Figure 8.

Effects of contractile stimuli on LIMK and cofilin phosphorylation in human prostate tissues. In separate series of experiments, prostate tissues were incubated with (A) phenylephrine (PE) (30 μM) for 10 min or with (B) U46619 (30 μM) for 1 h, or with solvent (ethanol for U46619) as required. Subsequently, the phosphorylation states of LIMK and cofilin were semiquantitatively compared between agonist and control groups by Western blot analyses using site‐ and phospho‐specific antibodies; values for each sample were normalized to the mean of the corresponding control group (i.e. without agonist). Shown are representative blots, and means ± SEM from a series of tissues from n = 5 (phenylephrine 10 min), n = 3 (phenylephrine 45 min) or n = 7 patients (U46619). Another, preliminary series did not provide an informative basis to assume that stimulation with phenylephrine for 45 min (30 μM) resulted in changes in LIMKs or cofilin phosphorylation, so this series was not continued (data not shown).