Dephosphorylation of D-myo-inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate in testes

Inositol (1,4,5)trisphosphate metabolism and enhanced calcium mobilization in airway smooth muscle of hyperresponsive rats

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is a phenotype of asthma and can be modeled by the inbred Fisher strain of rat, which is hyperresponsive in vivo relative to the Lewis strain. Enhanced airway smooth muscle (ASM) contractility and Ca(2+) mobilization are associated with the AHR observed in Fisher rats. In this study, we investigated whether the interstrain differences in Ca(2+) mobilization to serotonin (5HT) result from differences in inositol (1,4,5)trisphosphate (IP(3)) metabolism and/or IP(3) receptor (IP(3)R) sensitivity. Ca(2+) mobilization by 5HT in cultured ASM cells from both rat strains was phospholipase C (PLC) dependent. Inositol polyphosphate accumulation, and hence PLC activity, was similar in both rat strains, but a specific IP(3) transient was detectable only in Fisher myocytes in response to 5HT. These findings suggested that IP(3) degradation rather than production differed between the two strains. The Vmax and Michaelis constant (K(m)) of IP(3)-specific 5-phosphatase activity were higher in the particulate fraction of Lewis than in Fisher ASM cell homogenates and appeared to be related to a greater expression of two isoforms of 5-phosphatase (type I and type II) in Lewis cells as shown by Western blot analysis. The sensitivity of the IP(3)R to IP(3) was similar between Fisher and Lewis ASM cells, indicating that the interstrain intracellular Ca(2+) differences were unrelated to IP(3)R function. We propose that interstrain variations in 5-phosphatase activity and expression may give rise to the interstrain differences in IP(3)-mediated Ca(2+) release in ASM and may be a determinant of AHR.

Inositol lipid-mediated signalling in response to endothelin and ATP in the mammalian testis

The testis is a complex organ in which local control is achieved by signalling between its constituent cells. Herein we describe the responses of cultured rat testicular cells and a mouse Sertoli cell-line to stimulation by endothelin and ATP, and elsewhere we have shown that rat peritubular myoid cells possess phosphoinositidase C-coupled V1a-vasopressin receptors identical to those of liver (Howl, J. et al, 1995, Endocrinology 136: 2206-2213). 1. Peritubular myoid cells from pre-pubertal rats responded through ETA receptors with PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis [EC50 for endothelin-1 (ET-1) approximately 0.4 nM], elevation of intracellular [Ca2+], and tyrosine phosphorylation of a variety of cellular proteins. They also showed enhanced adenylate cyclase activity, with an EC50 for ET-1 of approximately 3 nM, also through ETA receptors. Pharmacological elevation of [cAMP] did not immediately change the ET-1-stimulated formation of inositol phosphates, but attenuated the response after several hours. 2. Pre-pubertal rat Sertoli cells showed no detectable responses to ET-1, but responded to FSH with elevated [cAMP] and to ATP with PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis. PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis was equally responsive to ATP and UTP, and so appears to be activated by P2U-purinergic receptors. This response was enhanced by protein kinase C inhibition and attenuated by PKC activation. 3. Despite its lack of effect on rat Sertoli cells in primary culture, ET-1 provoked PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis in the TM4 murine Sertoli cell line (EC50 approximately 0.6 nM), and this response was negatively regulated by protein kinase C activation. 5. No receptor-stimulated activation of phosphoinositase C was detected in 'germ cell' populations, but the non-specific G protein activator A1F4-provoked inositol phosphate accumulation in these cells, so demonstrating their potential to respond through yet to be identified G protein-coupled receptors with phosphoinositidase C activation. 6. Immunoblotting studies showed the presence in rat testis of phosphoinositidase C-beta 1 and the alpha-subunits(s) of the G-protein(s) Gq and/or G11. These studies show that testicular myoid and Sertoli cells use at least three G protein-coupled receptors (V1a-vasopressins, ETA-endothelin and P2U-purinergic) to signal through phosphoinositidase C activation, that ET-1 can activate multiple signalling pathways in myoid cells, and that the ET-1-stimulated phosphoinositidase C responses of myoid and Sertoli cells have different regulatory characteristics.

Bovine testis and human erythrocytes contain different subtypes of membrane-associated Ins(1,4,5)P3/Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 5-phosphomonoesterases

1. We have purified membrane-associated Ins(1,4,5)P3/Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 5-phosphatases from bovine testis and human erythrocytes by chromatography on several media, including a novel 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate affinity column. 2. The enzymes have apparent molecular masses of 42 kDa (testis) and 70 kDa (erythrocyte), as determined by SDS/PAGE, and affinities for Ins(1,4,5)P3 of 14 microM and 22 microM respectively. 3. The two enzymes hydrolyse both Ins(1,4,5)P3 and Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 and are therefore type I Ins(1,4,5)P3 5-phosphatases [nomenclature of Hansen, Johanson, Williamson and Williamson (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 17319-17326]. 4. On chromatofocusing, the partially purified testicular enzyme migrates as two peaks of activity, with pI values of about 5.8 and 5.5. The erythrocyte enzyme exhibits only the latter peak. 5. The testis 5-phosphatase is labile at 37 degrees C, but its activity can be maintained in the presence of 50 mM phorbol dibutyrate (PdBu). After PdBu treatment, a third form of the enzyme, with pI about 6.2, appears on chromatofocusing, but without change in its Km or Vmax. 6. Consideration of the properties of these enzymes and of the 5-phosphatases from other tissues suggests that type I Ins(1,4,5)P3 5-phosphatases are of two well-defined subtypes. We propose that these be termed type Ia [typified by the testis enzyme: approximately 40 kDa, higher affinity for Ins(1,4,5)P3] and Type Ib [typified by the erythrocyte enzyme: approximately 70 kDa, lower affinity for Ins(1,4,5)P3].