Ouabain inhibits p38 activation in mice neutrophils

Inflammopharmacology. 2021 Dec;29(6):1829-1833. doi: 10.1007/s10787-021-00882-z. Epub 2021 Nov 18.

Abstract

Ouabain is a cardiac steroid hormone with immunomodulatory effects. It inhibits neutrophils migration induced by different stimuli, but little is known about the mechanisms involved in this effect. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the ouabain effect on chemotactic signaling pathways in neutrophils. For that, mice neutrophils were isolated from bone marrow, treated with ouabain (1, 10, and 100 nM) for 2 h, submitted to transwell chemotaxis assay and flow cytometry analysis of Akt, ERK, JNK, and p38 phosphorylation induced by zymosan. Ouabain treatment (1, 10 and, 100 nM) reduces neutrophil chemotaxis induced by chemotactic peptide fMLP, but this substance did not inhibit Akt, ERK, and JNK activation induced by zymosan. However, ouabain (1 and 10 nM) reduced p38 phosphorylation in zymosan-stimulated neutrophils. These results suggest that ouabain may interfere in neutrophil migration through p38 MAPK inhibition.

Keywords: Akt; Cardiac steroid; MAPK; Neutrophil migration.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Movement / drug effects
  • Chemotaxis, Leukocyte / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Mice
  • Neutrophils / drug effects*
  • Neutrophils / metabolism
  • Ouabain / administration & dosage
  • Ouabain / pharmacology*
  • Phosphorylation / drug effects
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / metabolism

Substances

  • Ouabain
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases