Transmembrane signals mediating neural peptide secretion: role of protein kinase C activators and arachidonic acid metabolites in luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone secretion.

The present experiments were designed to determine the effects of different activators of protein kinase C on the secretion of LHRH from median eminence nerve terminals incubated in vitro. The release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a metabolite of arachidonic acid intimately involved in the secretion of LHRH, was also evaluated. Synthetic diacylglycerol [1,2-didecanoylglycerol (DiC10)] significantly enhanced PGE2 release in a concentration-dependent manner. Blockade of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity nullified this effect. LHRH release, on the other hand, was not increased by DiC10. However, in the presence of a lipoxygenase inhibitor, DiC10 produced a concentration-related increase in LHRH release, which paralleled that in PGE2. Phospholipase C (PLC) increased both PGE2 and LHRH secretion. Again, blockade of the lipoxygenase pathway enhanced the release of LHRH by PLC without affecting the stimulated secretion of PGE2. A phorbol ester, phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu), markedly increased LHRH secretion while inducing a modest increase in PGE2 release. Both effects of PDBu were unaffected by lipoxygenase inhibition. DiC10, PDBu, and PLC significantly augmented LHRH secretion from tissues in which metabolism of arachidonic acid had been prevented by inhibition of both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways, suggesting that activation of protein kinase C, independent of PLA2 activation, can lead to the secretion of this neural peptide. Some lipoxygenase metabolites had either no effect on [5- and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic (5- and 15-HETE)] or induced a marginal stimulation of (12-HETE) LHRH release. At certain concentrations, 12-HETE enhanced the stimulatory effect of the phorbol ester on LHRH release. Our results suggest that activation of protein kinase C can stimulate LHRH secretion from nerve terminals in vitro and, further, that diacylglycerol may represent an important intracellular messenger participating in the events leading to LHRH secretion. In addition, stimulation with DiC10 and PLC uncovered inhibitory [unknown arachidonic acid metabolite(s) via lipoxygenase] and stimulatory (PGE2 via cyclooxygenase) pathways through with arachidonic acid metabolites may participate in the intracellular transduction of signals modulating neural peptide secretion.