Arginine vasopressin regulated ASCT1 expression in astrocytes from stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats and congenic SHRpch1_18 rats

In stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP/Izm), ischemia induces swelling of astrocytes, a process that subsequently leads to neuronal death. Following ischemic insult, arginine vasopressin (AVP) can induce edema and l-serine released by astrocytes supports the survival of neuronal cells. The purpose of this study was to examine whether AVP contributed to the regulation of l-serine production following ischemic stroke. Here, we used cultured astrocytes from SHRSP/Izm rats and Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY/Izm) to examine whether AVP changed the production of l-serine and/or altered gene expression levels of the neural amino acid transporter (Slc1a4), 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (Phgdh) and serine racemase (SRR). Furthermore, using astrocytes from the congenic rat SHRpch1_18 strain having quantitative trait loci (QTL) of stroke, we examined expression of those genes under conditions of hypoxia and reoxygenation (H/R). The expression levels of ASCT1 protein, the genes described above and l-serine levels were determined by Western blotting (WB), RT-PCR, real-time quantitative RT-PCR and HPLC. AVP increased the production of l-serine and the expression of Slc1a4 in WKY/Izm and SHRSP/Izm astrocytes. The production of l-serine and the expression of Slc1a4 were lower in SHRSP/Izm than in WKY/Izm cells. This difference was not seen with Phgdh. In the SHRpch1_18 strain, the expression of Slc1a4 and Phgdh significantly decreased after H/R. AVP-mediated enhanced expression of ASCT1 was blocked by the addition of bumetanide. These results suggest that the AVP-mediated attenuated expression of ASCT1 in astrocytes is associated with reduced l-serine production in SHRSP/Izm astrocytes. We hypothesize that reduction of gene expression by AVP might be related to the induction of stroke in the SHRpch1_18 rat strain.