Abstract
The cardiac adrenergic signaling pathway is important in the induction of cardiac hypertrophy. The cardiac adrenergic pathway involves two main branches, phospholipase C (PLC)/protein kinaseC (PKC) and the adenylate cyclase (cAMPase)/protein kinaseA (PKA) signaling pathways. It is hypothesized that PLC/PKC and cAMPase/PKA are activated by the α‑adrenergic receptor (αAR) and the β‑adrenergic receptor (βAR), respectively. Previous studies have demonstrated that exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac), a guanine exchange factor, activates phospholipase Cε. It is possible that there are βAR‑activated PKC pathways mediated by Epac and PLC. In the present study, the role of Epac and PLC in βAR activated PKC pathways in cardiomyocytes was investigated. It was found that PKCε activation and translocation were induced by the βAR agonist, isoproterenol (Iso). Epac agonist 8‑CPT‑2'OMe‑cAMP also enhanced PKCε activation. βAR stimulation activated PKCε in the cardiomyocytes and was regulated by Epac. Iso‑induced change in PKCε was not affected in the cardiomyocytes, which were infected with adenovirus coding rabbit muscle cAMP‑dependent protein kinase inhibitor. However, Iso‑induced PKCε activation was inhibited by the PLC inhibitor, U73122. The results suggested that Iso‑induced PKCε activation was independent of PKA, but was regulated by PLC. To further investigate the downstream signal target of PKCε activation, the expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal‑regulated kinase (pERK)1/2 and the levels of ERK phosphorylation was analyzed. The results revealed that Iso‑induced PKCε activation led to an increase in the expression of pERK1/2. ERK phosphorylation was inhibited by the PKCε inhibitor peptide. Taken together, these data demonstrated that the βAR is able to activate PKCε dependent on Epac and PLC, but independent of PKA.
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