Activation of a mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK2) by the 5-hydroxytryptamine1A receptor is sensitive not only to inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, but to an inhibitor of phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis.

A variety of receptors coupled to GTP-binding regulatory proteins (G proteins) initiate signals that culminate in activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases ERK1 and ERK2. We demonstrate here that the human 5-HT1A receptor expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells similarly promotes activation of ERK1 and ERK2, but that the pathway used does not conform entirely to those proposed previously for G protein-coupled receptors. Activation of ERK2 by the 5-HT1A receptor-selective agonist 8-hydroxy-N,N-dipropyl-2-aminotetralin hydrobromide (8-OH-DPAT) was inhibited completely by pertussis toxin and substantially by prolonged treatment of cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. The implied requirement for protein kinase C, however, was negated in studies with bisindolylmaleimide and Ro-31-8220, which, although completely inhibiting activation of ERK2 by phorbol ester, had no impact on activation by 8-OH-DPAT. The anticipated inhibition by the tyrosine kinase inhibitors genistein and herbimycin A, moreover, was marginal at best. As expected for a Gi-coupled receptor, the inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase wortmannin and LY294002 inhibited activation of ERK2, albeit only partly (70%). Of significance, an inhibitor of a phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C, tricyclodecan-9-yl-xanthogenate (D609), caused a similar degree of inhibition. When the two types of inhibitors were combined, an almost complete inhibition was achieved. Our data suggest that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C represent components of different, but partly overlapping pathways that can account almost entirely for the activation of ERK2 by the 5-HT1A receptor.