Age-related loss of calcitriol stimulation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis in rat skeletal muscle.

We have examined the effects in vitro of calcitriol [1,25(OH)2D3], the hormonal form of vitamin D3, on the breakdown of membrane phosphoinositides in skeletal muscle from young (3 months) and aged (24 months) rats. Calcitriol (10(-9) M) induced a rapid and transient release of IP3/inositol phosphates and diacylglycerol (DAG) from muscle slices/membranes prelabeled with [3H]myo-inositol and [3H]arachidonate, respectively. Inositol phosphate release was maximal at 15 s and then declined. The effects of hormone specificity exhibited as the closely related derivatives of vitamin D3, 25OHD3, 1alphaOHD3 and 24,25(OH)2D3 did not alter muscle inositol phosphate levels. The stimulation of DAG was biphasic, the early phase (15 s) being abolished by neomycin (0.5 mM), an inhibitor of phosphoinositide hydrolysis, similar to IP3 formation and consistent with a role of phospholipase C (PLC) in intracellular signal generation. Neomycin had no effect on the second DAG peak (2 min) induced by calcitriol, suggesting that the late phase of DAG formation is independent from the hydrolysis of phosphoinositides. Higher basal inositol phosphate and DAG levels were detected in muscle from aged rats thereby reducing the effects of the hormone on second messenger generation ( -80 and -60% for IP3 and DAG, respectively). Calcitriol stimulation of PLC was mimicked, in both young and old rats, by GTPgammaS, a non-hydrolyzable analogue of GTP, while GDPbetaS, a G protein inhibitor, suppressed the effect of the hormone. The early effects of calcitriol and GTPgammaS were not additive. Bordetella pertussis toxin abolished by 85% the effects of calcitriol on inositol phosphate release in young rats but was without effect in aged animals. These results demonstrate that calcitriol activates phosphoinositide-PLC in rat skeletal muscle by a mechanism which involves a pertussis-sensitive G protein and that the effects of the hormone are altered with ageing.