Natriuretic peptide receptors are expressed during cerebral growth in the fetal rat.

Autoradiography of frozen sections of fetal rat brain shows that receptor-like binding sites for atrial and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP and CNP) occur in the generative juxtaventricular zone of the telencephalon after the 12th embryonic day (E12). These sites avidly bind both ANP and CNP. They thus resemble the cloned NPR-C type of natriuretic peptide receptor. Covalent cross-linking of 3-[125I]iodo-O-tyrosyl CNP-(1-22) and 3-[125I]iodo-28-tyrosyl rat ANP-(1-28) to membrane proteins from E16 telencephala labels a single protein band on reducing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The protein has high affinities for ANP and CNP and a molecular mass of 60-70 kDa under reducing conditions, consistent with reduced NPR-C. However, because the telencephalic protein has unusual physicochemical properties in SDS under nonreducing conditions it was not possible to assess whether this protein can form disulfide-bridged dimers like NPR-C. CNP-(1-22) was a full agonist and ANP-(1-28) was a partial agonist of guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) production by E16 telencephalon. C-ANP, a synthetic ligand of NPR-C, antagonized CNP-(1-22)-mediated cGMP production. The results imply that either the NPR-C-like telencephalic receptor modulates the level of cGMP or a guanylate cyclase-coupled receptor, such as the 120-kDa B-type NPR, for which CNP-(1-22) is a full agonist, is present at levels insufficient to be detected by autoradiography or protein labeling.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)