Corticosterone-induced rapid phosphorylation of p38 and JNK mitogen-activated protein kinases in PC12 cells

The present study showed that corticosterone (B) could induce a rapid activation of p38 and c-Jun NH2-terminal protein kinase (JNK) in PC12 cells. The dose-response and time-response curves mere bell-shaped with maximal activation at 10(-9) M and at 15 min. RU38486 had no effect, and bovine serum albumin-coupled B could induce the activation. Genistein failed to block the phosphorylation, suggesting the pathway was not involved in tyrosine kinase activity, Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate could mimic, while Go6976 could abolish the actions, These results demonstrated that B might act via a putative membrane receptor to activate p38 and JNK rapidly through a protein kinase C-dependent pathway. (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.