Increased expression and altered subcellular distribution of PKC-δ in chronically hypoxic rat myocardium: involvement in cardioprotection

Abstract

We examined the role of protein kinase C (PKC) in the cardioprotective mechanism induced by long-term adaptation to chronic intermittent hypoxia. Adult male Wistar rats were exposed to hypobaric hypoxia of 7,000 m for 8 h/day, 5 days/wk; the total number of exposures was 24–32. A control group was kept under normoxic conditions. Western blot analysis of PKC isoforms-δ and -ε was performed in the cytosol and three particulate fractions of left ventricular myocardium. Infarct size was determined in open-chest animals subjected to 20-min coronary artery occlusion and 3-h reperfusion. The PKC inhibitors chelerythrine (1 or 5 mg/kg) or rottlerin (selective for PKC-δ isoform; 0.3 mg/kg) were administered intravenously as a single bolus 15 min before ischemia. Chronic hypoxia had no effect on the expression and distribution of PKC-ε. The relative amount of PKC-δ increased in the cytosol and nuclear-cytoskeletal, mitochondrial, and microsomal fractions of chronically hypoxic myocardium by 100%, 212%, 237%, and 146%, respectively, compared with corresponding normoxic values. Chronic hypoxia decreased the size of myocardial infarction (normalized to the area at risk) by about one-third on the average ( P < 0.05). Both doses of chelerythrine tended to reduce infarction in controls, and only the high dose completely abolished the improvement of ischemic tolerance in hypoxic hearts ( P < 0.05). Rottlerin attenuated the infarct size-limiting effect of chronic hypoxia ( P < 0.05), and it had no effect in controls. These results suggest that chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced cardioprotection in rats is partially mediated by PKC-δ; the contribution of other isoforms remains to be determined.