Role of protein tyrosine kinase on regulation of trabecular meshwork and ciliary muscle contractility.

PURPOSE Trabecular meshwork and ciliary muscle express properties of smooth muscle cells. The contractility of trabecular meshwork and ciliary muscle is differently modulated by various agents. To reveal contractile regulatory processes, the effects of activation and inhibition of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) and their interaction with other protein kinases on contractility were measured. METHODS Measurements of isometric tension were performed on isolated bovine trabecular meshwork and ciliary muscle strips using a custom-built, electromagnetic, force-length transducer. Protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) was stimulated by epidermal growth factor (EGF) and was inhibited by genistein or tyrphostin 51. Protein kinase C (PKC) was inhibited by chelerythrine or NPC-15437 and protein kinases A and G (PKA-PKG) by H8. RESULTS Isolated strips were precontracted by applying carbachol 10(-6) M for 30 minutes (100% carbachol maximum contraction). Inhibition of PTK evoked a maximum relaxation of 79.2+/-4.2% in trabecular meshwork and of 38.1+/-3.1% in ciliary muscle (n=8). Inhibition of PKC or PKA-PKG induced relaxations only in trabecular meshwork. When PTK and PKC or PKA-PKG were inhibited, the relaxation induced by inhibition of PTK was additive to inhibition of the other protein kinases. Stimulation of a receptor with PTK activity by EGF induced a relaxation in trabecular meshwork and a contraction in ciliary muscle precontracted by carbachol. When trabecular meshwork and ciliary muscle were activated by EGF, inhibition of PTK by genistein relaxed the cell preparations. CONCLUSIONS Inhibition of PTK induces more prominent relaxation in trabecular meshwork than in ciliary muscle. The effects of inhibition of PTK on relaxation are independent of inhibition of PKC and PKA-PKG. The signaling cascade after activation of a tyrosine kinase receptor by EGF is differently modulated in trabecular meshwork and ciliary muscle. The effect of genistein on relaxation is probably not directly related to the EGF receptor. PTK inhibitors are possible agents for the development of novel antiglaucoma drugs.