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Reversible and Phorbol Ester-specific Defect of Protein Kinase C Translocation in Hepatocytes Isolated from Phenobarbital-treated Rats¹

Department of Radiology, Division of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710

Phorbol ester-induced translocation of the calcium/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase, protein kinase C (PKC), from soluble to particulate cell fractions was inhibited in primary cultures of hepatocytes isolated from rats chronically exposed to the liver tumor promoter phenobarbital (PB). Inhibition of translocation (34%) was significant after a 15-min treatment with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA, 500 nM); an 85% inhibition was observed after 60 min. In contrast, the translocation responses to two non-phorbol ester activators of PKC, ATP (1 mM) and arginine-vasopressin (0.1 µM), were not significantly impaired. Assessment of total PKC specific activity revealed that translocation induced by TPA and the two nonphorbol activators was not associated with PKC degradation in hepatocytes from either control or PB-exposed rats. The defect in TPA-induced translocation was correlated with an impaired down-regulation of the hepatocyte surface receptor for epidermal growth factor in hepatocytes from PB-exposed rats. Chronic exposure to PB did not affect the total content or specific activity of PKC in whole liver, nor did it affect the distribution of PKC activity between soluble and particulate fractions in unstimulated liver or hepatocytes. However, both the diminished epidermal growth factor receptor response and the inhibition of TPA-induced PKC translocation were reversed by withdrawal of PB for 2 to 4 weeks. Hepatocytes isolated from female rats were found to contain a 3- to 4-fold greater PKC specific activity and content than hepatocytes from male rats. However, no sex-related differences were observed in PKC distribution or in the modulation of translocation by chronic PB exposure and withdrawal. Immunoblotting of partially purified liver extracts revealed that the defect in phorbol ester-induced translocation was not caused by altered expression of PKC isozymes. PKC isozymes II and III, but not I, were detected, and their amounts were unaffected by PB exposure, although higher levels were detected in female relative to male livers. These data demonstrate reversible inhibition of phorbol ester-induced PKC activation by the liver tumor promoter, PB, and suggest that PB alters a component of the PKC-signaling pathway other than the expression of PKC isozymes.

¹ This work was supported by USPHS Grants CA 25951 and CA40172.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed at Box 3433, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.

Received 5/ 2/90. Accepted 10/ 8/90.

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