Cholecystokinin peptides stimulate pancreatic secretion by multiple signal transduction pathways

In an attempt to examine the structure-activity relationship of the cholecystokinin (CCK) peptide, we examined the structural motif of CCK truncated peptides responsible for rat pancreatic acinar amylase secretion and signal transduction. CCK-6 (Met28-Gly29-Trp30-Met31-Asp32-Phe33 -NH2), CCK-5 [CCK-(29-33)], and CCK-4 [CCK-(30-33)] caused monophasic amylase secretion with EC50 values of 3, 20, and 30 nM, respectively. CCK-7 [Tyr(SO3H)27 plus CCK-(28-33)] evoked biphasic secretion with an EC50 of 0.7 pM, whereas CCK-3 [CCK-(31-33)] had no effect, suggesting the importance of Tyr(SO3H)27 and Trp30. Whereas CCK-7 [Tyr(SO3H)27/ Met28] evoked biphasic amylase secretion, CCK-OPE [Tyr(SO3H)27/Nle28] and CCK-6 (Met28) caused monophasic secretion. Thus Tyr(SO3H)27/Met28 appears to be required for biphasic secretion. CCK-8-OH and CCK-5-OH did not cause amylase secretion and Ca2+ spiking, suggesting the importance of Phe33 amidation. Similar to CCK-8, CCK-6 and CCK-4 caused Ca2+ oscillations at low doses and large Ca2+ transients at high doses. In contrast, similar to JMV-180 and CCK-OPE, CCK-5 elicited Ca2+ oscillations at all concentrations. Phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor inhibited amylase secretion induced by high doses of CCK-6 and CCK-4 but not by CCK-5. Protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitor only inhibited the action of high doses of CCK-4. Neither PLC inhibitor nor PTK inhibitor affected amylase secretion evoked by low doses of CCK-6, CCK-5, and CCK-4. In contrast to its actions on JMV-180 and CCK-OPE, phospholipase A2 (PLA2) inhibitor had no effect on the action evoked by all CCK short peptides. CCK-6, CCK-5, and CCK-4 caused a 2.1- to 3.2-fold increase in intracellular inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate levels over basal. None of these CCK short peptides increased intracellular arachidonic acid levels. CCK-6 and CCK-5 did not stimulate PTK activity, whereas CCK-4 evoked a 3.2- to 5.3-fold increase over basal. We conclude that Tyr(SO3H)27, Trp30, and Phe33-CONH2 of the CCK peptide are key amino acids in evoking amylase secretion. At low doses, CCK-6, CCK-5, and CCK-4 utilize some yet to be identified pathways to evoke Ca2+ oscillations and amylase secretion. At high doses, CCK-6 and CCK-4 utilize PLC but not PLA2 pathways. CCK-4 possesses the minimal essential amino acids to fully activate the PTK pathway.