Modulatory effects of unsaturated fatty acids on the binding of glucocorticoids to rat liver glucocorticoid receptors.

Binding of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone to the rat liver cytosol glucocorticoid receptor was inhibited by physiological concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids as a function of increasing dose, degree of unsaturation, and chain length of the fatty acid. Polyunsaturated fatty acids were the most potent inhibitors. Scatchard analysis and Line-weaver-Burk plots of the binding data revealed that both the association constants and number of binding sites decreased and that polyunsaturated fatty acids inhibition was of a mixed non-competitive type. The dissociation rate constant of [3H]dexamethasone from glucocorticoid receptors was increased by up to 10 times in the presence of docosahexaenoic acid, whereas a competitive inhibitor like the glucocorticoid antagonist RU 38486 had no effect. Moreover, sucrose density gradient analysis showed that docosahexaenoic acid inhibited the binding of [3H] dexamethasone to both the 8.8S and 4S forms. The results strongly suggest that unsaturated fatty acids are interacting at a site on the receptor different from the hormone binding site and the heat shock protein and that by binding to a second site unsaturated fatty acids greatly change the conformation of the hormone binding site to reduce its affinity for the hormone, either partially or completely depending on the concentration and the class of the fatty acid.