Involvement of protein kinase C in prostaglandin E2-induced catecholamine release from cultured bovine adrenal chromaffin cells

We recently reported that prostaglandin (PG) E2 stimulated phosphoinositide metabolism in cultured bovine adrenal chromaffin cells and that PGE2 and ouabain induced a gradual secretion of catecholamines from the cells (Yokohama, H., Tanaka, T., Ito, S., Negishi, M., Hayashi, H., and Hayaishi, O. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 1119-1122). Here we examined the involvement of two signal pathways, Ca2+ mobilization and protein kinase C activation resulting from phosphoinositide metabolism, in the PGE2-induced catecholamine release. Either the Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) could enhance the release in the presence of ouabain, and ionomycin-induced release was additive to PGE2-induced release, but TPA-induced release was not additive. PGE2 dose-dependently stimulated the formation of diacylglycerol and caused the translocation of 4% of the total protein kinase C activity to become membrane-bound within 5 min. These effects were specific for PGE2 and PGE1 among PGs tested (PGE2 = PGE1 greater than PGF2 alpha greater than PGD2). Furthermore, the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C inhibitor neomycin inhibited PGE2-induced accumulation of inositol phosphates, diacylglycerol formation, translocation of protein kinase C, and also stimulation of catecholamine release. Both PGE2- and TPA-induced release were inhibited by the depletion of protein kinase C caused by prolonged exposure to TPA, but ionomycin-induced release was not inhibited. We recently found that the amiloride-sensitive Na+, H+-antiport participates in PGE2-evoked catecholamine release (Tanaka, T., Yokohama, H., Negishi, M., Hayashi, H., Ito, S., and Hayaishi, O. (1990) J. Neurochem. 54, 86-95). In agreement with our recent report, PGE2 and TPA induced a sustained increase in intracellular pH that was abolished by the protein kinase C inhibitor staurosporine but not by the calmodulin inhibitor W-7. Ionomycin also induced a marked increase in intracellular pH, but this increase was abolished by W-7 but not by staurosporine. These results demonstrate that PGE2-induced activation of the Na+, H(+)-antiport and catecholamine release in the presence of ouabain are mediated by activation of protein kinase C, rather than by Ca2+ mobilization, resulting from phosphoinositide metabolism.