Copurification of two holoenzyme-forming Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II isoforms as holoenzyme from porcine stomach

Gastric acid, calcium absorption, and their impact on bone health

Calcium balance is essential for a multitude of physiological processes, ranging from cell signaling to maintenance of bone health. Adequate intestinal absorption of calcium is a major factor for maintaining systemic calcium homeostasis. Recent observations indicate that a reduction of gastric acidity may impair effective calcium uptake through the intestine. This article reviews the physiology of gastric acid secretion, intestinal calcium absorption, and their respective neuroendocrine regulation and explores the physiological basis of a potential link between these individual systems.

Functional partitioning of epithelial protein kinase CaMKII in signal transduction

The examination of the physiological role of CaMKII has made substantial progress in non-epithelial systems but little is known about its function in secretory epithelial cells. A prototypic exocrine cell, the acid secreting gastric parietal cell, largely redistributes its cytoplasmic tubulocisternal membranes (TC) to the secretory apical membrane (SA) after stimulation. We here present a dependence of physiological response on partitioned initial CaMKII activities redistributed between TC and SA. Initial acid secretion after cholinergic stimulation has doubled if activities of phosphatases PP1/PP2A and protein kinase PKC-alpha were inhibited by the inhibitors calyculin A and Gö 6976. CaMKII appears to be integrated in multienzyme complexes each specific for TC and SA. Therein, PP1/PP2A and PKC-alpha were found to permanently counteract initial CaMKII activities in different modes of transregulation. Remarkably, a dys-transregulated, hyperactive CaMKII at TC did not result in an increased acid secretion to the same extent. A simple mathematical model to estimate the share of TC- and SA-associated CaMKII activities in cholinergically induced acid secretion suggests that TC-associated CaMKII appears to autoregulate its contribution to the physiological response by a negative feedback control. Subcellular distribution and stimulus-dependent redistribution of domain-associated CaMKII signalosomes indicate a fine balanced, adaptive system to guarantee a stable physiological response.

Protein kinase C-alpha attenuates cholinergically stimulated gastric acid secretion of rabbit parietal cells

(1) The phorbolester 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), an activator of protein kinase C (PKC), inhibits cholinergic stimulation of gastric acid secretion. We observed that this effect strongly correlated with the inhibition of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) activity in rabbit parietal cells. (2) The aim of this study was to specify the function of PKC-alpha in cholinergically stimulated H(+) secretion. PKC-alpha represents the only calcium-dependent PKC isoenzyme that has been detected in rabbit parietal cells. (3) Gö 6976, an inhibitor of calcium-dependent PKC, concentration-dependently antagonized the inhibitory effect of TPA, and, therefore, revealed the action of PKC-alpha on carbachol-induced acid secretion in rabbit parietal cells. (4) TPA exerted no additive inhibition of carbachol-stimulated acid secretion if acid secretion was partially inhibited by the potent CaMKII inhibitor 1-[N,O-bis(5-isoquinolinsulfonyl)-N-methyl-L-tyrosyl]-4-phenyl-piperazine (KN-62). (5) Since both kinase modulators, TPA and KN-62, affected no divergent signal transduction pathways in the parietal cell, an in vitro model has been used to study if PKC directly targets CaMKII. CaMKII purified from parietal cell-containing gastric mucosa of pig, was transphosphorylated by purified cPKC containing PKC-alpha up to 1.8 mol P(i) per mol CaMKII in vitro. The autonomy site of CaMKII was not transphosphorylated by PKC. (6) The phosphotransferase activity of the purified CaMKII was in vitro inhibited after transphosphorylation by PKC if calmodulin was absent during transphosphorylation. Attenuation of CaMKII activity by PKC showed strong similarity to the downregulation of CaMKII by basal autophosphorylation. (7) Our results suggest that PKC-alpha and CaMKII are closely functionally linked in a cholinergically induced signalling pathway in rabbit parietal cells. We assume that in cholinergically stimulated parietal cells PKC-alpha transinhibits CaMKII activity, resulting in an attenuation of acid secretion.

Organ-specific distribution of the calcium sensor CaMKII in Locusta migratoria

The Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent kinase CaMKII is a key signaling component in Ca(2+)-dependent physiological processes. The expression and function of CaMKII in insect brain is well documented but less investigated for other tissues of insects. The present study demonstrates that in the locust Locusta migratoria CaMKII is widely expressed in various tissues. Relatively high expression levels of CaMKII were found in the brain, upper part of the digestive tract (pharynx, esophagus), and the flight and leg muscles. The different expression patterns of CaMKII in various tissues, as well as different molecular masses of CaMKII between 48 and 60 kDa indicate a tissue-specific expression of CaMKII variants. The expression was monitored with a polyclonal anti-(rat)CaMKII antibody. About 60% of total CaMKII activity in flight muscle cells is associated to the myofibril-rich, particulate fraction suggesting an important role of CaMKII in sarcomeric function.

Different actions of protein kinase C isoforms alpha and epsilon on gastric acid secretion

1. The phorbol ester TPA, an activator of protein kinase C (PKC), inhibits cholinergic stimulation of gastric acid secretion but increases basal H(+) secretion. 2. Since these contradictory findings suggest the action of different PKC isozymes we analysed the role of calcium-dependent PKC-alpha, and calcium-independent PKC-epsilon in gastric acid secretion. 3. Inhibition of PKC-alpha by the indolocarbazole Gö 6976 revealed that about 28% of carbachol-induced acid secretion was inhibited by PKC-alpha. In the presence of Gö 6976 approximately 64% of the carbachol-induced signal transduction is mediated by Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), and 14% is conveyed by PKC-epsilon as deduced from the inhibition with the bisindolylmaleimide Ro 31-8220. 4. Inhibition of carbachol-induced acid secretion by TPA was accompanied by a decrease in CaMKII activity. 5. The stimulation of basal acid secretion by TPA was biphasic with a peak at a very low concentration (10 pM), resulting in an activation of the calcium-sensor CaMKII. The activation was determined with a phosphospecific polyclonal antibody against active CaMKII. The TPA-induced increase of H(+) secretion was sensitive to the cell-permeable Ca(2+)-chelator BAPTA/AM, Ro 31-8220, and the CaMKII-inhibitor KN-62, but not to Gö 6976. 6. Since TPA induced the translocation of PKC-epsilon but not of PKC-alpha in resting parietal cells, PKC-epsilon seems to be at least responsible for an initial elevation of free intracellular calcium to initiate TPA-induced acid secretion. 7. Our data indicate the different roles of two PKC isoforms: PKC-epsilon activation appears to facilitate cholinergic stimulation of H(+)-secretion likely by increasing intracellular calcium. In contrast, PKC-alpha activation attenuates acid secretion accompanied by a down-regulation of CaMKII activity.

CaMKII is activated and translocated to the secretory apical membrane during cholinergically conveyed gastric acid secretion

The Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is thought to be activated during the cholinergic stimulation of gastric acid secretion. The carbachol-induced acid production of cultured rabbit parietal cells was dose-dependently inhibited by the CaMKII inhibitor KN-62 as measured by accumulation of the weak base [(14)C]aminopyrine ([(14)C]-AP). Inhibition by KN-62 was most efficient at concentrations of carbachol >10(-6) M. After carbachol stimulation, we observed an activation of CaMKII activity, and its translocation to the apical membrane of gastric mucosal cells. We found a doubling of the abundance of CaMKII to the stimulus-associated apical membrane (SA vesicles) compared to the apical membrane from the resting state after carbachol induction. This was shown by both an anti-CaMKII serum and the 1.8-fold increase of the CaMKII phosphotransferase activity in vitro. The SA vesicles exhibited a strong increase of autoactivated CaMKII probed with an anti-autoactivated CaMKII antibody. Additionally, we observed a colocalization of both CaMKII and the H(+)-K(+)-ATPase of SA vesicles similar to the colocalization of both enzymes to the tubulovesicles suggesting them as at least one pool for the SA vesicular CaMKII. Our data indicate that the activation of CaMKII and the carbachol-dependent redistribution of CaMKII to the SA vesicles are distinct processes that occur in parallel to regulate the activity and localization of CaMKII. These findings contribute to the model implicating an involvement for CaMKII in the intracellular dynamics of the acid secretion.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II inhibitor from human dendritic cells

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a widely distributed protein kinase that regulates numerous physiological functions. Inhibitors of CaMKII are useful tools for investigating the CaMKII functions. Here we identified a novel CaMKII inhibitor protein (CaM-KIIN) from the human dendritic cell cDNA library by large-scale random sequencing. Human CaM-KIIN contains 79 amino acids, which shares 98% identity and 98% positives with rat CaMKII inhibitor protein beta and 65% identity and 78% positives with rat CaMKII inhibitor alpha. Human CaM-KIIN mRNA expression was detectable in various tissues and cell lines by Northern blot and RT-PCR. To investigate its biological functions, full-length human CaM-KIIN was overexpressed in colon adenocarcinoma LoVo cells. When expressed in LoVo cells, it could inhibit cell proliferation, block cell growth, and decrease the viable cell number. These results characterize a potential cellular inhibitor protein of CaMKII that plays an important role in the regulation of cell growth.