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Thrombin and PAR‐1 acitvating peptide increase iNOS expression in cytokine‐stimulated C6 glioma cells
Author(s) -
Meli Rosaria,
Mattace Giuseppina,
Cicala Carla,
Esposito Emanuela,
Fiorino Ferdinando,
Cirino Giuseppe
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-4159.2001.00617.x
Subject(s) - thrombin , thrombin receptor , western blot , cytokine , microbiology and biotechnology , nitric oxide synthase , glioma , receptor , cathepsin g , nitric oxide , chemistry , cell culture , biology , endocrinology , cancer research , immunology , biochemistry , enzyme , proteases , platelet , gene , genetics
Thrombin (THR) plays a key role in the brain under physiological and pathological conditions. Several of the biological activities of thrombin have been shown to be mainly driven through activation of protease‐activated receptor‐1 (PAR‐1)‐type thrombin receptor. Here we have studied the effect of THR and PAR‐1‐activating peptide (PAR1‐AP), SFLLRN, on cytokine‐induced expression of inducible nitric oxide (iNOS), a prominent marker of astroglial activation using the rat C6 glioma cells. In this cell line, THR (1–10 U/mL) and PAR1‐AP (1–100 µ m ) induced a significant concentration‐dependent increase both of IFN‐γ‐ (250 U/mL) or TNF‐α‐ (500 U/mL) induced NO release. The observed increase of NO production was related to an enhancement of iNOS expression as measured in cell lysates prepared from different treatments by using SDS–PAGE followed by western blot analysis. The effect of THR, but not that of PAR1‐AP, was significantly inhibited by hirulog TM (60 µg/mL), a specific and stochiometric THR inhibitor or by cathepsin‐G (40 mU/mL), an inhibitor of PAR‐1. In conclusion our data suggest a role for THR through activation of PAR‐1 in the induction of astroglial iNOS, and further support the hypothesis that THR may function as an important pathophysiological modulator of the inflammatory response.