Corticotropin-releasing hormone acts on guinea pig ileal smooth muscle via protein kinase A

In contraction studies corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) was found to relax ileal but not gastric and jejunal smooth muscles of the guinea-pig, precontracted with BaCl2. Under whole-cell patch-clamp conditions, CRH concentration-dependently activated Ca2+-sensitive K+ currents (I-K) with ED50=20 pM at 100 nM and ED50=0.13 pM at 500 nM intracellular Ca2+ respectively. This increase was accompanied by significant hyperpolarization of the cell membranes. CRH 9-41 peptide fragment did not affect IK amplitude, membrane potential or contraction. The CRH-induced increase of I-K densities was accelerated in the presence of high intracellular Ca2+ concentrations (500 nM) and was abolished by pretreatment of cells with either ryanodine or thapsigargin, which cause depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores, as well as in cells treated under conditions prohibiting intracellular Ca2+ store refilling. The effect of CRH on I-K was not affected by bath application of various selective inhibitors of membrane-bound phospholipases, protein kinase C, cGMP-dependent protein kinase or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, but was effectively antagonized by blockers of protein kinase A (PKA) or adenylyl cyclase. Neither forskolin nor the catalytic subunit of PKA could mimic the effect of CRH on I-K. Thus, it was suggested that CRH exerts its relaxing activity on ileal smooth muscle cells via PKA-dependent phosphorylation of some intracellular target coupled to sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ storage machinery.