Abstract

Protein kinase Cϵ (PKCϵ) plays a pivotal role in cardioprotection during cardiac ischemia and reperfusion injury. Recent studies demonstrated that prenatal cocaine exposure caused a decrease in PKCϵ expression and increased heart susceptibility to ischemic injury in adult offspring, suggesting an in utero programming of PKCϵ gene expression pattern in the heart. The present investigation aimed to elucidate whether an epigenetic mechanism, DNA methylation, accounts for cocaine-mediated repression of the PKCϵ gene in the heart. Pregnant rats were administered either saline or cocaine intraperitoneally (15 mg/kg) twice daily from days 15 to 20 of gestational age, and term fetal hearts were studied. Cocaine treatment significantly decreased PKCϵ mRNA and protein levels in the heart. CpG dinucleotides found in cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), CREB/c-Jun1, and CREB/c-Jun2 binding sites at the proximal promoter region of the PKCϵ gene were densely methylated and were not affected by cocaine. In contrast, methylation of CpGs in the activator protein 1 (AP-1) binding sites was low but was significantly increased by cocaine. Reporter gene assays showed that the AP-1 binding site played a strong stimulatory role of PKCϵ gene transcription. Methylation of the AP-1 binding sites significantly decreased AP-1 binding to the PKCϵ promoter. Supershift analyses implicated c-Jun homodimers binding to the AP-1 binding sites. Cocaine did not affect nuclear c-Jun levels or the binding of c-Jun to the unmethylated AP-1 binding sites. The results indicate a role for DNA methylation in cocaine-mediated PKCϵ gene repression in the developing heart and suggest an epigenetic mechanism affecting this gene linked with vulnerability of ischemic injury in the heart of adult offspring.