title: Increased expression and altered subcellular distribution of PKC-delta in chronically hypoxic rat myocardium: involvement in cardioprotection.
abstract: We examined the role of protein kinase C (PKC) in the cardioprotective mechanism induced by long-term adaptation to chronic intermittent hypoxia. Adult male Wistar rats were exposed to hypobaric hypoxia of 7,000 m for 8 h/day, 5 days/wk; the total number of exposures was 24-32. A control group was kept under normoxic conditions. Western blot analysis of PKC isoforms-delta and -epsilon was performed in the cytosol and three particulate fractions of left ventricular myocardium. Infarct size was determined in open-chest animals subjected to 20-min coronary artery occlusion and 3-h reperfusion. The PKC inhibitors chelerythrine (1 or 5 mg/kg) or rottlerin (selective for PKC-delta isoform; 0.3 mg/kg) were administered intravenously as a single bolus 15 min before ischemia. Chronic hypoxia had no effect on the expression and distribution of PKC-epsilon. The relative amount of PKC-delta increased in the cytosol and nuclear-cytoskeletal, mitochondrial, and microsomal fractions of chronically hypoxic myocardium by 100%, 212%, 237%, and 146%, respectively, compared with corresponding normoxic values. Chronic hypoxia decreased the size of myocardial infarction (normalized to the area at risk) by about one-third on the average (P < 0.05). Both doses of chelerythrine tended to reduce infarction in controls, and only the high dose completely abolished the improvement of ischemic tolerance in hypoxic hearts (P < 0.05). Rottlerin attenuated the infarct size-limiting effect of chronic hypoxia (P < 0.05), and it had no effect in controls. These results suggest that chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced cardioprotection in rats is partially mediated by PKC-delta; the contribution of other isoforms remains to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague 4, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neckár
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marková
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Novák
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nováková
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Szárszoi
authors.forename: Bohuslav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ost'ádal
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kolár
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006339:Heart Rate; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000201:enzymology; D006400:Hematocrit; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000378:metabolism*; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000201:enzymology*; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D051745:Protein Kinase C-delta; D051744:Protein Kinase C-epsilon; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; C497260:Prkcd protein, rat; C497257:Prkce protein, rat; D011493:Protein Kinase C; D051745:Protein Kinase C-delta; D051744:Protein Kinase C-epsilon