In situ mRNA distribution of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase isoforms during ontogeny in the rat

The Sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA) plays a crucial role in maintaining the Ca2+ homeostasis, which itself, controls various essential cellular function. The existence of several SERCA isoforms, encoded by three different genes and produced by alternative splicing of pre-mRNA transcripts, has been established by cDNA cloning. However, the temporo-spatial evolution of their expression during ontogeny was unknown. We have used in situ hybridization to determine the cellular distribution of three of these mRNA isoforms, SERCA 2a, SERCA 2b and SERCA 3 during rat ontogeny and focused our study on the cardiovascular system. We demonstrate that early in embryogenesis, SERCA 3 mRNA is highly expressed in the heart tube and is also present in the yolk sac. In 14-16 days embryos, SERCA 3 mRNA has disappeared from the heart but is expressed in the aorta and in discrete foci of the liver. Later on, its expression in the cardiovascular system is restricted to the arterial endothelium. SERCA 2a mRNA is coexpressed with SERCA 3 mRNA in the heart tube and remains expressed in the cardiomyocytes throughout life. It is transiently expressed in skeletal muscle at the onset of differentiation. In early foetal life, SERCA 2b is expressed in the mesenteric area and thereafter in all cell types at various levels. Our data indicate that (i) expression of SERCA 2b is neither tissue-specific nor developmentally regulated (ii) expression of SERCA 2a and SERCA 3 isoforms is regulated in a cell specific manner during development and suggest that the SERCA 3 gene plays a role in controlling the function of endothelial cells during vasculogenesis.