Na+/H+ exchange as a modulator of platelet activation.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W Siffert.
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Stimulation of human platelets increases cytoplasmic pH (pHi) via activation of Na+/H+ exchange. We have determined the effect of inhibiting Na+/H+ exchange on (i) thrombin-induced Ca2+ mobilization and (ii) turnover of 32P-labelled phospholipids. Blocking Na+/H+ exchange by removal of extracellular Na+ or by ethylisopropylamiloride (EIPA) inhibited Ca2+ mobilization induced by 0.2 U/ml thrombin, whereas increasing pHi by NH4Cl enhanced the thrombin-induced increase in cytosolic free Ca2+. The effect of EIPA was bypassed after increasing pHi by moneasin. The thrombin-induced cleavage of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) was unaffected by treatments that blocked Na+/H+ exchange or increased pHi. It is concluded that activation of Na+/H+ exchange is a prerequisite for Ca2+ mobilization in human platelets but not for the stimulus-induced hydrolysis of PIP2.
We have investigated changes in cytoplasmic pH (pHi) in activated human platelets, using the fluorescent probe 2,7-biscarboxyethyl-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. Stimulation of platelets by thrombin or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate increased pHi by about 0.11 pH unit above the resting value. This increase in pHi depended on the presence of external Na+ and was inhibited by ethylisopropylamiloride. The data suggest that protein kinase C mediates Na+/H+ exchange in human platelets.
This study aimed at investigating the mechanisms by which stimulation of human platelets results in activation of Na+/H+ exchange. Platelets were suspended in a slightly buffered medium and the stimulus-induced, amiloride-sensitive H+ release, reflecting Na+/H+ exchange, was estimated from changes in the medium pH. H+ release could be evoked by thrombin and by activators of protein kinase C such as 1-oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol (OAG) or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Both the thrombin-and the OAG-induced Na+/H+ exchange could be blocked by trifluoperazine, a protein kinase C inhibitor. The thrombin-induced H+ release was also sensitive to increased intracellular cAMP levels, probably due to inhibition of phospholipase C activation, whereas the OAG-induced activation of Na+/H+ exchange was unaffected. Our data suggest that activation of Na+/H+ exchange is mediated by protein kinase C.
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Carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity was determined in a homogenate of frog skeletal muscle by measuring the kinetics of CO2 hydration in a pH stopped-flow apparatus. The results suggest that frog skeletal muscle contains a high-activity CA with properties similar to those of the isoenzyme CA II found in white skeletal muscle tissue of the rabbit. In an attempt to assess the functional significance of CA in skeletal muscle, the maximal isometric force of frog gastrocnemius muscle was measured in response to direct or indirect (ischiadic nerve) single-pulse electrical stimulation before (control) and after exposing the muscle to various concentrations of the specific carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, ethoxzolamide, acetazolamide, and methazolamide. In the range of ethoxzolamide concentration between 10(-9) and 10(-6) M, maximal isometric force with indirect supramaximal stimulation declined progressively with inhibitor concentration to less than 10% of the control value. Acetazolamide and methazolamide were less effective in that concentrations of above 10(-4) M were necessary to inhibit maximum isometric force by 50%. Even at the highest ethoxzolamide concentration used (10(-6) M), no effect was observed either on the amplitude of the compound nerve action potential or on the conduction velocity of group I fibres in the ischiadic nerve, suggesting that ethoxzolamide did not affect the mechanisms responsible for spike generation or conduction in the motor fibres. With direct supramaximal stimulation of the gastrocnemius muscle, no effects on maximal isometric force were observed of CA inhibition by any of the inhibitors used. The results suggest that CA acts on the neuromuscular transmission. The exact site and mechanism of action are unknown.
A simple method for histochemical localization of carbonic anhydrase using 5-dimethyl-amino-naphthalene-1-sulfonamide (DNSA) is described. Cryosections of tissues, or cell smears, are incubated in 3 to 10 X 10(-5) M DNSA and viewed in a fluorescence microscope. Upon excitation with ultraviolet light, sites of carbonic anhydrase localization can be identified by an intense blue fluorescence, which is due to the emission of blue light (lambda max = 470 nm) by carbonic anhydrase-DNSA complexes. This fluorescence can be largely suppressed by simultaneous incubation with 1 X 10(-4) to 2 X 10(-3) M concentrations of nonfluorescent carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, displacing DNSA from its binding site on the enzyme. Application of the method to kidney, skeletal muscle, and thrombocytes yields patterns of carbonic anhydrase localization that are in good agreement with results that have been obtained with a variety of other techniques.
We have investigated the release of protons from human platelets and platelet aggregation induced by the calcium ionophore, A 23187. Addition of the ionophore to suspensions of washed platelets resulted in fast liberation of H+. In the presence of 0.2 mM amiloride, a potent inhibitor of Na+/H+ countertransport, the amount of protons liberated was decreased by 50% and was further reduced to about 10% by 1 mM amiloride. Similar inhibition of H+-release was observed after decreasing Na+ in the incubation medium. Both results suggest that increasing internal Ca2+ by the ionophore induces Na+/H+ exchange in human platelets. Platelet aggregation could be induced by adding the ionophore to the platelet suspension. This aggregation was inhibited by amiloride, at least when induced by low ionophore concentrations. The results suggest that stimulation of Na+/H+ exchange, and the concomitant increase in intraplatelet pH, are important mechanisms in platelet activation.
We have investigated the release of protons from thrombin-stimulated platelets. Addition of thrombin to suspensions of washed platelets resulted in fast liberation of H+. In the presence of 0.1 mM amiloride, a potent inhibitor of the Na+/H+ transport system, the amount of protons liberated was decreased by about 50%, and was further reduced to about 15% by 1 mM amiloride. Similar inhibition of H+ release was observed after Na+ in the incubating medium had been replaced by choline. We conclude that one of the earliest events in thrombin-stimulated platelets consists of the activation of an Na+/H+ countertransport, which leads to an increase in intracellular pH.
We have studied the effect of ethoxzolamide , a specific carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, on the velocity of thrombin-stimulated platelet aggregation. After preincubation of platelet rich plasma with 10(-6) M ethoxzolamide the velocity of platelet aggregation was reduced by about 40%. Between 10(-11) M and 10(-10)M ethoxzolamide was necessary to achieve a half-maximal diminution of the aggregation velocity. An identical maximal reduction of the velocity of aggregation as with ethoxzolamide could be achieved by a nearly complete removal of CO2 from the platelet rich plasma. These results suggest that the intracellular CO2 hydration-dehydration reaction is involved in the activation of human platelets by thrombin. It is possible that the cytosolic carbonic anhydrase of platelets provides a rapid source of the protons that are transferred across the plasma membrane during the activation process.
The carbonic anhydrase activity of human platelets was investigated by measuring the kinetics of CO2 hydration in supernatants of platelet lysates by using a pH stopped-flow apparatus. An average carbonic anhydrase concentration of 2.1 microM was determined for pellets of human platelets. Analysis of the kinetic properties of this carbonic anhydrase yielded a Km value of 1.0 mM, a catalytic-centre activity kcat. of 130000 s-1 and an inhibition constant Ki towards ethoxzolamide of 0.3 nM. From these values, CO2 hydration inside platelets is estimated to be accelerated by a factor of 2500. When platelet lysates were subjected to affinity chromatography, only the high-activity carbonic anhydrase II could be eluted from the affinity column, whereas the carbonic anhydrase isoenzyme I, which is known to occur in high concentrations in human erythrocytes, appeared to be absent.
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Prontosil, a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor of orange-red colour, is used to visualize carbonic anhydrase bands during isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels. 5-60 ng of the sulfonamide Prontosil are added to the 100-200 microliters samples before application to the gels. Bound Prontosil moves into the gel together with carbonic anhydrase and stains the enzyme bands formed there, while unbound Prontosil remains on top of the gels. The method is specific, no proteins other than carbonic anhydrase were observed to be stained, and it requires no special equipment. It was applied to chloroform/ethanol extracts of erythrolysates and white muscle homogenates from rabbits. Densitometric evaluation of the Prontosil-stained bands obtained with these extracts showed that rabbit red cells contain roughly equal amounts of carbonic anhydrase isoenzymes B and C while in rabbit white skeletal muscle isoenzyme C is predominant and little B enzyme occurs. These results confirm previous findings obtained by affinity chromatography of erythrolysates and muscle homogenates.
We investigated the activity of carbonic anhydrase in blood-free perfused white skeletal muscles of the rabbit. Carbonic anhydrase activities were measured in supernatants and in Triton extracts of the particulate fractions of white-skeletal-muscle homogenate by using a rapid-reaction stopped-flow apparatus equipped with a pH electrode. An average carbonic anhydrase concentration of about 0.5 microM was determined for white skeletal muscle. This concentration is about 1% of that inside the erythrocyte. Some 85% of the muscle enzyme was found in the homogenate supernatant, and only 15% appeared to be associated with membranes and organelles. White-skeletal-muscle carbonic anhydrase was characterized in terms of its Michaelis constant and catalytic-centre activity (turnover number) for CO2 and its inhibition constant towards ethoxzolamide. These properties were identical with those of the rabbit erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase C, suggesting that a type-C enzyme is present in white skeletal muscle. Affinity chromatography of muscle supernatant and of lysed erythrocytes showed that, whereas rabbit erythrocytes contain about equal amounts of carbonic anhydrase isoenzymes B and C, the B isoenzyme is practically absent from white skeletal muscle. Similarly, ethoxzolamide-inhibition curves suggested that white skeletal muscle contains no carbonic anhydrase A. It is concluded that white skeletal muscle contains essentially one carbonic anhydrase isoenzyme, the C form, most of which is probably of cytosolic origin.
An enhancement of Na+/H+ exchange (NHE) in blood cells of selected patients with essential hypertension and with diabetic nephropathy has been described by various investigators. Recent studies have shown that enhanced NHE activity persists in immortalized lymphoblasts from these patients after prolonged cell culture and, thus, appears to be under genetic control. Available evidence strongly argues against a mutation in the encoding gene or an overexpression of the NHE. Immortalized cells from hypertensive patients with enhanced NHE activity display two-fold enhanced agonist-induced rises of the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration and the underlying reason was identified as an increased activation of pertussis toxin (PTX)-sensitive G proteins. The molecular mechanism(s) of this phenomenon have not yet been elucidated. It appears likely that similar changes contribute to the enhanced NHE activity phenotype in diabetic nephropathy, although experimental evidence for this is still lacking. An enhanced activation of PTX-sensitive G proteins could explain many of the hitherto unexplained phenomena in essential hypertension, e.g. inheritance, increased vasoconstriction, hypertrophy of remodeling of arterial blood vessels and the heart, enhanced platelet aggregation etc. In diabetes the same defect could provide the basis for the susceptibility to nephropathy, e.g. by enhancing the deleterious effects of autocrine and paracrine growth factors. Thus, the experimental approach of immortalizing blood cells from patients with essential hypertension and diabetic nephropathy has opened new horizons in the identification of genetically fixed abnormalities in intracellular signal transduction which could contribute to both pathologies and which can now be studied without the confounding influences of the diabetic or hypertensive in vivo milieu.
Stimulated platelets take up sodium ions and release hydrogen ions due to activation of Na+/H+ exchange resulting in cytoplasmic alkalinization. Suppression of Na+/H+ exchange either by removal of extracellular Na+ or by application of amiloride inhibits shape change, secretion of granule contents and aggregation. The data we present here indicate that inhibition of this transport by ethylisopropyl-amiloride or by lowering extracellular sodium reduces or even completely suppresses the rise in cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration that is essential for platelet aggregation in response to thrombin. We also demonstrate that cytoplasmic alkalinization produced by exposure to the ionophore monensin sensitizes the human platelet response to stimulation by thrombin resulting in enhanced Ca2+ mobilization and aggregability. We conclude that an increase in intracellular pH evoked by activation of Na+/H+ counter transport is an important signal in stimulus-response coupling and forms an essential step in the cascade of events required to increase cytoplasmic free Ca2+ in platelets.