Homeostatic levels of nitric oxide (NO) protect efficiently against apoptotic death in both human and rodent pancreatic β cells, but the protein profile of this action remains to be determined. We have applied a 2 dimensional LC-MS-MALDI-TOF/TOF-based analysis to study the impact of protective NO in rat insulin-producing RINm5F cell line and in mouse and human pancreatic islets (HPI) exposed to serum deprivation condition. 24 proteins in RINm5F and 22 in HPI were identified to undergo changes in at least one experimental condition. These include stress response mitochondrial proteins (UQCRC2, VDAC1, ATP5C1, ATP5A1) in RINm5F cells and stress response endoplasmic reticulum proteins (HSPA5, PDIA6, VCP, GANAB) in HPI. In addition, metabolic and structural proteins, oxidoreductases and chaperones related with protein metabolism are also regulated by NO treatment. Network analysis of differentially expressed proteins shows their interaction in glucocorticoid receptor and NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response pathways and eNOS signaling. The results indicate that exposure to exogenous NO counteracts the impact of serum deprivation on pancreatic β cell proteome. Species differences in the proteins involved are apparent.
Keywords: islet survival; nitric oxide; pancreatic β cell; protein profile.