h-89 and zaprinast

ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels couple cellular metabolic status to changes in membrane electrical properties. Caffeine (1,2,7-trimethylxanthine) has been shown to inhibit several ion channels; however, how caffeine regulates K(ATP) channels was not well understood. By performing single-channel recordings in the cell-attached configuration, we found that bath application of caffeine significantly enhanced the currents of Kir6.2/SUR1 channels, a neuronal/pancreatic K(ATP) channel isoform, expressed in transfected human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Application of nonselective and selective phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors led to significant enhancement of Kir6.2/SUR1 channel currents. Moreover, the stimulatory action of caffeine was significantly attenuated by KT5823, a specific PKG inhibitor, and, to a weaker extent, by BAPTA/AM, a membrane-permeable Ca(2+) chelator, but not by H-89, a selective PKA inhibitor. Furthermore, the stimulatory effect was completely abrogated when KT5823 and BAPTA/AM were co-applied with caffeine. In contrast, the activity of Kir6.2/SUR1 channels was decreased rather than increased by caffeine in cell-free inside-out patches, while tetrameric Kir6.2LRKR368/369/370/371AAAA channels were suppressed regardless of patch configurations. Caffeine also enhanced the single-channel currents of recombinant Kir6.2/SUR2B channels, a nonvascular smooth muscle K(ATP) channel isoform, although the increase was smaller. Moreover, bidirectional effects of caffeine were reproduced on the K(ATP) channel present in the Cambridge rat insulinoma G1 (CRI-G1) cell line. Taken together, our data suggest that caffeine exerts dual regulation on the function of K(ATP) channels: an inhibitory regulation that acts directly on Kir6.2 or some closely associated regulatory protein(s), and a sulfonylurea receptor (SUR)-dependent stimulatory regulation that requires cGMP-PKG and intracellular Ca(2+)-dependent signaling.

Topics: 4-(3-Butoxy-4-methoxybenzyl)-2-imidazolidinone; Adenosine Triphosphate; Animals; Caffeine; Carbazoles; Cell Line; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Indoles; Insulin; Insulin Secretion; Ion Channel Gating; Islets of Langerhans; Isoquinolines; Muscle, Smooth; Pancreas; Potassium Channels; Protein Isoforms; Purinones; Rats; Sulfonamides

The species-specific sound production of acoustically communicating grasshoppers can be stimulated by pressure injection of both nicotinic and muscarinic agonists into the central body complex and a small neuropil situated posterior and dorsal to it. To determine the role of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) in the control of acoustic communication behavior and to identify the second-messenger pathways affected by mAChR-activation, muscarinic agonists and membrane-permeable drugs known to interfere with specific mechanisms of intracellular signaling pathways were pressure injected to identical sites in male grasshopper brains. Repeated injections of small volumes of muscarine elicited stridulation of increasing duration associated with decreased latencies. This suggested an accumulation of excitation over time that is consistent with the suggested role of mAChRs in controlling courtship behavior: to provide increasing arousal leading to higher intensity of stridulation and finally initiating a mating attempt. At sites in the brain where muscarine stimulation was effective, stridulation could be evoked by forskolin, an activator of adenylate cyclase (AC); 8-Br-cAMP-activating protein kinase A (PKA); and 3-isobuty-1-methylxanthine, leading to the accumulation of endogenously generated cAMP through inhibition of phosphodiesterases. This suggested that mAChRs mediate excitation by stimulating the AC/cAMP/PKA pathway. In addition, muscarine-stimulated stridulation was inhibited by 2'-5'-dideoxyadenonsine and SQ 22536, two inhibitors of AC; H-89 and Rp-cAMPS, two inhibitors of PKA; and by U-73122 and neomycin, two agents that inhibit phospholipase C (PLC) by independent mechanisms. Because the inhibition of AC, PKA, or PLC by various individually applied substances entirely suppressed muscarine-evoked stridulation in a number of experiments, activation of both pathways, AC/cAMP/PKA and PLC/IP(3)/diacylglycerine, appeared to be necessary to mediate the excitatory effects of mAChRs. With these studies on an intact "behaving" grasshopper preparation, we present physiological relevance for mAChR-evoked excitation mediated by sequential activation of the AC- and PLC-initiated signaling pathways that has been reported in earlier in vitro studies.

Topics: Acetylcholine; Adenine; Adenylyl Cyclases; Animal Communication; Animals; Brain; Cyclic AMP; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; Cyclic GMP; Dideoxyadenosine; Diglycerides; Enzyme Inhibitors; Estrenes; Grasshoppers; Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate; Isoquinolines; Muscarine; Muscarinic Agonists; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors; Purinones; Pyrrolidinones; Receptors, Muscarinic; Second Messenger Systems; Sphingosine; Sulfonamides; Thapsigargin; Thionucleotides; Type C Phospholipases

The role of 3',5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) was investigated in rat pinealocytes. Treatment with dibutyryl cGMP (DBcGMP) dose-dependently increased the phosphorylation of both p44 and p42 isoforms of MAPK. This effect of DBcGMP was abolished by PD98059 (a MAPK kinase inhibitor), H7 (a nonspecific protein kinase inhibitor), and KT5823 [a selective cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) inhibitor]. Elevation of cellular cGMP content by treatment with norepinephrine, zaprinast (a cGMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor), or nitroprusside was effective in activating MAPK. Natriuretic peptides that were effective in elevating cGMP levels in this tissue were also effective in activating MAPK. Our results indicate that, in this neuroendocrine tissue, the cGMP/PKG signaling pathway is an important mechanism used by hormones and neurotransmitters in activating MAPK.

Topics: Alkaloids; Animals; Atrial Natriuretic Factor; Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; Carbazoles; Cells, Cultured; Cyclic GMP; Dibutyryl Cyclic GMP; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzyme Inhibitors; Flavonoids; Indoles; Isoquinolines; Male; Naphthalenes; Natriuretic Peptide, C-Type; Neurosecretory Systems; Nitroprusside; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors; Phosphorylation; Pineal Gland; Protein Kinase C; Purinones; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sulfhydryl Reagents; Sulfonamides; Thionucleotides

1. While exposure of smooth muscle cells to sodium nitroprusside (SNP) leads to the development of tolerance to soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) activation, the mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon in intact cells remain unclear. In the present study, possible mechanisms of tolerance were investigated in a cell culture model where sGC activity was estimated from the accumulation of cyclic GMP in response to 10 microM SNP over a 15 min period in the presence of a phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor. 2. Pretreatment of rat aortic smooth muscle cells with 10-500 microM SNP led to a dose-dependent downregulation of cyclic GMP accumulation upon subsequent SNP stimulation. This effect was evident as early as 2 h following incubation with 10 microM SNP, reached a plateau at 4 h and was blocked by co-incubation with 30 microM oxyhaemoglobin. 3. Pretreatment of smooth muscle cells with the PDE inhibitor, zaprinast, resulted in downregulation of the SNP-induced cyclic GMP accumulation in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, that was first evident after 12 h. Moreover, while the zaprinast-induced downregulation of cyclic GMP accumulation was completely inhibited by the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor, H89, tolerance to SNP was partially reversed by H89. 4. beta 1 sGC steady state mRNA levels of S-nitroso N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP)- or 8Br-cyclic GMP-pretreated cells were unchanged, as indicated by Northern blot analysis. However, Western blot analysis revealed that alpha 1 protein levels were decreased in zaprinast, but not in SNP, SNAP or 8Br-cyclic GMP pretreated cells. 5. While thiol depletion did not prevent the development of tolerance, pretreatment of cells with SNP in the presence of reducing agents partially or completely restored the ability of cells to respond to SNP. 6. We conclude that tolerance to SNP results from two distinct mechanisms: an early onset, NO-mediated event that is reversed by reducing agents and a more delayed, PKA-sensitive process that is mediated through increases in cyclic GMP and a decrease in sGC protein levels.

Topics: 3',5'-Cyclic-GMP Phosphodiesterases; Animals; Antioxidants; Aorta; Cells, Cultured; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; Cyclic GMP; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Tolerance; Ethylmaleimide; Isoquinolines; Maleates; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular; Nitroprusside; Purinones; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Sulfhydryl Reagents; Sulfonamides; Vasodilator Agents

1. In rat aortic rings precontracted by phenylephrine, H7 (10(-5)M) and staurosporine (10(-7)M), which inhibit PKA, PKG and PKC, and H-89 (10(-6)M), which inhibits PKA and PKG, potentiated relaxations induced by nitroglycerin. Forskolin-induced relaxations were not affected by H7 (10(-5)M). 2. Nitroglycerin-induced relaxations were not affected by calphostin-C (10(-7)M), which inhibits PKC, H-89 (10(-7)M), which inhibits PKA, and staurosporine (2 x 10(-9)M), which inhibits PKC. 3. Iberiotoxin (3 x 10(-8)M), an inhibitor of large conductance Kca channels, partly inhibited the relaxation induced by nitroglycerin and completely inhibited the potentiating effect of H7 on nitroglycerin-induced relaxations. 4. The potentiating effect of zaprinast (10(-5)M), an inhibitor of cGMP-phosphodiesterase, on nitroglycerin-induced relaxation was not affected by iberiotoxin. In the presence of methylene blue (10(-5)M), an inhibitor of guanylate cyclase, the residual relaxing response to nitroglycerin was not affected by H7, but it was inhibited by iberiotoxin. 5. These results suggest that the potentiation of nitroglycerin-induced relaxation by H7, staurosporine and H-89 may be due to inhibition of PKG.

Topics: 1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine; Animals; Aorta; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; Cyclic GMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; Drug Synergism; Enzyme Inhibitors; In Vitro Techniques; Isoquinolines; Male; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular; Naphthalenes; Nitroglycerin; Potassium Channels; Protein Kinase C; Purinones; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Staurosporine; Sulfonamides; Vasodilator Agents