Developmental regulation of the L-type calcium channel α1C subunit expression in heart

We used Northern analyses, RNase protection assays and immunoblot analyses to examine the relationship among developmental age of the heart, abundance of mRNA and L-type calcium channel α1Csubunit protein, and to establish the size of the native protein in heart. Northern analysis, RNase protection assays, and immunoblots were used to study RNA and protein from rat heart of various ages. In fetal and adult ventricles there was a predominant 8.3-kb transcript for the α1C subunit with no change in transcript size during development. RNase protection assays demonstrated a 2-fold increase in abundance of the DHP receptor message during postnatal development. Immunoblots identified a 240 kD protein, corresponding to the predicted molecular mass of the full length α1C subunit. No change in size of protein for the α1C subunit was observed at any developmental stage and there was no evidence for a truncated isoform. There was an approximate 2-fold increase in α1C subunit protein in ventricular homogenates during postnatal development. Thus, in the developing rat heart, alterations in calcium channel properties during development appear to result neither from alternative splicing that produces a smaller transcript for the α1C subunit nor from expression of a truncated protein, but at least in part from transcriptionally-regulated expression of the 240 kDa polypeptide.