Staurosporine, a potent protein kinase C inhibitor, augments phorbol ester-caused ornithine decarboxylase induction in mouse epidermis.

A single topical application of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) to mouse skin caused an induction of epidermal ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity. When mice were topically pretreated with staurosporine, a most potent protein kinase C inhibitor, 6-84 h prior to TPA treatment, TPA-caused ODC induction was markedly enhanced. The enhancement of TPA-caused ODC induction by staurosporine was most pronounced when the time interval between staurosporine and TPA treatment was 36 h. Staurosporine elicited this enhancing effect in a dose-related manner. Staurosporine by itself also induced epidermal ODC activity. But the activity induced was very slight and would not directly contribute to the enhancing effect of this compound. Although staurosporine markedly augmented TPA-caused ODC induction, staurosporine-caused ODC induction was not augmented by this compound. Other protein kinase C inhibitors, such as 1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine, sphingosine and palmitoylcarnitine did not mimic the enhancing effect of staurosporine. These results indicate that the enhancement of ODC induction by staurosporine is specific for the induction caused by TPA and that this enhancing effect is not related to the protein kinase C inhibitory action of staurosporine. TPA-caused epidermal ODC induction was inhibited by indomethacin, and this inhibition was reversed by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Staurosporine-caused ODC induction was also inhibited by indomethacin but the inhibition was not reversed by PGE2, indicating that the mechanism of staurosporine-caused ODC induction is different from that of TPA.