Intracellular processing of growth hormone receptors by adipocytes in primary culture

Rat adipocytes in primary culture have been used to study the intracellular processing of growth hormone (GH) receptors. Pretreatment of adipocytes with 20 micrograms/ml cycloheximide resulted in a rapid decline (t1/2 approximately 45 min) of the 125I-human growth hormone (hGH) binding capacity of the cells. This decline occurred at a faster rate in the presence of extracellular unlabeled hGH (400 ng/ml) and was not due to receptor occupancy. These data suggest that GH receptors turn over rapidly and constitutively on the plasma membrane and in the absence of protein synthesis are not replaced. Dissociation of GH-receptor complexes was shown not to occur at pH 5.5, the pH encountered in the acidic pre-lysosomal compartments (endosomes) where intracellular dissociation of many hormone-receptor complexes takes place. These data, together, suggest that the majority of GH receptors are not recycled but instead suffer the same fate as the majority of GH, i.e. degradation. To determine the rate of appearance of GH receptors at the cell surface, adipocytes were first treated with trypsin and then incubated at 37 degrees C to permit incorporation of any available GH receptors into the plasma membrane. Binding of 125I-hGH recovered to pre-trypsin levels by 2 h. This recovery was completely blocked by concomitant treatment with monensin, cytochalasin B, colchicine and 2,4-dinitrophenol. NH4Cl had no effect on receptor recovery. These data suggest that once GH receptors are synthesized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, they travel via the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane (by processes involving both microfilaments and microtubules) and are then inserted into the plasma membrane in an energy-dependent step.