Comment on ‘Androgenetic alopecia is associated with increased scalp hardness’: role of phosphodiesterase inhibitors?

Author(s):  
A. Abdelmaksoud ◽  
M. Goldust
Reproduction ◽  
2000 ◽  
pp. 57-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Garde ◽  
ER Roldan

Spermatozoa undergo exocytosis in response to agonists that induce Ca2+ influx and, in turn, activation of phosphoinositidase C, phospholipase C, phospholipase A2, and cAMP formation. Since the role of cAMP downstream of Ca2+ influx is unknown, this study investigated whether cAMP modulates phospholipase C or phospholipase A2 using a ram sperm model stimulated with A23187 and Ca2+. Exposure to dibutyryl-cAMP, phosphodiesterase inhibitors or forskolin resulted in enhancement of exocytosis. However, the effect was not due to stimulation of phospholipase C or phospholipase A2: in spermatozoa prelabelled with [3H]palmitic acid or [14C]arachidonic acid, these reagents did not enhance [3H]diacylglycerol formation or [14C]arachidonic acid release. Spermatozoa were treated with the phospholipase A2 inhibitor aristolochic acid, and dibutyryl-cAMP to test whether cAMP acts downstream of phospholipase A2. Under these conditions, exocytosis did not occur in response to A23187 and Ca2+. However, inclusion of dibutyryl-cAMP and the phospholipase A2 metabolite lysophosphatidylcholine did result in exocytosis (at an extent similar to that seen when cells were treated with A23187/Ca2+ and without the inhibitor). Inclusion of lysophosphatidylcholine alone, without dibutyryl-cAMP, enhanced exocytosis to a lesser extent, demonstrating that cAMP requires a phospholipase A2 metabolite to stimulate the final stages of exocytosis. These results indicate that cAMP may act downstream of phospholipase A2, exerting a regulatory role in the exocytosis triggered by physiological agonists.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 929-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gopal Sharma ◽  
Aditya Prakash Sharma ◽  
Ravimohan S. Mavuduru ◽  
Sudheer K. Devana ◽  
Girdhar Singh Bora ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanji Nakatsu ◽  
Jack Diamond

The hypothesis that the relaxant action of many drugs on vascular and other smooth muscle is mediated by increases in intracellular cGMP, the "cGMP hypothesis," is gaining wide acceptance. While much information supporting this idea can be found in the literature, there is also a significant amount of information indicating that an elevation in the tissue content of cGMP is by itself insufficient to cause smooth muscle relaxation. The literature is reviewed with reference to the criteria that need to be fulfilled to consider cGMP as the second messenger mediating relaxation of smooth muscle by a drug; i.e., activation of guanylate cyclase, elevation of tissue content of cGMP, potentiation by phosphodiesterase inhibitors, antagonism by inhibitors of cGMP synthesis, and production of relaxation by cGMP analogues. For each criterion, key observations supporting the hypothesis are considered, followed by examples of important observations not consistent with the hypothesis. It is concluded that in some smooth muscles, for example, rat myometrium and vas deferens, cGMP is not a mediator of drug-induced relaxation. In other smooth muscles, including vascular smooth muscle, cGMP appears to play an important role in the relaxation process; but current evidence suggests that other factors are also important and that the cGMP hypothesis may need to be modified.Key words: cGMP, vascular relaxation, smooth muscle relaxation, vasodilators.


2017 ◽  
Vol 137 (5) ◽  
pp. S46
Author(s):  
C. Chu ◽  
C. Yang ◽  
L. Lin ◽  
M. Hughes ◽  
Y. Tsai

Author(s):  
John W. Phillis

SUMMARY:On the basis of the information presented in this review, it is difficult to reach any firm decision regarding the role of cyclic AMP (or cyclic GMP) in synaptic transmission in the brain. While it is clear that cyclic nucleotide levels can be altered by the exposure of neural tissues to various neurotransmitters, it would be premature to claim that these nucleotides are, or are not, essential to the transmission process in the pre- or postsynaptic components of the synapse. In future experiments with cyclic AMP it will be necessary to consider more critically whether the extracellularly applied nucleotide merely provides a source of adenosine and is thus activating an extracellularly located adenosine receptor, or whether it is actually reaching the hypothetical sites at which it might act as a second messenger. The application of cyclic AMP by intracellular injection techniques should minimize this particular problem, although possibly at the expense of new difficulties. Prior blockade of the adenosine receptor with agents such as theophylline or adenine xylofuranoside may also assist in the categorization of responses to extracellularly applied cyclic AMP as being a result either of activation of the adenosine receptor or of some other mechanism. Ultimately, the development of highly specific inhibitors for adenylate cyclase should provide a firm basis from which to draw conclusions about the role of cyclic AMP in synaptic transmission. Similar considerations apply to the actions of cyclic GMP and the role of its synthesizing enzyme, guanylale cyclase.The use of phosphodiesterase inhibitors in studies on cyclic nucleotides must also be approached with caution. The diverse actions of many of these compounds, which include calcium mobilization and block of adenosine uptake, could account for many of the results that have been reported in the literature.


1979 ◽  
Vol 180 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Azhar ◽  
K. M. Jairam Menon

The regulatory role of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase(s) and cyclic AMP metabolism in relation to progesterone production by gonadotropins has been studied in isolated rat ovarian cells. Low concentrations of choriogonadotropin (0.4–5ng/ml) increased steroid production without any detectable increase in cyclic AMP, when experiments were carried out in the absence of phosphodiesterase inhibitors. The concentration of choriogonadotropin (10ng/ml) that stimulated progesterone synthesis maximally resulted in a minimal increase in cyclic AMP accumulation and choriogonadotropin binding. Choriogonadotropin at a concentration of 10ng/ml and higher, however, significantly stimulated protein kinase activity and reached a maximum between 250 and 1000ng of hormone/ml. Higher concentrations (50–2500ng/ml) of choriogonadotropin caused an increase in endogenous cyclic AMP, and this increase preceded the increase in steroid synthesis. Analysis of dose–response relationships of gonadotropin-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation, progesterone production and protein kinase activity revealed a correlation between these responses over a wide concentration range when experiments were performed in the presence of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. The phosphodiesterase inhibitors papaverine, theophylline and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine each stimulated steroid production in a dose-dependent manner. Incubation of ovarian cells with dibutyryl cyclic AMP or 8-bromo cyclic AMP mimicked the steroidogenic action of gonadotropins and this effect was dependent on both incubation time and nucleotide concentration. Maximum stimulation was obtained with 2mm-dibutyryl cyclic AMP and 8-bromo cyclic AMP, and this increase was close to that produced by a maximally stimulating dose of choriogonadotropin. Other 8-substituted derivatives such as 8-hydroxy cyclic AMP and 8-isopropylthio cyclic AMP, which were less susceptible to phosphodiesterase action, also effectively stimulated steroidogenesis. The uptake and metabolism of cyclic [3H]AMP in ovarian cells was also studied in relation to steroidogenesis. When ovarian cells were incubated for 2h in the presence of increasing concentrations of cyclic [3H]AMP, the radioactivity associated with the cells increased almost linearly up to 250μm-cyclic [3H]AMP concentration in the incubation medium. The 3H label in the cellular extract was recovered mainly in the forms ATP, ADP, AMP, adenosine and inosine, with cyclic AMP accounting for less than 1% of the total tissue radioactivity. Incubation of cyclic AMP in vitro with ovarian cells resulted in a rapid breakdown of the nucleotide in the medium. The degradation products in the medium have been identified as AMP, adenosine and inosine. The rapid degradation of cyclic AMP by phosphodiesterase(s) makes it difficult to correlate changes in cyclic AMP concentrations with steroidogenesis. These observations thus provide an explanation for the previously observed lack of cyclic AMP accumulation under conditions in which low doses of choriogonadotropin stimulated steroidogenesis without any detectable changes in cyclic AMP accumulation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 03-13
Author(s):  
Anil Tumkur ◽  
Charmine Caryn Teo Cher Ern ◽  
Chang Ching Shuang ◽  
Amilia Chai Hui Yong ◽  
Chan Poh Yee ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
HeshamN Khaled ◽  
AzzaM Abdu Allah ◽  
AhmadA Abdelhameed ◽  
WafaaA Shehata

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