Rabbit cardiac and skeletal myocytes differ in constitutive and inducible expression of the glucose-regulated protein GRP94.

The glucose-regulated protein GRP94 is a stress-inducible glycoprotein that is known to be constitutively and ubiquitously expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum of mammalian cells. From a rabbit heart cDNA library we isolated four overlapping clones coding for the rabbit homologue of GRP94 mRNA. Northern blot analysis shows that a 3200 nt mRNA species corresponding to GRP94 mRNA is detectable in several tissues and it is 5-fold more abundant in the heart than in the skeletal muscle. Hybridization analysis in situ shows that GRP94 mRNA accumulates in cardiac myocytes, whereas in skeletal muscles it is not detectable in myofibres. A monoclonal antibody raised by using a 35 kDa recombinant GRP94 polypeptide as immunogen detects a single reactive polypeptide of 94 kDa in a Western blot of liver and heart homogenates and does not react with skeletal muscle homogenates. Conversely, GRP94 mRNA and protein are detectable in both cardiac and skeletal muscle myocytes of fetal and neonatal rabbits. After 24 h of endotoxin administration to adult rabbits, GRP94 mRNA accumulation increases 3-fold in both heart and skeletal muscle and it is followed by a comparable increase in protein accumulation. However, hybridization and immunohistochemistry in situ do not reveal any change in the expression of GRP94 mRNA and protein in skeletal muscle myocytes after endotoxin treatment. Thus skeletal muscle fibres display a unique regulation of the GRP94 gene, which is upregulated during perinatal development, whereas in the adult animal it is apparently silent and not responsive to endotoxin treatment.