Phosphorylation substrates for protein kinase C in intact pituitary cells: characterization of a receptor-mediated event using novel gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues

The involvement of protein kinase C in the signal transduction of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) action was investigated with a GnRH superagonist, partial agonists, and antagonists in intact rat pituitary cells. Exposure of /sup 32/P-labeled cells to GnRH or to the superagonist (D-Nal(2)/sup 6/)GnRH induced the enhanced phosphorylation of 42-, 34-, 11-, and 10-kDa proteins and the dephosphorylation of a 15-kDa protein as assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis/autoradiography. This effect was blocked in a dose-dependent manner by potent GnRG antagonists. Downregulation of protein kinase C by prolonged incubation of the pituitary cells with high concentrations of active phorbol esters abolished protein kinase C activity and also prevented the phosphorylation induced by GnRN, or (D-Nal(2)/sup 6/)GnRH. The same effect was obtained by preincubating the cells with the protein kinase C inhibitor H-7. In this study the authors identify for the first time physiological substrates for protein kinase C in intact pituitary cells. They demonstrate a close quantitative correlation between the extent of translocation of protein kinase C, levels of phosphorylation of specific substrates in the intact cells, and the biological activity of the GnRH analogues with varying affinity for the GnRH receptor. These data strengthen the contention that the physiologicalmore » effects of GnRH are primarily mediated via the phosphatidylinositol/Ca/sup 2 +/ signal transfer system and represent a first step toward defining the physiological substrates of protein kinase C and their role in the cascade of events that starts upon binding of GnRH to its receptor.« less