1 In this study the effect of insulin and A(1)-adenosine receptor stimulati
on on protein kinase B (PKB) activation has been investigated in the hamste
r vas deferens smooth muscle cell line DDT1MF-2. Increases in PKB phosphory
lation were determined by Western blotting using an antibody that detects P
KB phosphorylation at Ser(473).
2 Insulin, a recognized activator of PKB, stimulated a concentration-depend
ent increase in PKB phosphorylation in DDT1MF-2 cells (EC50 5+/-1 pM).
3 The selective A(1)-adenosine receptor agonist N-6-cyclopentyladenosine (C
PA) stimulated time and concentration-dependent increases in PKB phosphoryl
ation in DDT1MF-2 cells (EC50 1.3+/-0.5 nM). CPA-mediated increases in PKB
phosphorylation were antagonized by the A(1)-adenosine receptor selective a
ntagonist 1,3-dipropylcyclopentylxanthine (DPCPX) yielding an apparent K-D
value of 2.3 nM.
4 Pre-treatment of DDT1MF-2 cells with pertussis toxin (PTX, 100 ng ml(-1)
for 16 h), to block G(i)/ G(o)-dependent pathways, abolished CPA (1 mu M) i
nduced phosphorylation of PKB. In contrast, responses to insulin (100 nM) w
ere resistant to PTX pre-treatment.
5 The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K) inhibitors wortmannin (IC50 10.
3+/-0.6 nM) and LY 294002 (IC50 10.3 +/- 1.2 mu M) attenuated the phosphory
lation of PKB elicited by CPA (1 mu M) in a concentration-dependent manner.
Wortmannin (30 nM) and LY 294002 (30 mu M) also blocked responses to insul
in (100 nM).
6 Removal of extracellular Ca2+ and chelation of intracellular Ca2+ with BA
PTA had no significant effect on CPA-induced PKB phosphorylation. Similarly
, pretreatment (30 min) with inhibitors of protein kinase C (Ro 31-8220; 10
mu M), tyrosine kinase (genistein; 100 mu M), mitogen-activated protein (M
AP) kinase kinase (PD 98059; 50 mu M) and p38 MAPK (SB 203580; 20 mu M) had
no significant effect on CPA-induced PKB phosphorylation.
7 In conclusion, these data demonstrate that A(1)-adenosine receptor stimul
ation in DDT1MF-2 cells increases PKB phosphorylation through a PTX and PI-
3K-sensitive pathway.