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Expression of the High-affinity Choline Transporter CHT1 in Rat and Human Arteries

Katrin S. Lips, Uwe Pfeil, Katja Reiners, Christoph Rimasch, Klaus Kuchelmeister, Ruediger C. Braun–Dullaeus, Rainer V. Haberberger, Rupert Schmidt and Wolfgang Kummer

Institutes for Anatomy and Cell Biology (KSL,UP,KR,CR,RVH,WK) and Neuropathology (KK), Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology (RCBD), and Biotechnology Centre (RS), Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Giessen, Germany

Correspondence to: Katrin Susanne Lips, Inst. for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Justus-Liebig-University, Aulweg 123, D-35385 Giessen, Germany. E-mail: Katrin.S.Lips{at}anatomie.med.uni-giessen.de

The arterial vascular wall contains a non-neuronal intrinsic cholinergic system. The rate-limiting step in acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis is choline uptake. A high-affinity choline transporter, CHT1, has recently been cloned from neural tissue and has been identified in epithelial cholinergic cells. Here we investigated its presence in rat and human arteries and in primary cell cultures of rat vascular cells (endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts). CHT1-mRNA was detected in the arterial wall and in all isolated cell types by RT-PCR using five different CHT1-specific primer pairs. Antisera raised against amino acids 29–40 of the rat sequence labeled a single band (50 kD) in Western blots of rat aorta, and an additional higher molecular weight band appeared in the hippocampus. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated CHT1 immunoreactivity in endothelial and smooth muscle cells in situ and in all cultured cell types. A high-affinity [³H]-choline uptake mechanism sharing characteristics with neuronal high-affinity choline uptake, i.e., sensitivity to hemicholinium-3 and dependence on sodium, was demonstrated in rat thoracic aortic segments by microimager autoradiography. Expression of the high-affinity choline transporter CHT1 is a novel component of the intrinsic non-neuronal cholinergic system of the arterial vascular wall, predominantly in the intimal and medial layers. (J Histochem Cytochem 51:1645–1654, 2003)

Key Words: acetylcholine • artery • choline transporter • choline uptake • endothelial cell • vascular smooth muscle

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