In this study we investigated the activity, expression and regulation of iPLA2 during ischemia in mouse C2C12 myotubes. Here, we show that in vitro ischemia, i.e. oxygen deprivation and glucose starvation, induces an iPLA2 activity that is totally reversed by siRNA knock down of iPLA2£], indicating preferential activation of iPLA2£].

The activity of the native iPLA2£] tetramer has in humans been proposed to be negatively regulated by interactions with catalytic inactive splice variants of the full-length protein. These variants, characterized by the presence exon 9a, have however not been identified in mice. Using PCR-cloning we identified a PCR-fragment that had a 29 bp insertion between exon 9 and 10. This sequence has high homology to the first part of the 53 bp human exon 9a. The 29 bp insertion induces a frame-shift and the introduction of a stop codon in exon 10. The protein product of this transcript would be a C-terminally truncated î50 kDa protein lacking the catalytic site. qPCR indicated that, while the total iPLA2£] mRNA level in C2C12 myotubes increased weakly within 1-2 hours of in vitro ischemia, the transcript containing the mouse exon 9a was rapidly down regulated. In addition, Western blotting showed a 2-3 fold increase in the full-length î85 kDa protein within 2 hours of in vitro ischemia, whereas the the putative î50 kDa iPLA2£] splice variant was markedly reduced. In conclusion, in vitro ischemia in C2C12 myotubes increases the activity of iPLA2£] possibly through mechanisms involving rapid increases/decreases in the expression of active/inactive variants of iPLA2£].