Cytosolic glucocorticoid receptors in the developing rat heart

Glucocorticoid hormones alter functional cardiac responses in the rat heart. In the neonatal rat heart, glucocorticoid treatment on post-natal day 2 alters heart function for up to 3 weeks post-injection, which suggests that cardiac glucocorticoid receptors mediate cardiac function in neonates. However, glucocorticoid receptors have not been identified in neonatal rat heart. Glucocorticoid receptor binding was measured in neonatal rat heart cytosol extract using [3H] dexamethasone as ligand, and characterized by competition assays and Scatchard analysis. Saturable, specific, high affinity glucocorticoid receptor binding was found in the cytosol of the neonatal rat heart. We then examined the effects of a single, post-natal day 2 injection of hydrocortisone acetate on glucocorticoid receptor binding in 12 to 14-day-old rat heart. While this injection paradigm results in altered cardiac function in 12-day-old rat hearts, cytosol glucocorticoid receptor binding in 12 to 14-day-old heart was not altered by treatment on post-natal day 2 with hydrocortisone acetate. It is postulated that exposure to elevated glucocorticoid levels on neonatal day 2 may alter cardiac function by producing permanent organizational effects on cardiac tissue.