Background: Protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events are considered to be key steps in the control of agonist-induced pancreatic enzyme release. This study was designed to characterize the role of serine/threonine phosphatases in phosphoinositol/calcium- and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-mediated stimulus-secretion coupling in rat pancreatic acini.
Methods: Isolated rat pancreatic acini were incubated with either the serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitors okadaic acid, calyculin A, and cyclosporin A or the calmodulin antagonist W-7. Amylase secretion was stimulated with cholecystokinin (CCK)-8, secretin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) or pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), and the intracellular second messengers calcium and cAMP were determined.
Results: Okadaic acid or calyculin A reduced secretagogue-stimulated amylase release to near-basal levels. Inhibition of cAMP-mediated secretion (by VIP, secretin, or PACAP) occurred at lower concentrations than with inositol triphosphate (IP3)/Ca(2+)-dependent enzyme release (via CCK). Cyclosporin A diminished CCK-8-stimulated secretion by 35%, whereas secretion in response to cAMP-mediated secretagogues was not affected. W-7 completely inhibited acinar secretion in response to cAMP-or IP3/Ca(2+)-mediated secretagogues. Binding of 125I-CCK-8- or 125I-PACAP-(1-27) to acini was not influenced by the phosphatase inhibitors or W-7. Okadaic acid and calyculin A affected neither CCK-8-stimulated intracellular Ca2+ release nor PACAP-(1-27)-stimulated cAMP synthesis, whereas W-7 inhibited by 50% and 40%, respectively.
Conclusions: The inhibitory profiles of okadaic acid, calyculin A, cyclosporin A, and W-7 indicate that phosphatases 1 and 2A play a relevant role in cAMP-mediated enzyme release, whereas phosphatases 1 and 2B are predominantly involved in IP3/Ca(2+)-dependent stimulus-secretion coupling. The calmodulin antagonist W-7 interferes at multiple steps of intracellular signal-transduction pathways.