Description:
<jats:p>Exposure of rat glomerular mesangial cells and primary cultures of bovine glomerular endothelial cells to compounds releasing nitric oxide (NO), including MAHMANONOate, <jats:italic>S</jats:italic>‐nitrosoglutathione, and spermine‐NO, results in a time‐ and concentration‐dependent activation of stress‐activated protein kinases (SAPK) as measured by the phosphorylation of c‐Jun in a solid phase kinase assay. Dibutyryl cGMP had no effect on SAPK activity. Pretreatment of the cells with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein strongly attenuated NO‐induced c‐Jun phosphorylation. Furthermore, <jats:italic>N</jats:italic>‐acetylcysteine markedly reduced the activation of SAPK in response to NO. These studies identify SAPK as a target for NO which may be critical for the NO‐induced apoptosis of glomerular mesangial and endothelial cells.</jats:p>