Selective calmodulin inhibition toward myosin light chain kinase by a new cerebral circulation improver, Ro 22-4839

Ro 22-4839, a new cerebral circulation improver, has shown to be a potent calmodulin antagonist toward myosin light chain kinase (MLCK). It inhibited in vitro activity of calmodulin-activated cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase isolated from either bovine heart or brain and ATP-induced superprecipitation of chicken gizzard actomyosin with respective IC50 values of 20 microM, 17 microM, and 2.0 microM. The inhibitory action of Ro 22-4839 on the contractile system of the smooth muscle was demonstrated directly by its inhibition of chicken gizzard MLCK. Ro 22-4839 was found to potently inhibit MLCK with an IC50 value of 3.1 microM but was unable to inhibit the activity of MLCK rendered Ca2+/calmodulin independent by limited tryptic digestion. The inhibition of MLCK induced by Ro 22-4839 was completely overcome by addition of excess calmodulin. In contrast, Ro 22-4839 hardly inhibited calmodulin-activated Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase from rat erythrocyte membrane or adenylate cyclase from rat brain. Use of hydrophobic fluorescence probes showed that Ro 22-4839 binds to the hydrophobic region of calmodulin like other calmodulin antagonists, trifluoperazine and W-7. However, the precise binding site of Ro 22-4839 to calmodulin is different from those of trifluoperazine and W-7, as suggested from differing IC50 values of these compounds against the probes. We conclude that Ro 22-4839 inhibits calmodulin-activated enzymes, most significantly of MLCK, highly specific to smooth muscle contractile systems by binding to the hydrophobic domain of the calmodulin and inducing its conformational change in the presence of calcium.