Mechanism of N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine- and platelet-activating factor-induced arachidonic acid release in guinea pig alveolar macrophages: involvement of a GTP-binding protein and role of protein kinase A and protein kinase C.

Various pharmacological effectors were used to investigate the mechanism of arachidonic acid release by N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) and platelet-activating factor (PAF) in guinea pig alveolar macrophages. The fMLP- and PAF-stimulated arachidonic acid release (i) was mimicked by sodium fluoride and inhibited by Bordetella pertussis toxin, suggesting the participation of a guanine nucleotide-binding protein; ii) was mimicked by A23187 but was insensitive to the calmodulin inhibitor R24571, making the involvement of a calmodulin-dependent pathway unlikely; and (iii) was mimicked by 12-O-tetra-decanoyl phorbol 13 acetate (TPA) and was, like the TPA-stimulated release, markedly decreased when protein kinase C (PKC) had been down-regulated by TPA (65% decrease) or inhibited by sphingosine, a diacylglycerol-competitive PKC inhibitor shown to completely abolish the enzyme activity from alveolar macrophages at 40 microM. Moreover, PAF and fMLP, under conditions where they stimulated arachidonic acid release, promoted an appreciable, albeit transient, translocation of PKC, suggesting a possible involvement of the enzyme in the agonist-stimulated process. However, staurosporine, another PKC inhibitor decreasing PKC activity from alveolar macrophages by 60% at 20 nM, failed to alter fMLP- and PAF-stimulated release. These data lead us to suggest that fMLP- and PAF-stimulated arachidonic acid release is mediated by mechanisms involving either a staurosporine-insensitive PKC isoform or a sphingosine-sensitive coupling between a pertussis toxin-sensitive guanine nucleotide-binding protein and phospholipase A2. Finally, the fMLP- and PAF-stimulated arachidonic acid release was inhibited by cholera toxin and was, like A23187-stimulated release, potentiated by N-[2-(methylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride (H8), an exclusive protein kinase A inhibitor in alveolar macrophages, suggesting a negative regulation by protein kinase A.