Acidic-phosphoprotein phosphatase activity of rat ventral prostate nuclei apparent lack of effect of androgens

A protein phosphatase activity has been demonstrated in nuclei of rat ventral prostate utilizing ³²P-labelled phosvitin as a model acidic phosphoprotein substrate. This phosphoprotein phosphatase has a pH optimum of 6.7, is unaffected by the sulphydryl protecting agent 2-mercaptoethanol, and requires a divalent cation for maximal activity. Of the various divalent cations tested, Mg²⁺ is the most effective in reactivating the EDTA-inhibited enzyme. The phosphatase is inhibited by sodium fluoride, sodium oxalate, N-ethylmaleimide, ATP and ADP but is relatively insensitive to ammonium molybdate. Increased ionic strength of the reaction medium also causes a reduction in the enzyme activity, e.g., by 48% at 200 mM sodium chloride. The activity of the acidic phosphoprotein phosphatase did not change significantly at 48 h or 96 h postorchiectomy when expressed per unit of nuclear protein. However, it is reduced by approx. 30% at these times after castration if based on DNA content. The decline in activity per nucleus reflects the decrease in the realtive nuclear protein content observed at 48 h or 96 h post-orchiectomy. This suggests that the decline in the phosphorylation of prostatic nuclear acidic proteins which occurs upon androgen withdrawal is not due to increased nuclear phosphatase activity.