Calyculin A, a phosphoprotein phosphatase inhibitor, stimulates acid secretion in isolated gastric glands.

The effects of pkadaic acid (OKA) and calyculin A (CLA), inhibitors of protein phosphatases type 1 (PrPase1) and type 2A (PrPase2A), an acid secretion were examined in rabbit isolated gastric gland, CLA, but not OKA, strongly stimulated acid secretion by itself without affecting glandular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) contents. CLA-induced secretion was suggested to be mainly due to the increase in the phosphorylation of protein kinase A substrates via the inhibition of PrPase1 in the parietal cell, since 1) CLA-induced secretion was not inhibited by cimetidine or atropine, 2) a protein kinase A inhibitor inhibited the secretion, whereas a protein kinase C inhibitor did not, 3) CLA augmented dibutyryl cAMP-induced secretion in some cases, and 4) OKA, which is 100 times more selective to PrPase2A than to PrPase1, was not a secretagogue. Unexpectedly, CLA did not augment the secretion by histamine, possibly because the inhibitor augmented the phosphorylation-mediating negative feedback pathway as well. Both CLA and OKA markedly increased phosphorylation of ezrin, a putative protein kinase A substrate, in the course of secretory activation.