A role of calcium-activated phospholipid-dependent protein kinase in human platelet activation. Comparison of thrombin and collagen actions.

In human platelets stimulated by thrombin and collagen, diacylglycerol is rapidly produced from phosphatidylinositol. Concurrently, an endogenous protein having a molecular weight of about 40,000 (40K protein) is phosphorylated, and serotonin is released. These reactions are all inhibited by a prior treatment of platelets with prostaglandin E1, dibutyryl cyclic AMP, sodium nitroprusside, or with 8-bromo-cyclic GMP, which are known as potent inhibitors for platelet activation. Ca2+-activated phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C) preferentially phosphorylates 40K protein. As judged by fingerprint analysis, the sites in 40K protein that are phosphorylated during the platelet activation appear to be identical with those phosphorylated by protein kinase C in a purified cell-free system. 12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, which directly activates protein kinase C by substituting for diacylglycerol, stimulates 40K protein phosphorylation and release reaction without inducing diacylglycerol formation. Tetracaine, which inhibits protein kinase C by competing with phospholipid, blocks 40K protein phosphorylation and serotonin release without inhibiting the receptor-linked diacylglycerol formation. The results indicate that thrombin and collagen activate platelets in almost similar mechanisms and that protein kinase C may lie on a common pathway which leads to the release of serotonin. However, analysis with indomethacin indicates that the role of thromboxane A2 appears to be more predominant for the action of collagen, and it is suggestive that this arachidonate metabolite activates platelets in an analogous mechanism to thrombin.