Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume 271, Issue 52, 27 December 1996, Pages 33545-33549
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Cell Biology and Metabolism
Regulation by Adrenocorticotropic Hormone of the in Vivo Expression of Scavenger Receptor Class B Type I (SR-BI), a High Density Lipoprotein Receptor, in Steroidogenic Cells of the Murine Adrenal Gland*

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The class B, type I scavenger receptor, SR-BI, binds high density lipoprotein (HDL) and can mediate selective uptake of HDL cholesteryl esters by cultured cells. The high levels of expression of SR-BI in steroidogenic tissues and the importance of selective uptake from HDL as a source of cholesterol for steroidogenesis raised the possibility that SR-BI may participate in cholesterol delivery to steroidogenic tissues in vivo. We have used immunoblotting and immunohistochemical methods to show that SR-BI is specifically expressed in a distinctive pattern on the surfaces of steroid-producing cells in the murine adrenal gland's cortex and that its expression in vivo is induced by adrenocorticotropic hormone and suppressed by glucocorticoids. Thus, expression of SR-BI protein is coordinately regulated with adrenal steroidogenesis. These data provide strong support for the hypothesis that SR-BI is a physiologically relevant HDL receptor that provides substrate cholesterol for steroid hormone synthesis.

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*

This work was supported by Grants HL41484, HL52212, HL/GM49039, and HL32868 from the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and from the Whitaker Foundation in Biomedical Engineering, the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund in Experimental Therapeutics, and National Science Foundation Grant 9512316-BIR. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Note Added in Proof While this work was under review, Wang et al. (41) reported the analysis of the expression of SR-BI in various strains of mutant mice and in cultured Y1 adrenal cells.

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Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellow.