Ethanol-induced phosphorylation of cytokeratin in cultured hepatocytes

We studied the effect of ethanol on the phosphorylation of cytokeratins (CKs) in cultured hepatocytes since CK filaments are regulated by phosphorylation and they are abnormal in alcoholic liver disease. Hepatocytes were obtained from 14-day-old rats and cultured for 48 hrs. The hepatocytes were exposed to ethanol (300 mM) for 30 min. The cells were extracted with the buffer containing Triton X-100. The residual insoluble cytoskeletons were analyzed by two dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. 2D gel electrophoresis showed CK 55 and CK 49 or 8 and 18 and actin. The CKs had several isoelectric variants. The most basic spot was the dominant protein which was not phosphorylated. The more acidic spots were phosphorylated. After ethanol treatment, the phosphorylation of CK 55 and CK 49 were markedly increased over controls. We compared these results, with the effect of vasopressin (10 nM), TPA (150 nM) and db-cAMP (1 mM) on the phosphorylation of CKs. Vasopressin and TPA caused the phosphorylation of CK 55 and 49 but db-cAMP did not. The results suggest that CKs are phosphorylated by protein kinase C through the phosphoinositide-linked transduction system activated by ethanol.