Diverse regulation of full-length and truncated growth hormone receptor expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Two truncated forms of growth hormone (GH) receptor (GHR), 1–277 and 1–279, were reported to be normally produced in human tissues by alternative splicing in exon 9 and its boundary. We found previously that GHR-277 exerts a dominant-negative effect on full-length GHR (GHR-fl)-mediated GH signaling causing short stature. The existence of truncated GHRs (hGHR-tr) in normal tissues suggests that hGHR-tr may play a physiological role in regulation of GH action at the cellular level. To clarify the physiological significance of GHR-tr and the regulation mechanism of GHR-tr expression, we examined the expression of mouse GHR-tr (mGHR-tr) mRNA in mouse adipocyte 3T3-L1 cells, comparing with that of mouse GHR-fl (mGHR-fl). The mRNAs of two mGHR-tr, mGHR-282 and mGHR-280, were detected by RT-PCR methods using specific primers. Although the mGHR-282 and mGHR-280 mRNA levels were approximately 100 times lower than that of mGHR-fl in mature 3T3-L1 cells, quantitative analysis by competitive RT-PCR methods revealed that the mRNA levels of mGHR-280 in 3T3-L1 cells were transiently reduced and thereafter increased during differentiation from preadipocyte to adipocyte. In contrast, the mRNA levels of mGHR-fl were increased in parallel with the progress of differentiation. Stimulation by GH of differentiated 3T3-L1 mature adipocytes resulted in dose-dependent increases of the mRNA of both mGHR-fl and mGHR-282, whereas it caused a paradoxical decrease of the mRNA of mGHR-280 stimulated by high concentration of GH. These findings suggest that the expressions of truncated mGHRs were regulated in a different manner from that of mGHR-fl, thereby modulating GH action in murine adipocytes.