Characterization of natural vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart Elise Glattard 1 , Tommaso Angelone 2 , Jean-Marc Strub 3 , Angelo Corti 4 , Dominique Aunis 1 , Bruno Tota 2 , Marie-He ´ le ` ne Metz-Boutigue 1 and Yannick Goumon 1 1 Inserm U575, Physiopathologie du Syste ` me Nerveux, Strasbourg, France 2 Laboratory of Cardiovascular Physiology, Department of Cell Biology, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Italy 3 CNRS, UMR 7512, Laboratoire de Spectrome ´ trie de Masse BioOrganique, Strasbourg, France 4 Department of Biological and Technological Research, San Raffaele H Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy Chromogranin A (CGA) is the major member of a family of acidic glycoproteins, named chromogra- nins ⁄ secretogranins, originally described in chromaffin cell granules of bovine adrenal medulla [1,2]. It is pre- sent in numerous tissues [3], and is stored and released together with neurotransmitters and hormones in the nervous, endocrine and diffuse neuroendocrine systems [2,4–7]. CGA is a well-conserved protein that is widely distributed, from paramecia to mammals [2,8]. It is characterized by a high abundance (17%) of glutamic acid residues and several dibasic sites in its sequence, representing cleavage sites for endopeptidases (i.e. prohormone convertases) and carboxypeptidase E ⁄ H [9–12], giving rise to various derived peptides display- ing numerous biological effects [7,13]. Post-translational modifications (phosphorylation and O-glycosylation) of bovine and human CGA have been identified [14–17]. Phosphorylations are present all along the sequence, whereas glycosylation sites are mainly located in the median part of CGA. CGA and its derived fragments are known to be released into blood in response to stress, reaching sev- eral nanomolar concentrations in the peripheral circu- lation of man [18,19]. Of these fragments, bovine CGA(4–16) and CGA(47–60) have been shown to Keywords chromogranin A; heart; post-translational modifications; rat; vasostatin Correspondence Y. Goumon, Inserm U575, 5, rue Blaise Pascal, F-67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France Fax: +33 3 88 60 08 06 Tel: +33 3 88 45 67 24 E-mail: goumon@neurochem.u-strasbg.fr (Received 17 February 2006, revised 18 May 2006, accepted 24 May 2006) doi:10.1111/j.1742-4658.2006.05334.x Chromogranin A (CGA) is a protein that is stored and released together with neurotransmitters and hormones in the nervous, endocrine and diffuse neuroendocrine systems. As human vasostatins I and II [CGA(1–76) and CGA(1–113), respectively] have been reported to affect vessel motility and exert concentration-dependent cardiosuppressive effects on isolated whole heart preparations of eel, frog and rat (i.e. negative inotropism and anti- adrenergic activity), we investigated the presence of vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart. Rat heart extracts were purified by RP-HPLC, and the resulting fractions analyzed for the presence of CGA N-terminal frag- ments using dot-blot analysis. CGA-immunoreactive fractions were submit- ted to western blot and MS analysis using the TOF ⁄ TOF technique. Four endogenous N-terminal CGA-derived peptides [CGA(4–113), CGA(1–124), CGA(1–135) and CGA(1–199)] containing the vasostatin sequence were characterized. The following post-translational modifications of these frag- ments were identified: phosphorylation at Ser96, O-glycosylation (trisaccha- ride, NAcGal-Gal-NeuAc) at Thr126, and oxidation at three methionine residues. This first identification of CGA-derived peptides containing the vasostatin motif in rat heart supports their role in cardiac physiology by an autocrine ⁄ paracrine mechanism. Abbreviation CGA, chromogranin A. FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS 3311 affect microbial growth and nociception [5,20–23]. Vasostatin-I [human CGA(1–76)] and its N-terminal domain [CGA(1–40)] have also been reported to affect the dilatation of vessels [24–28] probably via an endo- thelium-independent vasoinhibitory action [26]. In addition, circulating CGA concentrations are increased in cardiac pathology [29]. In patients with chronic heart failure, these high concentrations are correlated with the severity of the disease, representing a prognos- tic indicator of mortality [29]. The recent finding that CGA-knockout mice show hypertension and cardiac enlargement [30] further stresses the importance of CGA in cardiac physiology. Cardiosuppressive effects (i.e. negative inotropy) of N-terminal CGA-derived peptides have been well documented in vertebrate heart [31]. In particular, in the isolated working heart of the frog Rana esculenta, the concentration-dependent neg- ative inotropism and inhibition of the b-adrenergic- dependent positive inotropy elicited by the N-terminal domain of CGA [i.e. human recombinant vasostatin I and bovine CGA(7–57)], as well as by the synthetic peptides corresponding to frog and bovine CGA(4–16), CGA(47–66), and bovine CGA(1–40), have been ana- lysed in details [32]. More recently, using the Lange- ndorff-perfused rat heart model, we have reported that the two recombinant human vasostatins STA-CGA(1– 76) (vasostatin I) and STA-CGA(1–113) (vasostatin II) display similar negative inotropic effects and antagon- ize the b-adrenergic-dependent positive inotropism, the latter being counteracted by vasostatin I in a noncom- petitive type of antagonism [33]. An important question arising from these results is whether cardiac tissues produce vasostatin-containing peptides. To answer this question and explore the potential autocrine ⁄ paracrine role of these peptides, we investigated the presence of endogenous N-terminal CGA-derived fragments in the rat heart. Our studies using biochemical techniques (RP-HPLC, dot-blot, western blot) and MS analysis (TOF-TOF MS) allowed us to investigate the N-terminal processing of CGA in rat heart extracts. Our data reveal the pres- ence of several vasostatin I-containing and vasosta- tin II-containing peptides in the CGA(1–199) domain, strongly supporting their role as intracardiac regulators of cardiac contractile performance. Results Western blot analysis of N-terminal CGA-derived peptides present in rat heart extract Experiments were carried out to determine whether acidic or heat treatment of rat heart was able to enrich and ⁄ or generate artificial CGA fragments (Experimen- tal procedures). Boiled and unboiled rat heart tissue extracts were prepared in 40% acetic acid or 0.1% (v ⁄ v) trifluoroacetic acid and loaded on an SDS ⁄ 15% polyacrylamide gel to compare the fragmentation pat- tern of CGA. A rat heart control extracted in the pres- ence of antiprotease cocktail and not treated with acid or heat was also used. Gels were electrotransferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane and submitted to western blot analysis using a rabbit antibody to CGA(4–16). The electrophoretic profiles of the treated CGA fragments were identical with that of the non- treated extract, indicating that no additional fragment was generated by the treatments used here and that CGA fragments were enriched using these treatments (Fig. 1). These results also indicate that 0.1% (v ⁄ v) tri- fluoroacetic acid in water used for HPLC purification did not induce further hydrolysis (Fig. 1). CGA maturation in rat heart was compared with that in rat adrenal to determine whether CGA Fig. 1. Western blot analysis of CGA fragments present in different rat heart preparations. The CGA-immunodetection pattern is shown for rat heart tissue prepared under five different conditions: untreated (no acid and no heating but addition of antiprotease cock- tail); in 40% acetic acid alone; in 40% acetic acid followed by heat- ing at 100 °C for 3 min; in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid; in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid followed by heating at 100 °C for 3 min. Samples (20 lg) were separated by SDS ⁄ PAGE (15% gel) and electrotransferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. Immuno- detection was carried out with the rabbit polyclonal antibody to bovine CGA(4–16). Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart E. Glattard et al. 3312 FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS maturation is tissue-dependent as reported in other species [20]. Rat heart extract, treated with acetic acid and heated, was subjected to SDS ⁄ PAGE (15% gel) (Fig. 2). Rat adrenal gland extract also treated with acetic acid and heated was used as control. In rat heart, three groups of bands ranging from 17 to 80 kDa (Fig. 2, lane 2 and labels) were identified: (a) containing strongly labeled high-molecular-mass bands (a, b); (b) containing other major bands (c, d, g); (c) containing weakly labeled bands (e, f, h, i, j, k). Thus, it appears that the a and b immunoreactive bands, ran- ging from 80 to 50 kDa, correspond to the apparent molecular mass of intact rat CGA (with and without post-translational modifications), as well as to several large N-terminal-derived fragments. Such a broad pat- tern is due to the presence of glutamic acid clusters [e.g. CGA(216–228)], known to modify the electropho- retic migration of GGA [CGA(1–448), 48 kDa] with the apparent molecular mass of 80 kDa (Fig. 2, lane 2, a label) [9]. The second group containing bands c, d and g at 45, 37 and 27 kDa, respectively, corresponds to shorter N-terminal CGA-derived fragments. The third group is composed of weakly labeled bands (e, f, h, i, j and k labels) which correspond to 32, 30, 24, 23, 18 and 17 kDa apparent molecular mass, respectively. Interestingly, the 24-kDa and 23-kDa bands (h and i, respectively) probably correspond to vasostatin II [rat CGA(1–128)] previously reported to migrate with an apparent molecular mass of 21–23 kDa [34]. Purification and immunodetection of N-terminal CGA-derived fragments Rat heart extract (2 mg) was purified using the RP-HPLC technique (Fig. 3A). Each peak was col- lected and dotted on to nitrocellulose sheet before immunodetection with a rabbit polyclonal antibody to CGA(4–16) [35]. Immunolabels were observed for frac- tions 1, 6 and 10–14 (Fig. 3A). To evaluate the apparent molecular mass of CGA N-terminal fragments present in these fractions, an ali- quot (2 : 5, v ⁄ v) of each fraction (1–14) was subjected to SDS ⁄ PAGE (15% gel), electrotransferred to a poly(vinylidene difluoride) membrane, and immunode- tected with the CGA(4–16) antibody (Fig. 3B). High- molecular-mass CGA-immunoreactive fragments (80– 70 kDa corresponding to the whole CGA with and without post-translational modifications and long C-terminal truncated protein) were recovered in the more hydrophobic fractions as reported for bovine CGA [9]. Low-molecular-mass fragments (22–25 kDa in Fig. 3B) representing CGA(1–124 ⁄ 128 ⁄ 130) were recovered in fractions 1 and 14. CGA sequence comparison from several species The rat sequence contains three highly conserved amino-acid domains on comparison with bovine and human CGA (Fig. 4, underlined). Thus, the N-ter- minal rat CGA(1–76) displays 85% similarity and 93% homology with the bovine CGA sequence, as well as, respectively, 86% and 94% with the human sequence (clustalw software [36]). The CGA(94–106) domain possesses 84% identity and 92% homology with bovine and human CGA sequences. The C-terminal rat CGA(334–448) also displays 88% identity and 98% homology with bovine CGA as well as 91% iden- tity and 96% homology with human CGA. As CGA is known to have post-translational modifi- cations, we investigated whether the N-terminal domain of rat CGA could be modified. The presence of putative phosphorylations was examined using net- phos 2.0 software [37]. Phosphorylations could poten- tially be present on several serine residues located at position 35, 50, 96, 133, 168, 182 and 185. Among these, Ser96 in rat CGA corresponds to a previously M r Fig. 2. Comparison of CGA fragments present in rat adrenal gland and heart. Samples were separated by SDS ⁄ PAGE (15% gel) and electrotransferred to a poly(vinylidene difluoride) membrane. Lane 1, whole rat adrenal protein extract (50 lg); lane 2, rat heart extract (20 lg) treated with 40% acetic acid + heating at 100 °C for 3 min. Western blot analysis, using polyclonal antibody to bovine CGA(4– 16) was performed to detect N-terminal CGA fragments. E. Glattard et al. Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS 3313 described phosphorylated residue (Ser81) in the bovine CGA sequence (Fig. 5A) [17,38]. In addition, the netoglyc 3.1 software [39] allowed us to predict potential O-glycosylation on residues Ser119, Thr126, Thr173, Thr177, Thr181, Thr193 and Thr194. Consensus N-glycosylation sites (N-X-T ⁄ S) [40] were also present on Asn107 and Asn175 (netn- glyc 1.0; Fig. 5A). Characterization of N-terminal CGA-derived fragments present in rat heart extract TOF ⁄ TOF MS was used because it is a direct, highly sensitive and precise technique validated for the prote- omic approach of peptides [41]. By direct MS analysis of the immunoreactive fractions, we determined the experimental molecular masses of N-terminal CGA- derived fragments, compared them with the theoretical molecular mass, and evaluated possible post-transla- tional modifications (Table 1). Phosphorylations, gly- cosylations and oxidations were predicted using the netphos 2.0 and netoglyc 3.1 software, as well as from previously described post-translational modifica- tions on CGA from other species (Fig. 5A). Using this technique, phosphorylation was detected at fragments CGA(4–113), CGA(1–124), CGA(1–135) and CGA(1– 199), whereas O-glycosylation (trisaccharide, NAcGal- Gal-NeuAc) was only found at CGA(1–135) (Table 1). Oxidation could be expected at methionine residues 7, 15, 32, 162 and 163 (Figs 4 and 5A). With this approach, it has been possible to charac- terize several fragments starting from residue 1 or 4 of CGA and ending at residues 113, 124, 135 and 199, corresponding to potential cleavage sites located at basic residues (Table 1 and Fig. 5). The cleavage site Val3 ⁄ Asn4 had previously been reported by us [9]. Discussion CGA and its derived fragments are present in large, dense core secretory vesicles of all endocrine and neuroendocrine tissues. In chromaffin cells, CGA A B M r Fig. 3. HPLC purification of CGA fragments from rat heart extract. (A) 2 mg rat heart extract was fractionated on a Macherey– Nagel RP Nucleosil 300–5C-18 column (4 · 250 mm). Aliquots of each HPLC frac- tion (1–14) were dotted on to a nitrocellu- lose sheet and immunodetected with the polyclonal antibody to bovine CGA(4–16). Immunoreactive fractions are underlined on the chromatogram. (B) Eluted fractions 1–14 were separated by SDS ⁄ PAGE (15% gel) and electrotransferred to a poly(vinylidene difluoride) membrane before immunodetec- tion with the polyclonal antibody to bovine CGA(4–16). Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart E. Glattard et al. 3314 FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS fragments are co-released by exocytosis with catechol- amines in response to secretagogues [7]. The natural occurrence of CGA N-terminal peptides in rat endo- crine tissues is supported by the demonstration of the presence in the pituitary gland of both CGA and vas- ostatin II (apparent molecular mass 21–23 kDa) using gel filtration and western blot analysis with specific N-terminal CGA-directed antibody [rat CGA(98–106)] [34]. Previous studies have shown, with no ambiguity, the presence of CGA in secretory granules of rat atrial myoendocrine cells [42]. In fact, this immunohisto- chemical study using electron microscopy has shown colocalization of CGA and atrial natriuretic peptides in rat heart cardiomyocytes. In addition, a western blot analysis performed on the secretory granules isola- ted from rat atrial myoendocrine cells has revealed the presence of different CGA-immunoreactive bands. CGA has also been detected in rat Purkinje fiber cells of the conducting system, in both rat atrium and vent- ricle, as well as in H9c2 rat cardiomyocytes [43]. The possibility that CGA-derived fragments could also ori- ginate from nerve termini innervating the heart cannot be excluded [44]. However, direct demonstration of the intracardiac processing of CGA has so far been lack- ing. Our data represent the first clear evidence that the heart produces and processes vasostatin-containing peptides. This strongly suggests that these fragments play a role in the autocrine ⁄ paracrine regulation of cardiac function, being directly involved in the ino- tropic modulation [33]. CGA-derived peptides are stored with atrial natriuretic peptides in the secretory vesicles of rat cardiomyocytes [42]. The actions of CGA-derived peptides and atrial natriuretic peptides may be closely integrated under normal [45] and stress- ful or pathophysiological conditions [46], but this remains to be clarified. Our results indicate that, among the CGA frag- ments, a major broad immunoreactive band at an apparent molecular mass of 80–50 kDa is present in rat heart extract (Fig. 2, a and b). This high-molecu- lar-mass immunoreactive band results from both the whole CGA protein (with and without post-transla- tional modifications) and various long C-terminal trun- cated CGA fragments. This suggests that, compared with the rat adrenal gland where almost no intact CGA is found, the maturation process looks incom- plete and specific to the heart (Fig. 2, lane 1). It appears also that other low-molecular-mass fragments differ from those observed in adrenal extract except for the 27-kDa fragment (Fig. 2, g label). Shorter frag- ments (Fig. 2, h, i, j, k labels) exist in the heart and include the cardioactive motif (i.e. the vasostatin I sequence or a portion of it). Under normal or abnor- mal (e.g. stressful or pathophysiological) conditions in response to a specific stimulus-induced proteolytic acti- vation, an increase in lower-molecular-mass fragments, Fig. 4. CGA primary structure analysis. Sequence comparison of CGA sequences from rat (r), bovine (b) and human (h). Underlined sequences correspond to highly conserved regions. Basic residues are indicated in bold. E. Glattard et al. Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS 3315 as well as production of new fragments, could be induced. Some of these fragments may also result from extracellular processing, as reported for CGA in the adrenal gland [9]. In addition, the proteomic approach using RP-HPLC (Fig. 3) and MS techniques allowed us to characterize three peptides starting at the first N-terminal residue and one at the fourth residue of the protein (Table 1 and Fig. 5B). All these peptides (Table 1, Figs 4 and 5) ended at a monobasic potential cleavage site that could be recognized by prohormone convertases and carboxypeptidases present in rat heart [47,48]. The difference in the theoretical and experi- mental molecular mass showed that some of these fragments are phosphorylated, oxidized, and ⁄ or glycos- ylated (Table 1). The presence of phosphorylation, pre- viously reported on Ser81 of bovine CGA, could be Fig. 5. Characterization of N-terminal CGA fragments present in rat heart extract. (A) Sequences alignment of rat (r), bovine (b) and human (h) N-terminal CGA sequence. Phosphorylations are marked in bold under- lined letters and O-glycosylations as a black round shape. Localization of phosphorylation and glycosylation sites for bovine and human CGA are those reported in literature. Cleavage sites are indicated by arrows. (B) Schematic representation of the N-terminal rat CGA fragments, , phosphorylation; O, O-glycosylation. Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart E. Glattard et al. 3316 FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS assigned to Ser96 as this site is well conserved (Fig. 5A) [17,38] and was predicted to be potentially phosphorylated (netphos 2.0 software). In addition, we observed molecular mass differences attributable to O-glycosylation (NAcGal-Gal-NeuAc), probably at Thr126 (Fig. 5A) according to O-glycosylation site pre- dictions (netoglyc 3.1 software). This modification was only observed on CGA(1–135) and not shorter fragments [i.e. CGA(1–124) and CGA(4–113)], thus protecting the long fragment from proteolytic degrada- tion. CGA(1–135) is of particular interest because it is found in various forms, i.e. unmodified, oxidized, phosphorylated and ⁄ or O-glycosylated (NAcGal-Gal- NeuAc; Table 1). Like other chromogranin family members, CGA is a protein precursor that is actively processed to low- molecular-mass bioactive peptides [49]. Rat CGA is a 448-amino-acid protein with a pI of 4.5–5.0 containing a disulfide bridge and displaying numerous monobasic (40) and dibasic (nine) residues (Fig. 4) that could repre- sent potential cleavage sites for proteolytic subtilisin-like and trypsin-like enzymes including PC1 ⁄ 3, PC2, PC4, PC5 ⁄ 6, PC7 ⁄ 8, furine ⁄ SPC1 ⁄ PACE [50], as well as carboxypeptidases [51]. In rat heart, the detected PC1 ⁄ 3, PC2 and carboxypeptidase H ⁄ E [47,48,52] might be involved in the CGA maturation process. We have previously characterized intragranular and extracellular processing of CGA in chromaffin granules from bovine adrenal medulla, showing that the processing starts at both the N-terminus and the C-terminus of the pro- tein [9]. Among the fragments generated, CGA(1–76) represents the major product of proteolytic process- ing in bovine adrenal medulla [9,53], whereas the first N-terminal cleavage product of rat CGA is b-granin [rCGA(1–128)], corresponding to vasostatin II, due to the lack of the first dibasic site [34,54,55] (Fig. 4). As CGA fragments are likely to be secreted by car- diomyocytes, extracellular processing can be expected to occur in the secreted medium, as shown for CGA and proenkephalin-A secreted from chromaffin cells [9,56]. The presence of extracellular proteases both on cardiomyocyte cell membranes and in the extracellular matrix suggests that extracellular processing does occur, as proposed for angiotensin II. In the heart, an- giotensin converting enzyme and ⁄ or renin, which are present on cell membranes, are involved in the conver- sion of angiotensinogen into angiotensin II [57]. Because of the presence of extracellular proteases dur- ing tissue homogenization (for review, see [58]), we cannot exclude the possibility that CGA-derived frag- ments are extracellulary processed. Such a mechanism may be involved in the production of additional N-ter- minal CGA-derived peptides displaying biological activity. Glycosylation of CGA has been reported to be involved in its 3D folding, its protection against prote- ase activity [9,15], as well as in trafficking [59]. Glyco- sylation of the bovine CGA sequence has also been reported to modulate the antimicrobial activity of the chromacin [CGA(173–194)] fragment [60]. The present data reveal that several rat heart CGA-derived pep- tides possess O-glycosylation sites. The presence of multiple forms of the CGA(1–135) fragment is intrigu- ing and suggests an important role for the post-trans- lational modifications of this peptide, as previously reported for chromacin [61]. Phosphorylation of bovine and human CGA has been extensively studied. In the former, phosphoryla- tion has been found at serine residues 81, 124, 297, 307, 372 and 376, as well as at Tyr173 (Fig. 5B) [17,60,61]. In the human protein, phosphorylation has been reported at serine residues 200, 252 and 315 Table 1. MS analysis of HPLC fractions. CGA-derived peptides were identified by comparing the experimental mass obtained by TOF ⁄ TOF MS analysis with the calculated one. Proteolytic cleavage sites are indicated. O, Oxidation; Na + , sodium adducts; O-Gly, O-glycosylation; P, phosphorylation. HPLC fraction Molecular mass (Da) Location Cleavage site Modifications Experimental Calculated 1 12 581.4 12 505.4 CGA(4–113) V ⁄ N&K⁄ HP 12 14 009.9 13 864.9 CGA(1–124) K ⁄ D P + 3Na + 13 14 045.3 P + 2O + 3Na + 12 15 278.0 15 167.5 CGA(1–135) K ⁄ GP+2O 12 15 866.6 O-Gly + 2Na + 13 15 868.9 14 15 877.7 O-Gly + 2O + 1Na + 10 22 092.1 21 948.5 CGA(1–199) R ⁄ G P + 3O + 1Na + 11 22 097.6 E. Glattard et al. Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS 3317 (Fig. 5B) [14]. Phosphorylation of CGA is likely to be related not only to the type of organ and the physiolo- gical state, but also to peptide activity. For example, phosphorylation is known to modulate the antimicro- bial activity of chromacin [60] and other intragranular peptides such as enkelytin derived from proenkephalin- A [bisphosphorylated PEA(209–237)] [62]. Our results also indicate the presence of oxidized fragments. Oxidation of CGA residues has previously been described [61]. In chromaffin granules, for instance, MS analysis has revealed oxidation at methi- onine residues, which may be related to a redox mech- anism inside the granules [63]. Taken together, our data clearly indicate that, in rat heart, CGA is a precursor to numerous peptides that may control different physiological functions. The con- cept of the heart as an endocrine organ was firmly established almost 25 years ago with the discovery of atrial natriuretic peptides present in the ‘atrial specific secretory granules’ and identified as homeostatic agents for protection against plasma volume overload ([64,65] and references therein). The present study points to the vasostatin-derived peptides as novel intracardiac mod- ulators exerting a counter-regulatory inotropic role particularly against b-adrenergic-elicited positive ino- tropism [27,32,33,66] through an autocrine and ⁄ or paracrine mechanism. Experimental procedures Rat heart extract Male Wistar rats (Charles River Laboratories, Les Oncins, Italy S.p.A) weighing 250–350 g were housed three per cage in a ventilated cage rack system under standard conditions. Animals had food and water access ad libitum. Animal care, killing, and experiments were carried out according to the European Community guiding principles in the care and use of animals, and the projects were supervised by the local ethics committee. Whole hearts (atria and ventricles) of male Wistar rats were removed just after death and washed with NaCl ⁄ P i buffer to remove blood cells. They were then homogenized in the presence of 2 mL 40% (v ⁄ v) acetic acid in water with a Polytron mixer (Richmond Agencies, Wigan, UK) to give 0.5 g fresh tissue per mL. The protein extract was centrifuged at 8000 g for 30 min at 4 °C, and the supernatant containing the acid-stable pro- teins was collected and boiled for 3 min to isolate the ther- mostable chromogranins. The extract was then centrifuged at 12 000 g for 30 min to enrich the supernatant in heat- stable proteins. In some experiments, protease inhibitors were included, but their presence did not modify the pat- tern of proteolytic fragments. Control experiments, using different extraction conditions, were performed to deter- mine if the acetic acid (40%, v ⁄ v; Arcos, Fairlaw, NJ, USA), trifluoroacetic acid (0.1% v ⁄ v; HPLC conditions; Sigma Aldrich, Steinheim, Germany) or heat treatment (boiling for 3 min) were responsible for the generation of new CGA fragments. An extraction performed in the pres- ence of an antiprotease cocktail that inhibits most of the proteases (except metalloproteases and aspartic proteases; Complete mini cocktail, Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany), in the absence of acid and without heating was performed as a control. Rat adrenal glands were homogenized in the presence of 2 mL 40% (v ⁄ v) acetic acid. The protein extract was centri- fuged at 8000 g for 30 min at 4 °C. The resulting superna- tant was boiled for 3 min and centrifuged at 12 000 g (30 min). The supernatant was used as control. After protein quantification using the Bradford technique (Protein assay; Bio-Rad, Marnes la Coquette, France), the extract was diluted in an adequate volume of ultrapure water, and aliquots of 20 lg protein were stored at )20 °C. Western blot analysis Rat heart extract or HPLC fractions were separated by SDS ⁄ PAGE (15% acrylamide; Euromedex, Souffelweyers- heim, France). Proteins were electrotransferred (45 min, 75 V) to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane (Amersham Biosciences, Uppsala, Sweden) and immunodetected with specific rabbit polyclonal antibodies raised against bovine CGA(4–16) fragment (1 : 1000 dilution) [53]. A goat anti- rabbit IgG conjugated to horseradish peroxidase was used as a secondary antibody (1 : 10 000 dilution; Sigma-Ald- rich). The poly(vinylidene difluoride) membrane was treated as previously described [67], and immunodetection was per- formed with the SuperSignal West Dura Extended Dur- ation Substrate kit (Pierce, Perbio Science, Brebie ` res, France) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Dot-blot analysis To detect the presence of CGA fragments in RP-HPLC fractions, aliquots (1 : 5, v ⁄ v) were applied to nitrocellulose membrane (Amersham Biosciences) for dot-blot analysis. The membrane was then treated as described above for western blot analysis. Purification of CGA-derived peptides by RP-HPLC CGA-derived peptides present in rat heart extracts were purified using an A ¨ kta Purifier HPLC system (Amersham Biosciences) and a Nucleosil reverse-phase 300–5C18 col- umn (4 · 250 mm; particle size 5 lm, porosity 300 A ˚ ; Macherey-Nagel, Hoerdt, France) [53]. Absorbance was monitored at 214 nm, and the solvent system consisted of Vasostatin-containing peptides in rat heart E. Glattard et al. 3318 FEBS Journal 273 (2006) 3311–3321 ª 2006 The Authors Journal compilation ª 2006 FEBS 0.1% (v ⁄ v) trifluoroacetic acid in water (solvent A) and 0.09% (v ⁄ v) trifluoroacetic acid in 70% acetonitrile (Carlo Erba, Rodano Mi, Italy) in water (solvent B). Elutions were performed at a flow rate of 700 lLÆmin )1 using the gradient indicated on the chromatograms. MS analysis Mass spectra were acquired using an Ultraflex TM TOF ⁄ TOF mass spectrometer (Bruker Daltonik GmbH, Bremen, Germany) with gridless ion optics under the control of Flexcontrol 2.0 [41]. This instrument, equipped with SCOUT TM high-resolution optics with X-Y multisample probe and gridless reflector, was used at a maximum accel- erating potential of 25 kV and operated in reflector mode for MS analysis. Ionization was accomplished with a 337- nm beam from a nitrogen laser with a repetition rate of 20 Hz. The output signal from the detector was digitized at a sampling rate of 2 GHz. The samples were prepared by standard dried-droplet preparation on stainless-steel MALDI targets using 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid as matrix. The external calibration of MALDI mass spectra was per- formed using singly charged monoisotopic peaks of a mix- ture of bradykinin(1–7) (m ⁄ z 757.400), human angiotensin II (m ⁄ z 1046.542), human angiotensin I (m ⁄ z 1296.685), substance P (m ⁄ z 1347.735), bombesin (m ⁄ z 1619.822), renin (m ⁄ z 1758.933), ACTH(1–17) (adrenocorticotropic hormone; m ⁄ z 2093.087) and ACTH(18–39) (m ⁄ z 2465.199). Acknowledgements This work was funded by Inserm, the University Louis-Pasteur of Strasbourg, the French Ministe ` re De ´ le ´ gue ´ a ` la Recherche et a ` l’Enseignement Supe ´ rieur (Ph.D. grant to EG), the Fondation pour la Recherche Me ´ dicale (to MHMB), the Ligue Contre le Cancer (to DA), the Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Cli- nique 3150 (to MHMB), the Egide Program (Galile ´ e, to MHMB) and Vinci Program (to TA). We thank N. Aslan and R. 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