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In the present study, the capacity of the diterpene, forskolin, and the phorbol ester, 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), to stimulate protein iodination in freshly dispersed mouse thyroid open follicles was assessed. Although both agents stimulated 125I incorporation into TCA precipitable material, dose response curves (0.1 - 25 microM) showed that maximal concentrations of either agonist alone failed to reproduce the stimulatory effect of a maximal concentration of thyrotropin (TSH; 50 mU/ml). When a maximal concentration of forskolin (20 microM) and TPA (10 microM) were added in combination, the stimulatory effect was additive and mimicked the effect of TSH. TPA had no significant effect on either basal or forskolin-stimulated cyclic-AMP production. We conclude that the regulation of protein iodination by TSH may involve both the adenylate cyclase-cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase system and the diacylglycerol-activated calcium/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase C pathway.

The polyamine, spermine (1-5 mM), when added to rat thyroid cytosol, increases the phosphorylation of a 107 kDa protein 4-fold as analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and autoradiography; spermidine was less effective and putrescine was without effect. Sodium chloride, when tested at equivalent ionic strengths (4-40 mM), did not reproduce the effects of spermine. In addition to stimulating the phosphorylation of a 107 kDa protein, spermine had an apparent biphasic effect on the phosphorylation of 88 and 65 kDa proteins; maximum stimulation of approximately 60-70% was observed at 0.5-2 mM. Both basal and spermine-stimulated protein phosphorylation patterns were identical whether [gamma-32P] ATP or [gamma-32P] GTP was used as phosphate donors. Heparin (1 microgram/ml) reduced spermine-stimulated phosphorylation of the 107 kDa protein by 64%. Phosphorylation of a 107 kDa protein was not restricted to rat thyroid as spermine was found to augment the phosphorylation of 107 kDa protein(s) in mouse and beef thyroid cytosol preparations.

Bovine thyroid 100,000 X g supernatant contained calcium-activated, calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (PK-CaM) activity. The PK-CaM was partially purified using ion-exchange chromatography and characterized. PK-CaM, using casein as exogenous substrate, was not stimulated by Ca2+(0-500 microM) or calmodulin (1-10 micrograms) by themselves, but was stimulated by the combination of the two by 100%. The activation of the enzyme by Ca2+ and calmodulin was dose-dependent with maximal stimulation evident at 1 microM free-Ca2+ and 3 micrograms calmodulin. Both chlorpromazine and trifluoperazine inhibited the thyroid enzyme in a dose-related manner. The molecular weight (MW) of the PK-CaM, based on gel filtration, was approximately 500,000. PK-CaM could also be demonstrated using endogenous thyroid cytosol proteins as substrate. Separation of these 32P-labelled proteins by SDS-PAGE and subsequent autoradiography revealed that one major protein of approximately 56,000 MW was phosphorylated by PK-CaM. In some experiments, a second, less-intense protein band of approximately 64,000 MW was also phosphorylated. Evidence is presented, suggesting that these two protein bands may result from the autophosphorylation of the PK-CaM holoenzyme. These results offer a molecular mechanism, in addition to protein kinase C, by which Ca2+ effects may be mediated in thyroid.