Sphingosine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, suppresses the insulin-like effects of growth hormone in rat adipocytes.

Insulin, human growth hormone (hGH), and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate all stimulate lipogenesis in rat adipocytes preincubated without hGH for 4 hr. As previous data suggested that protein kinase C plays an important role in the action of insulin and in the insulin-like effects of hGH in rat adipocytes, we tested the effects of sphingosine, a potent inhibitor of protein kinase C, on the lipogenic activity of both hormones. At 50 microM, sphingosine had no effect on basal lipogenesis but completely abolished the action of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and decreased by 65% and 89%, respectively, the effects of hGH and insulin. At higher concentrations (100 microM), sphingosine abolished both basal and hormone-stimulated lipogenesis; this effect was partially reversible after washing the cells. Similar effects of sphingosine on basal and stimulated glucose uptake were seen in parallel, suggesting that sphingosine inhibits lipogenesis at the glucose-uptake step in rat adipocytes. N-Acetylsphingosine and sphingomyelin, two analogs of sphingosine that are inactive on protein kinase C, did not inhibit lipogenesis induced by hGH, insulin, or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. Sphingosine did not inhibit insulin binding to rat adipocytes at concentrations up to 200 microM but decreased hGH binding to its receptors by 44% at 50 microM. These data suggest a direct link between the inhibition of protein kinase C and that of lipogenesis and provide new evidence for the involvement of protein kinase C in the mechanism of action of growth hormone and insulin in rat adipocytes.