Mechanisms involved in receptor-mediated changes of intracellular Ca2+ in liver

Interactions between the different signaling roles of myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and 1,2-diacylglycerol, the products of agonist-stimulated phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate breakdown, are assessed in isolated rat hepatocytes. Measurements of the kinetics of accumulation of individual [3H]inositol phosphates after the addition of different Ca2+-mobilizing agonists in general support the role of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate as the second messenger responsible for release of sequestered intracellular Ca2+. Various agonists, when added at maximal concentrations, however, produce qualitatively and quantitatively different responses, which reflect varying abilities of the agonists to activate phospholipase C. Qualitative differences are revealed by a pronounced biphasic pattern to the Ins(1,4,5)P3 accumulation after vasopressin and phenylephrine stimulation, which is indicative of negative feedback. It is suggested that this effect is mediated by a partial diacylglycerol activation of protein kinase C, which in vitro causes an activation of inositol phosphate 5-phosphatase and hence promotes removal of Ins(1,4,5)P3 to Ins(1,4)P2. An alternative mechanism proposed by Biden and Wollheim (1986) of a secondary Ca2+ activation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase is considered less likely as a general mechanism, since highly purified kinase prepared from rat brain shows only an inhibition by Ca2+. Glucagon, 8-Br-cAMP, and EGF induce small increases of Ins(1,4,5)P3 in hepatocytes, together with slower and smaller increases of cytosolic free Ca2+ than those produced by vasopressin or phenylephrine, with Ca2+ being mobilized from the same intracellular pools with each of the agonists. The Ca2+-mobilizing effect of glucagon, therefore, may be entirely due to a cAMP-dependent process, although a direct receptor-mediated activation of phospholipase C, as suggested by Wakelam et al. (1986), remains a possibility. The EGF receptor appears to be coupled to phospholipase C, presumably via a G-protein. It is speculated that the mechanism by which cAMP increases Ins(1,4,5)P3 levels in hepatocytes could either be by phosphorylation and inhibition of inositol phosphate 5-phosphatase or by phosphorylation and facilitation of the coupling between the G-protein and phospholipase C. When protein kinase C is maximally activated by pretreatment of hepatocytes with PMA, the stimulatory effects of phenylephrine, glucagon, 8-Br-cAMP, and EGF on the accumulation of inositol phosphates and increase of cytosolic free Ca2+ are largely inhibited.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)