, respectively, at 15 and 37 C) than in adult rats (EC50 = 2.7 and 1.6 X 10(-9) M VIP). Adenylate cyclase activity rose 4-fold in fetal intestine and had an apparent Ka of 4 X 10(-10) M VIP. These changes in VIP receptor activity were not observed for PGE2 receptors in developing rat intestinal cells or in the VIP-sensitive adenylate cyclase system prepared from liver of fetuses and adults. They might be due to differences between the molecular components of the intestinal VIP receptor, which were identified here as autoradiographic bands of 64,800 daltons in 19-day-old rat fetuses and 74,600 daltons in adults (P less than 0.01). Alternatively, the changes in VIP receptor activity in 5-day-old rats may result from decreases in the number and affinity of the [125I]VIP-binding sites and increases in the velocity of cAMP-PDE activity. The release of VIP from intestinal nerve endings during fetal and postnatal development and the absorption of VIP from milk might, therefore, modulate the intestinal VIP receptor and its effector systems. Because specific VIP receptors were expressed before the morphological and functional differentiation of intestinal and liver cells, we conclude that their activity is an indicator of their development, and suggest that in rats, this neuropeptide may regulate the maturation and functions of intestine and liver during fetal life.