Staurosporine in the micromolar range raised inositol trisphosphate in intact human platelets to levels comparable to that mediated by thrombin. This response was inhibited by neomycin, a phospholipase C antagonist. Staurosporine alone induced a weak, transient rise in cytosolic free calcium levels ([Ca2']J from release of internal Ca*+ stores but potentiated the effect induced by thrombin. Therefore, it is unlikely that this alkaloid suppressed inositol trisphosphate mobilization of Ca2'. Additional studies show that staurosporine, OS-5 ,uM, stimulated GTPase activity in platelet membranes while 2 PM K252a and 20 FM H7 were inactive. Present results suggest that staurosporine may activate platelet phospholipase C at the level of G proteins or receptors.
Key wor& Staurosporine;Platelet; Phospholipa~ C; Calcium; Inositol phosphate _ _
lntrodwtionStaurosporine, a microbial alkaloid from Streptomyces sp. is a potent but nonspecific inhibitor of protein kinase C (PI(C) (IC,, of 3 nM) [l]. This reagent has been used in numerous studies to inhibit PKC-dependent responses in platelets [3-61. Recently we showed that staurosporine in the micromolar range causes a rapid and sustained elevation of cytosolic free Ca" concentration ([Ca"+]J in neutrophils via an indirect mechanism [7f. Subsequently, Himpens and coworkers [S] reported that staurosporine mobilizes intra~ll~ar Ca" stores and induces Ca2' influx in cultured DDTlMF-2 smooth muscle cells. In both studies, the effect of staurosporine on [Ca2']i is not correlated with PKC inhibition or phospholipase C (PLC) activation. The present study was undertaken to investigateand compare the effect of staurosporine on [Ca2']i in human platelets. We report here that micromolar staurosporine induced significant hydrolysis of phosphatidyl inositol4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) but weak transient elevations of [Ca2'J,.
Materials and methods
Materials['H]Myo-inositol, (W-120 Ciimmol) and a ligand binding assay kit for Ins(1,4,5)P, were from Amersham Canada Ltd. (Oakville, Qnt.); human thrombin, apyrase, neomycin sulfate, and prostacyclin were from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO); staurosporine was obtained from Sigma and Boehringer Mannheim (Montreal, P.Q.); Fura-AM and ionomycin were from Calbiochem Corp. (San Diego, CA); Stock solutions of staurosporine and ionomycin were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (MesSO) and stored at -80°C.
separation of platelet ~pe~~nBlood was drawn by ve~p~cture from drug-free volunteers into 116 volume acid citrate dextrose. Platelet-rich plasma was obtained by centrifuging whole blood at 300 x g at room temperature for 15 min. After careful removal, the plasma was further centrifuged at 2500 x g at room temperature for 10 min to pellet the platelets. Platelets were resuspended in Tyrode-HEPES buffer (134 mM NaCl, 12 mM NaHCO,, 2.9 mM KCl, 0.36 mM NaH,PQ4, 1 mM MgCl,, 5 mM HEPES,J mM glucose; pH 7.2) containing apyrase (0.6 ADPase U/ml) and 0.35% bovine serum albumin. For labeling platelets with [3H]myoinositol, the buffer also contained 1 mM EG...