Effects of Protein Phosphatase and Kinase Inhibitors on Ca2+ and Cl Currents in Guinea Pig Ventricular Myocytes

  1. Yoshiyuki Hirayama and
  2. H. Criss Hartzell
  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322-3030

    Abstract

    It is well-established that in heart, both the L-type Ca2+channel and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator Cl channel are regulated by cAMP-dependent phosphorylation. However, it is not clear whether both of these channels are regulated in concert by protein kinase A (PKA) or whether there are mechanisms that independently control the phosphorylation of these two PKA targets. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of various protein phosphatase and protein kinase inhibitors on these two ionic currents (ICa and ICl) in guinea pig ventricular myocytes to gain insight into these questions. We found that both the stimulation and washout of the effects of isoproterenol on ICl are about twice as fast as the effects on ICa, probably because the dephosphorylation reaction for ICl is faster than that for ICa. In contrast, inhibition of protein phosphatases with 10 μm microcystin stimulated both ICa and ICl, but the stimulation of ICl was much slower and smaller than the stimulation of ICa. The effect of microcystin was inhibited by staurosporine (Ki = 171.5 and 161 nm for ICa and ICl, respectively), suggesting that the stimulation was due to a kinase. The kinase was not protein kinase C (PKC) because it was not inhibited by the specific pseudosubstrate inhibitor of PKC, PKC(19–31), and it was not PKA because it was not inhibited by adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic phosphorothioate. These results suggest that although both the Ca2+ and Cl channels are regulated by cAMP-dependent phosphorylation, another protein kinase may also regulate these channels, and the kinetics of the response of the channels to phosphorylation can be modulated independently by protein phosphatases.

    Footnotes

    • Send reprint requests to: Dr. H. Criss Hartzell, Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1648 Pierce Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322-3030. E-mail: criss{at}anatomy.emory.edu

    • This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant HL21195.

    • Abbreviations:
      PKA
      protein kinase A
      CFTR
      cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator
      ECl
      Cl equilibrium potential
      Erev
      reversal potential
      Fsk
      forskolin
      ICa
      L-type Ca2pluscurrent
      ICl
      cAMP-activated Cl current
      Iso
      isoproterenol
      myr-PKC(19–31)
      myristoylated derivative of the pseudosubstrate protein kinase C inhibitor
      PKC
      protein kinase C
      PKX
      protein kinase X
      TPA
      12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate
      EGTA
      ethylene glycol bis(β-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid
      HEPES
      4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid
      Rp-cAMPS
      adenosine 3′-5′-cyclic phosphorothioate
      • Received April 8, 1997.
      • Accepted June 18, 1997.
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