INVOLVEMENT OF PROTEIN-KINASE-C AND CA2+ IN ANGIOTENSIN-II-INDUCED MITOGENESIS OF CARDIAC FIBROBLASTS

Angiotensin (ANG) II has been previously shown to stimulate proliferation of neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts via AT(1) receptors. Here we conducted studies to assess involvement in this process of two second messengers linked to AT(1) receptors, protein kinase C (PKC) and Ca2+. Several findings argue against a dominant role for PKC in ANG II-induced mitogenesis: 1) [Sar(1)]ANG II, which produced a modest, transient increase in PKC activity, was equally effective in inducing thymidine incorporation into DNA in PKC-depleted cells, whereas the effect of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB on thymidine incorporation was reduced to the level observed with [Sar(1)]ANG II; 2) phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a potent PKC stimulator, was ineffective in stimulating thymidine incorporation; and 3) PKC downregulation or the highly specific PKC inhibitor, compound 3, eliminated PMA-induced mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity but did not affect comparable increases induced by [Sar(1)]ANG II or PDGF-EE. Increased intracellular Ca2+ may be sufficient to account for [Sar(1)]ANG II-induced MAP kinase activity because ionomycin also increased MAP kinase activity and chelation of intracellular Ca2+ eliminated [Sar(1)]ANG II-induced activity in PKC-depleted fibroblasts. However, Ca2+ chelation did not prevent [Sar(1)]ANG II-induced MAP kinase activity in non-PKC-depleted fibroblasts. Thus ANG II can activate MAP kinases in cardiac fibroblasts by either Ca2+- or PKC-dependent pathways, and whereas the full effect of PDGF-BB on thymidine incorporation and cell proliferation requires a phorbol ester-sensitive PKC, the hyperplastic growth effect of ANG II does not.