Osmo-mechanically sensitive phosphatidylinositol signaling regulates a Ca2+ influx channel in renal epithelial cells.

Regulation of dihydropyridine (nifedipine)-sensitive calcium influx was studied in rabbit culture proximal tubule cells using the fura 2 fluorescence ratio technique. "Osmo-mechanically induced" swelling of cells by exposure to hypotonic medium (220 mosmol/kgH2O) caused a rapid rise in intracellular calcium that was predominantly due to influx of calcium via both dihydropyridine-sensitive (nifedipine-sensitive) and -insensitive calcium influx pathways. The dihydropyridine-sensitive pathway was regulated, in part, by the phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway. Inhibition of phospholipase C by treatment with 2-nitro-4-carboxyphenyl-N,N-diphenylcarbamate (NCDC), inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) by staurosporine, or long-term (24 h) treatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) to downregulate PKC abolished most of the osmo-induced, dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium influx signal. Short-term (seconds) PMA treatment to activate PKC produced a marked stimulation of both dihydropyridine-sensitive and -insensitive calcium influx in isotonic (2- to 3-fold stimulation) and hypotonic (5-fold stimulation) conditions. In contrast, elevation of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) by treatment with forskolin or inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) by treatment with the cAMP analog, Rp-8-CPT-cAMPS (the Rp diastereoisomer of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphothionate), had little or no influence on calcium influx, including dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium influx. It is concluded that osmo-mechanical stress activates a dihyropyridine-sensitive calcium influx pathway that is predominantly regulated via the phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway and PKC and not through the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway.