FRI290 Proteomic Identification Of Secretoneurin-Stimulated Proteins In Purified Mouse Gonadotropes
Authors: Herdman Ashley , Lagasse Alex , Haney Anessa , Byrum Stephanie , Miles Tiffany , Boehm Uli , MacNicol Melanie C , MacNicol Angus M , Childs Gwen V , Odle Angela K 
Published: October 2023

Disclosure: A. Herdman: None. A. Lagasse: None. A. Haney: None. S. Byrum: None. U. Boehm: None. M.C. MacNicol: None. A.M. MacNicol: None. G.V. Childs: None. A.K. Odle: None.

Secretoneurin (SN) is a proteolytic product of secretogranin II (SCG2), a member of the granin family of proteins. Both SCG2 and SN have been localized in the anterior pituitary (AP), and SCG2 co-localizes to gonadotrope granules containing luteinizing hormone (LH). Preliminary studies from others have shown that exogenous SN is capable of stimulating LH secretion from the mouse LßT2 cell line and goldfish pituitaries, and SN may provide a paracrine signal from other AP cells to support LH production/secretion. Despite the implications for regulatory reproductive signaling, a comprehensive study of the effect of SN on female mammalian gonadotropes has not been conducted. To define the pathways and processes affected by exogenous secretoneurin (SN) on murine gonadotrope protein expression, pituitaries from 18 proestrous female mice expressing Gnrhr-driven Cre and a floxed fluorescent Cre reporter were collected and dispersed. Half of the dispersed pituitaries were stimulated with 1 μM SN, and all cells were incubated for 3 hours. Gonadotropes were purified via fluorescence-activated cell sorting. After pooling to optimize cell counts, control and SN-stimulated gonadotropes were submitted for mass-spectrometry proteomics. A differential expression analysis was performed to determine fold-change (FC) in proteins from SN-stimulated samples over control (unstimulated), and false discovery rate (FDR)-controlled adjusted p values were used to assign significance (Adj p≤0.05). A total of 948 proteins were identified in the purified gonadotrope pools. Of these, 136 proteins were significantly differentially expressed between control and SN-stimulated gonadotrope pools; 53 proteins were upregulated and 83 were downregulated in SN-stimulated gonadotropes. Upregulated targets of particular interest include the SN precursor SCG2 (FC = 12, p&lt;0.05), as well as prohormone convertase 2 (PC2: FC = 8, p&lt;0.05) which can cleave SCG2 to produce SN. Also upregulated is ELAV-like protein 1 (ELAVL1: FC=5, p&lt;0.05), an RNA-binding protein known to regulate gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR) expression and bind other gonadotrope-critical mRNAs. Although LHß was unchanged, the glycoprotein alpha subunit (CGA) was decreased 4-fold following SN stimulation (p = 0.05). This is consistent with previous reports showing decreased Cga mRNA following SN stimulation. In addition to the expected “cell signaling” and “response to stimulation”, gene ontology analysis showed that the major biological processes altered by SN stimulation include processing of RNA (including RNA binding, translation regulation, etc.) and regulation of cell structure. Indeed, several RNA-binding proteins and actin-related proteins were significantly changed. Our data confirm previous results from LßT2 cells and define new SN targets and pathways that may play a broader role in gonadotrope physiology.

Presentation: Friday, June 16, 2023