Fluoroaluminate- and GTP gamma S-induced stress, shortening, and myosin phosphorylation in airway smooth muscle

Abstract

GTP-binding proteins in bovine tracheal smooth muscle were activated by fluoroaluminate and guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S), and the sensitivities of fluoroaluminate- and GTP gamma S-induced active stress and myosin phosphorylation to muscle shortening were compared. Relative to the value of myosin phosphorylation at L0, unloaded shortening induced a 63% decrease in fluoroaluminate-activated steady-state myosin phosphorylation, but had no significant effect on GTP gamma S-activated myosin phosphorylation. These results were consistent with the hypothesis that shortening-sensitive and shortening-insensitive signal-transduction pathways coexist in airway smooth muscle. However, unlike myosin phosphorylation, active stress induced by fluoroaluminate was actually less sensitive to shortening. The amount of shortening necessary to reduce active stress to half of that at Lo was 65% in fluoroaluminate-activated tissues, but was only 34% in GTP gamma S-activated tissues. The observation of different sensitivities of fluoroaluminate-activated myosin phosphorylation and active stress suggests that GTP-binding proteins modulate the dependence of active stress on muscle length in smooth muscle.