Activation of protein kinases in canine basilar artery in vasospasm

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) often leads to a long-term narrowing of cerebra! artery called vasospasm. To understand the molecular mechanisms in vasospasm, signal transduction of tyrosine kinase pathway and phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC) and calponin (CaP) in the basilar artery were studied. Vasospasm was produced in the canine basilar artery by a two-hemorrhage method, and vasocontraction was induced by a local application of KCI or serotonin to the basilar artery after a transclival exposure. Intracellular substrates of tyrosine kinase pathway, including Shc, Rafl, and extracellular-regulated kinases in the basilar artery, were activated after SAH, and the activation of Shc suggests stimulation of signal transductions from tyrosine kinase receptors, G-coupled receptors, or both. The activation of tyrosine kinase pathway in vasospasm also was supported by dose-dependent dilation of the spastic basilar artery on days 0 and 7 by topical application of genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and associated marked inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation of intracellular substrates, including Shc. In addition, the generation of protein kinase M, catalytic fragment of protein kinase C(alpha) (PKC alpha), in vasospasm on days 0 and 7 was inhibited in response to genistein, indicating an inactivation of mu-calpain. It is suggested, therefore, that the reversal of vasospasm by genistein is closely associated with the restoration of intracellular Ca2+ levels. However, the increased activities of Raf1 and extracellular-regulated kinases in vasospasm were declined on day 7 compared with those on day 0 or 2, suggesting that the activation of tyrosine kinase pathway is more closely associated with the early stage of vasospasm than with the late stage of vasospasm. The analysis by pyrophosphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PPi-PAGE) demonstrated three MLC bands in vasospasm on days 2 and 7, as well as in KCI- and serotonin-induced vasocontraction. Since PPi-PAGE resolves smooth muscle MLC into three bands in the MLC kinase (MLCK)-mediated phosphorylation and into a single band in the PKC-mediated phosphorylation based on the phosphorylation state, the current results suggest that MLC in vasospasm is phosphorylated by MLCK but not by PKC. In basilar artery, CaP was significantly down-regulated, and in addition, significantly phosphorylated on serine and threonine residues only in vasospasm on days 2 and 7. Although the significance of CaP phosphorylations in vivo still is controversial, CaP down-regulation and phosphorylation may attenuate the inhibition of Mg(2+)-ATPase activity by CaP and induce a potential enhancement of smooth muscle contractility in delayed vasospasm. Since CaP is phosphorylated in vivo by PKC, activated PKC in vasospasm may phosphorylate CaP. Thus, SAH stimulates tyrosine kinase pathway to increase intracellular Ca2+ and activate PKC, and the former activates MLCK to phosphorylate MLC, whereas the latter phosphorylates CaP but not MLC.