Dual regulation of the Na+/H+‐exchange in rat peritoneal mast cells: role of protein kinase C and calcium on pHi regulation and histamine release
Authors: Friis U.G. , Johansen T. 
Published: July 2012

The purpose of this study was to compare the actions of phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA) and ionomycin on Na+/H+ exchange activation and histamine release to that of compound 48/80 in order to study the possible relationship between pHi and secretion of histamine in rat peritoneal mast cells.
Resting pHi in mast cells suspended in a bicarbonate‐free physiological salt solution amounted to 6.73±0.05 (mean±s.d., n = 52).
PMA (20 nM) induced a substantial but rather slow increase in pHi. This response was very sensitive to inhibition by staurosporine, very sensitive to inhibition by 5‐(N,N‐hexamethylene)amiloride (HMA), insensitive to the absence of extracellular calcium (without EGTA), and sensitive to partial depletion of intracellular calcium with EGTA.
Ionomycin (1 μm) induced a biphasic change in pHi that was sensitive to inhibition by HMA, insensitive to staurosporine. In the absence of extracellular calcium using EGTA, the biphasic response disappeared, leaving only a slow, and diminished change in pHi.
The effects of ionomycin and PMA on pHi were additive.
Addition of the secretagogue compound 48/80 (1 μg ml−1) increased pHi substantially, ΔpHi amounting to 0.29±0.05 pH‐units (n = 4). The biphasic pHi‐response was insensitive to the absence of extracellular calcium (without EGTA). The initial fast response in pHi was, however, inhibited by HMA, not staurosporine.
The finding that staurosporine and HMA each inhibited approximately half of the compound 48/80‐induced pHi‐response, whereas both inhibitors completely abolished the compound 48/80‐induced pHi‐response seems to indicate that two independent pathways for the activation of the Na+/H+ exchange were stimulated by compound 48/80.
The histamine release induced via both PKC activation (using PMA) and calcium (using ionomycin) were much larger than the sum of each activation pathway, whereas in the absence of extracellular calcium using EGTA, the histamine release in response to PMA and ionomycin was completely abolished.
The compound 48/80‐induced histamine release was partially sensitive to inhibition by HMA (⋍30% inhibition) and partially sensitive to inhibition by staurosporine (⋍50% inhibition). Preincubation with staurosporine and HMA before stimulation with compound 48/80 showed the same degree of inhibition as observed after staurosporine alone, even though this combination of drugs completely inhibited the pHi‐response. Furthermore, compound 48/80‐induced histamine release was not dependent on the presence of extracellular calcium (with and without EGTA).
In spite of the similarities in second messenger pathways for pHi regulation and histamine release, it is, however, not very likely that these two processes are directly related. It is, however, possible, that an increase in pHi plays a permissive, rather than an essential role for histamine release in rat peritoneal mast cells. This hypothesis was supported by the finding that preincubation with the Na+/H+ exchange‐inhibitor HMA inhibited 30% of the compound 48/80‐induced histamine secretion.