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Effects of the constitutively active proteolytic fragment of protein kinase C on the contractile properties of demembranated smooth muscle fibres

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Summary

The role of protein kinase C (PKC) in regulating the contractile state of smooth muscle was investigated using the constitutively active catalytic fragment of PKC (PKM) with skinned (demembranated) chicken gizzard fibres. PKM attenuated a submaximal contraction in gizzard smooth muscle skinned fibres, but not in rabbit cardiac skinned fibres. PKM-mediated relaxation of submaximal contractions of smooth muscle was accompanied by a reduction in the rate of ATP hydrolysis in the fibre and by phosphorylation of the 20 kDa light chain of gizzard myosin at the PKC sites (serine-1, serine-2 and threonine-9). In addition, several other endogenous proteins were phosphorylated by PKM. However, the inhibitory effects on tension and ATPase are consistent with the biochemical effects of PKC-catalysed phosphorylation of Myosin, I.e. reduction of the actin-activated MgATPase activity of myosin prephosphorylated at serine-19 by myosin light chain kinase. Pretreatment of skinned fibres with PKM and ATPγS in the absence of Ca2+ had no inhibitory effect on the subsequent submaximal Ca2+-activation of force. Consistent with this observation, PKC was not able to utilize ATPγS as a substrate, confirming that the observed effects were the result of PKM-catalysed protein phosphorylation. We suggest that PKC may have two distinct effects on smooth muscle contraction: translocation of PKC to the sarcolemma on stimulation results in phosphorylation of a protein(s) other than myosin and a slow, sustained contraction; in some circumstances PKC may undergo proteolysis to PKM resulting in myosin phosphorylation at PKC-specific sites, a reduction in ATPase activity and relaxation of the muscle.

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Abbreviations

Ap5A:

P1, P5-di(adenosine-5′)pentaphosphate

ATPγS:

adenosine-5′-O-(3-thiotriphosphate)

TPA:

12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate

TPCK:

L-1-tosylamido-2-phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, T2N 4N1, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Janice E. Parente & Michael P. Walsh

  2. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami School of Medicine, 33101, Miami, FL, USA

    W. Glenn L. Kerrick & Phyllis E. Hoar

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  1. Janice E. Parente
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  2. Michael P. Walsh
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  3. W. Glenn L. Kerrick
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  4. Phyllis E. Hoar
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Parente, J.E., Walsh, M.P., Kerrick, W.G.L. et al. Effects of the constitutively active proteolytic fragment of protein kinase C on the contractile properties of demembranated smooth muscle fibres. J Muscle Res Cell Motil 13, 90–99 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01738432

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01738432

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