Deletion of the sphingosine kinase-1 gene influences cell fate during hypoxia and glucose deprivation in adult mouse cardiomyocytes.

OBJECTIVES

Activation of sphingosine kinase (SphK), which has two known isoforms, is responsible for the synthesis of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), a cell survival factor. We tested the following hypotheses: 1] cardiac myocytes null for the SphK1 gene are more vulnerable to the stress of hypoxia+glucose deprivation; 2] the monoganglioside GM-1, which activates SphK via protein kinase C epsilon, is ineffective in SphK1-null myocytes; 3] S1P generated by SphK activation requires cellular export to be cardioprotective.

METHODS

We cultured adult mouse cardiac myocytes from wildtype and SphK1-null mice (deletion of exons 3-6) and measured cell viability by trypan blue exclusion.

RESULTS

In wildtype adult mouse cardiomyocytes subjected to 4 h of hypoxic stress+glucose deprivation, cell viability was significantly higher than in SphK1-null cardiomyocytes. SphK1-null cells also displayed more mitochondrial cytochrome C release. Cell death induced by hypoxia+glucose deprivation was substantially prevented by pretreatment with exogenous S1P in both wildtype and SphK1-null myocytes, but S1P was effective at a lower concentration in wildtype cells. Hence, the absence of the Sphk1 gene did not affect receptor coupling or downstream signal transduction. Pretreatment for 1 h with 1 microM of the monoganglioside GM-1 increased survival in wildtype cells, but not in SphK1-null myocytes. Thus, activation of SphK1 by GM-1 leads to cell survival. In wildtype cells, enhanced survival produced by GM-1 was abrogated by pretreatment either with 300 nM of the S1P(1) receptor-selective antagonist VPC23019 or with 100 ng/ml of pertussis toxin for 16 h before exposure to hypoxia+glucose deprivation.

CONCLUSION

As the effect of GM-1 is blocked both at the receptor and the G-protein (Gi) levels, we conclude that S1P generated by GM-1 treatment must be exported from the cell and acts in a paracrine or autocrine manner to couple with its cognate receptor.