Background: Ouabain, cardiotonic steroid, trigggers its effects via the sodium-potassium pump (NKA), which is the only known receptor for ouabain so far. Skeletal muscles, which are the largest organ in human body, contain the largest pool of NKA and consequently represent the major target tissue for ouabain. In addition to being an inhibitor of ion transport, ouabain is also capable of inducing signals, which may influence the endocrine function of skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle cells secrete Interleukin-6 during exercise, when endogenous ouabain is also secreted, probably from the adrenal gland.
Aim: To determine whether ouabain has an effect on the expression of NKA and whether it activates any of the signalling pathways known to be activated through NKA and which are especially important for muscle response during exercise.
Hypotheses: 1) Ouabain lowers the expression of protein NKAα1 in human skeletal muscle cells, 2) Ouabain activates the Src-ERK1/2 and Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in human skeletal muscle cells, 3) Ouabain inhibits the IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signalling pathway in human skeletal muscle cells, 4) Ouabain has no effect on the expression of NKAα1 and on signalling pathways in rat skeletal muscle cells.
Methods: As an experimental model, we used human skeletal muscle cells and L6 rat skeletal muscle cells. We determined the expression of proteins with Western Blot and gene expression with RT-qPCR.
Results: Ouabain reduced the expression of NKAα1 protein and activated the Src-ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pahways in human skeletal muscle cells. The IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signalling pathway in human skeletal muscle cells was inhibited by ouabain. In contrast, in rat skeletal muscle cells ouabain had no effect on the expression of protein NKAα1 and did not display major effects on intracellular signalling.
Conclusions: We concluded ouabain reduces the expression of NKAα1 protein in human skeletal muscle cells in post-trancriptional manner. Src-ERK1/2 signalling pathway is barely responsive on treatment with ouabain, activation of Akt/mTOR signalling pathway is probably Src independent. Ouabain inhibits IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signalling pathway in human skeletal muscle cells through more than one mechanism, which has to be addressed by future studies. Based on results in rat skeletal muscle cells, we concluded that ouabain's effect on intracellular signalling is dependent on the presence of ouabain-sensitive NKAα1.
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