Vasoconstriction mediated by the highly selective alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist dexmedetomidine leads to transiently increased blood pressure and severe hypertension. The dexmedetomidine-induced contraction involves the protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated pathway. However, the main PKC isoform involved in the dexmedetomidine-induced contraction remains unknown. The goal of this in vitro study was to...

Bombesin-like peptides (BLPs) activate protein kinase C (PKC), which leads to proliferation in nonmalignant Swiss 3T3 cells. The purpose of this study was to determine if PKC expression in the classic human small cell lung carcinoma NCI-H345 cell line, which has an autocrine growth loop involving BLPs, exhibited unique properties that could result in malignant behavior. PKC activity and phorbol...

BACKGROUND The mitochondrial K(ATP) (mitoK(ATP)) channel has been shown to confer short- and long-term cardioprotection against prolonged ischemia via protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathways. However, the exact association between PKC or its isoforms and mitoK(ATP) channels has not yet been clarified. The present study tested the hypothesis that the activity and translocation of PKC to the mi...

Protein kinase-C (PKC) activation differentially affects currents from N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) type glutamate receptors depending upon their subunit composition. Experiments using chimeras initially indicated that the cytoplasmic C-terminal tails of NR2B (responsive to PKC) and NR2C (unresponsive to PKC) subunits contain the amino acid residues responsible for the observed disparity of PKC ...

AIM Protein kinase-C (PKC) and NF-kappaB are involved in cell survival, proliferation, migration and radioresistance in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). We sought to determine the interaction between PKC and NF-kappaB pathways. MATERIAL AND METHODS The activation of NF-kappaB by PKC alpha and PKC delta was assessed by Western blotting after the stimulation with Phorbol 12- Myristate 13-Acetate ...

Thrombin activates protease-activated receptor (PAR)-1 and induces a myofibroblast phenotype in normal lung fibroblasts that resembles the phenotype of scleroderma lung fibroblasts. We now demonstrate that PAR-1 expression is dramatically increased in lung tissue from scleroderma patients, where it is associated with inflammatory and fibroproliferative foci. We also observe that thrombin induce...

The protein kinase C (PKC)-beta isoform has been implicated to play a pivotal role in the development of diabetic kidney disease. We tested this hypothesis by inducing diabetic nephropathy in PKC-beta-deficient (PKC-beta(-/-)) mice. We studied nondiabetic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic PKC-beta(-/-) mice compared with appropriate 129/SV wild-type mice. After 8 weeks of diabetes, the high-g...

The protein kinase C (PKC) family is comprised of 11 isotypes and many can exist in a single cell simultaneously. There are three general categories of PKC based on their cofactor requirements for activation: The conventional, novel, and atypical PKCs. The first category, the conventional PKC isotypes, are PKC┙, -┚I, -┚II, and -┛ and are activated by diacylglycerol (DAG), and negatively charged...

Members of the protein kinase C (PKC) isozyme family are important signal transducers in virtually every mammalian cell type. Within the heart, PKC isozymes are thought to participate in a signaling network that programs developmental and pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophic growth. To investigate the function of PKC signaling in regulating cardiomyocyte growth, adenoviral-mediated gene tran...