Research Article J Mol Genet Med (August 2005), 1(1), 18-25 doi: jmgm Published online: 28 July 2005 Full Text: (html | pdf ~843kb | refs) Docosahexaenoic acid inhibits protein kinase C translocation/activation and cardiac hypertrophy in rat cardiomyocytes Alicia Castillo †, Nargiz Ruzmetov †, Kevin A Harvey †, William Stillwell ‡, Gary P Zaloga †§ and Rafat A Siddiqui †‡§* † Cellular Biochemistry Laboratory, Methodist Research Institute, Clarian Health Partners, Indianapolis, USA *Correspondence to: Rafat A Siddiqui, Email: rsiddiqu@clarian.org, Tel: +317 9626941, Fax: +317 9629369 Received: 21 April 2005, Revised: 20 May 2005, Accepted: 23 May 2005 © Copyright The Authors ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT Phenylephrine (PE) induces cardiac hypertrophy through multiple signaling pathways including pathways involving protein kinase C (PKC) activation. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid, has been shown to reduce the PE-induced hypertrophic responses. However, the effects of DHA on PKC activation and translocation are controversial. The present study investigates the effect of DHA on PE-induced activation of PKC. The results indicate that PE induces PKCα translocation (from cytosol to plasma membranes) and activation in cardiomyocytes during the hypertrophic responses. Although DHA itself has no significant effect on basal PKC translocation and activation, it effectively reduced PE-stimulated PKC translocation and activation. The results of the present study suggest a possible mechanism explaining how dietary fish oil may inhibit development of cardiac hypertrophy and therefore may be an attractive dietary agent for preventing cardiac hypertrophy in patients with heart failure. KEYWORDS: Cardiomyocytes, hypertrophy, docosahexaenoic acid, protein kinase C ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Privacy | Disclaimer |