Norepinephrine stimulates the production of inositol trisphosphate and inositol tetrakisphosphate in rat aorta

Norepinephrine stimulated the rapid hydrolysis of [3H]phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate in rat aorta with a maximal decrease of 30% within 60 sec of stimulation. Levels of [3H]phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate returned to control by 5 min despite the continued presence of agonist. Hydrolysis of [3H]phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate occurred concurrently with the formation of inositol phosphates. Inositol-tris and tetrakisphosphate levels were increased within 30 sec of agonist stimulation. Increases in inositol phosphate levels due to agonist were dose-dependent with half-maximal activation at 1 microM norepinephrine.     

Differences in inositol phosphate production in rat tail artery and thoracic aorta

Pharmacomechanical coupling of vascular smooth muscle is believed to be mediated by inositol trisphosphate (IP3). Numerous studies have demonstrated an increase in inositol phosphates following tissue stimulation using either intact aortic strips or cultured cells from aorta. However, little information is available concerning inositol phosphates in vascular tissue other than in the large conduit vessel, the aorta. This present study was designed to examine the role of inositol phosphate metabolism following adrenergic stimulation of the muscular rat tail artery as compared to the aorta. Segments of thoracic aorta and tail artery from male Sprague Dawley rats were labeled with [3H]inositol and stimulated with norepinephrine. The norepinephrine concentration that resulted in a half-maximal stimulation of inositol phosphates was approximately 10(-6) M in both the aorta and tail artery. Although the sensitivity of the two vessels to norepinephrine stimulation were similar, the stimulated levels of IP, IP2, and IP3 were from 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater in the tail artery than in aorta. IP production in aorta and tail artery was a linear function of time (from 0 to 30 min). Significant levels of IP3 (the 1,4,5-IP3 isomer as determined by HPLC) could only be detected in the tail artery and appeared to be produced optimally after 5 min of stimulation. The several order of magnitude increase in adrenergic stimulated inositol phosphate production in the tail artery was not due to either an increased magnitude of [3H]inositol incorporated into PI, PIP, and PIP2 or to a greater percentage of smooth muscle cells per unit tissue of the rat tail artery. We believe the results of this study demonstrate that the increased inositol phosphate metabolism in the vascular smooth muscle cells of the tail artery is an intrinsic property of the cell. Moreover, due to the significant levels of all inositol phosphates produced in the tail artery, this muscular artery may be a better model, as compared to the aorta, for future studies investigating pharmacomechanical coupling of vascular smooth muscle.     

A simplified preparation of phosphatidyl inositol

A method is described for the rapid isolation of phosphatidyl inositol from soybean phosphatides (Asolectin). The product is obtained pure as the crystalline sodium salt.     

Maitotoxin stimulates the formation of inositol phosphates in rat aortic myocytes

Maitotoxin is the most potent of the known marine toxins. The effect of maitotoxin on muscle contraction or hormone release was consistent with its action on the voltage-sensitive channel. Indeed, calcium antagonists such as nifedipine or diltiazem were able to reverse the maitotoxin effects. Using smooth muscle cells, we have analysed the effects of maitotoxin on the inositol phosphate metabolism. Maitotoxin stimulates the inositol phosphate formation (5 +/- 1.8-fold in the presence of 10 mM LiCl). Moreover, this effect is not reversed, even partially by calcium antagonists, by alpha 1 antagonists and is not mimicked by Ca2+ ionophores such as A23187 or calcium agonists such as Bay-K 8644. The action of maitotoxin is further discussed in this paper.     

Norepinephrine stimulates LH-RH secretion into the hypophysial portal blood of the rat

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of intracerebroventricular infusion of norepinephrine (NE) on the secretion of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) into the hypophysial portal blood of steroid-primed ovariectomized rats. Saline infusion into the third ventricle caused no significant change in LH-RH levels. NE infusion (20 micrograms) resulted in a significant release of LH-RH (p less than 0.05) into the portal blood 10-30 min later. This endogenous LH-RH was similar to synthetic LH-RH when characterized by thin-layer chromatography. LH secretion in similarly treated rats but with intact portal vessels, also was significantly elevated (p less than 0.05) at 20 and 40 min after the start of NE infusion. These results show that NE stimulated the secretion of LH-RH into the hypophysial portal blood and this correlated with an enhanced release of LH.     

Norepinephrine stimulates interleukin-6 mRNA expression in primary cultured rat hepatocytes

Non-invasive immobilization stress causes an increase in the plasma interleukin (IL)-6 level accompanied by increased IL-6 mRNA expression and IL-6 immunoactivity in the liver [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. (1997) 238, 707-711]. In the present study, using rat primary cultured hepatocytes and non-parenchymal liver cells, the effect of norepinephrine (NE) on IL-6 mRNA expression was determined. IL-6 mRNA expression in hepatocytes, but not in non-parenchymal liver cells, increased when the cells were treated with NE. The stimulatory effect of NE was inhibited by the combined use of alpha- and beta-adrenergic antagonists. IL-6 mRNA expression in hepatocytes also increased on incubation with the culture medium of non-parenchymal liver cells treated with NE. The effect of the medium was blocked by an IL-1 receptor antagonist. Moreover, exogenous IL-1beta stimulated IL-6 mRNA expression in hepatocytes. IL-1beta was present in the medium of non-parenchymal liver cells and increased with NE-treatment. These results suggest that NE released from sympathetic nerve terminals during stress can directly increase IL-6 mRNA expression in hepatocytes and indirectly through IL-1beta production from non-parenchymal liver cells.     

The incorporation of [myo-2-3H] inositol into phosphatidyl inositol of stimulated rat pancreas

The 'phospholipid effect' involves agonist induced breakdown of phosphatidyl inositol (PI) or its phosphorylated derivates with increased incorporation of 32P or [myo-2-3H] inositol during resynthesis. In rat pancreas pancreozymin and bethanecol resulted in the standard dose dependent increased incorporation of 32P into PI which was paralleled by increased amylase secretion. By contrast the incorporation of [myo-2-3H] inositol into PI was significantly decreased by pancreozymin whereas bethanecol had no effect. However, pancreozymin caused a 30% decrease in labelled PI irrespective of whether it was prelabelled with 32P or [myo-2-3H] inositol. Thus in rat pancreas, pancreozymin resulted in the standard agonist induced breakdown of pre-labelled PI but inhibited the incorporation [2-3H-myo] inositol during the resynthetic phase.     

Gonadotropin releasing hormone stimulates the formation of inositol phosphates in rat anterior pituitary tissue.

The production of inositol phosphates in response to gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) was studied in rat anterior pituitary tissue preincubated with [3H]inositol. Prelabelled paired hemipituitaries from prepubertal female rats were incubated in the presence or absence of GnRH in medium containing 10 mM-Li+ X Li+, which inhibits myo-inositol-1-phosphatase, greatly amplified the stimulation of inositol phosphate production by GnRH (10(-7) M) to 159, 198 and 313% of paired control values for inositol 1-phosphate, inositol bisphosphate and inositol trisphosphate respectively after 20 min. The percentage distribution of [3H]inositol within the phosphoinositides was 91.3, 6.3 and 2.4 for phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate respectively and was unaffected by GnRH. The stimulation of inositol trisphosphate production by GnRH was evident after 5 min incubation, was dose-dependent with a half-maximal effect around 11 nM, and was not inhibited by removal of extracellular Ca2+. Elevation of cytosolic Ca2+ by membrane depolarization with 50 mM-K+ had no significant effect on inositol phosphate production. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that GnRH action in the anterior pituitary involves the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. The resulting elevation of inositol trisphosphate may in turn lead to intracellular Ca2+ mobilization and subsequent stimulation of gonadotropin secretion.     

Specific vasopressin binding to rat adrenal glomerulosa cells. Relationship to inositol lipid breakdown.

Cells from the zona glomerulosa of rat adrenals were isolated and maintained for 3 days in primary culture. Specific vasopressin binding was determined by using [3H]vasopressin. [3H]Vasopressin binding was time-dependent (half-time of about 2 min for 6 nM free ligand) and reversible on addition of unlabelled vasopressin (80% dissociation within 30 min). Dose-dependent [3H]vasopressin binding at equilibrium indicated that vasopressin interacted with two populations of sites: high-affinity sites (dissociation constant, Kd = 1.8 nM; maximal binding capacity = 10 fmol/10(6) cells) and low-affinity sites. Vasopressin increased the cellular content of labelled inositol mono-, bis- and tris-phosphate in cells prelabelled with myo-[3H]inositol. The vasopressin concentration eliciting half-maximal inositol phosphate accumulation was very close to the Kd value for vasopressin binding to high-affinity sites. Competition experiments using agonists and antagonists with enhanced selectivity for previously characterized vasopressin receptors indicated that vasopressin receptors from rat glomerulosa cells are V1 receptors of the vascular or hepatic subtype. The detected specific vasopressin-binding sites might represent the specific receptors mediating the mitogenic and steroidogenic effects of vasopressin on glomerulosa cells from rat adrenals.     

Enhancement of muscarinic receptor-coupled phosphatidyl inositol hydrolysis in diabetic bladder

We previously have shown an increase in muscarinic receptor density in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic and sucrosefed diuretic rat detrusor that correlates with an increase in the contractile response to muscarinic agonist (J Pharmacol Exp Ther 248: 81, 1989; Diabetes 40: 265, 1991). To investigate the signal transduction pathway involved in this altered functional response, we examined muscarinic receptor-coupled phosphatidylinositol metabolism in STZ-diabetic, sucrose-fed diuretic and age-matched control rat bladders. [³H]myo-inositol uptake was similar in all groups, but incorporation of myo-inositol into phosphatidylinositol (PI) was significantly increased in the diabetic bladder compared to the sucrose-fed and control rat bladders. Carbachol-induced increase in inositol phosphate (IPs) production was higher in the diabetic bladder than in bladders from control and sucrose-fed animals although the EC₅₀ values were similar for all groups. Enhanced inositol phosphate production after muscarinic agonist stimulation may be due not only to the upregulation of muscarinic receptors but also to the increased incorporation of myo-inositol into PI in the STZ-induced diabetic bladder.     

An inositol phosphoglycan stimulates glycolysis in human platelets.

Upon hydrolysis of membrane glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (gly-PtdIns), an inositol phosphoglycan (IPG) is generated, responsible for multiple biological activities and recently proposed as mediator of the action of a variety of hormones and growth factors. The present study shows that IPG is able to significantly stimulate platelet glycolysis, which represents the major energy producing pathway in this cell system. The activation of glycolytic flux induced by IPG appears to be specific and very rapid even though the molecular mechanism involved remains to be elucidated.     

Removal of the sphingolipid impurity from preparations of yeast phosphatidyl inositol

A complex sphingolipid containing inositol and mannose, present in lipid extracted from toluene-autolyzed baker's yeast, was eluted from silicic acid columns immediately after phosphatidyl inositol, and was the main nitrogenous impurity in crude preparations of this phospholipid. Nitrogenfree phosphatidyl inositol was obtained by rechromatography on alumina. Modifications to the chromatographic procedure also gave diphosphatidyl glycerol containing the theoretical 4.29% P.     

Multiple isomers of phosphatidyl inositol monophosphate and inositol bis- and trisphosphates from filamentous fungi

Abstract The range of inositol phosphates and inositol phospholipids present in three filamentous fungi, Neurospora crassa, Fusarium graminearum and Phanerochaete chrysosporium has been investigated by HPLC analysis. The profiles obtained demonstrate that two isomers of phosphatidyl inositol monophosphate are present, and that an apparent complexity in the number of isomers of inositol bis- and trisphosphates is found in filamentous fungi that has not been observed in animal or plant cells.     

Two-component responses to sympathetic nerve stimulation in the rat tail artery

Membrane potential and tension were recorded simultaneously from the smooth muscle of the rat tail artery. A single stimulus to the perivascular nerves caused a tension transient. The tension transient had two components, one due to a muscle action potential and one due to alpha-adrenoceptor activation. During trains of stimuli most of the tension was due to alpha-receptor activation, even when every stimulus caused a smooth muscle action potential.     

Solubilization of the enzyme catalyzing CDP-diglyceride-independent incorporation of myo-inositol into phosphatidyl inositol and its comparison to CDP-diglyceride:inositol transferase.

A solubilized preparation with activity for catalyzing the incorporation of free myo-inositol into phosphatidyl inositol was obtained from a rat liver microsomal fraction. The incorporation took place both in the presence and in the absence of cytidine diphosphodiglyceride (CDP-DG). The pH optimum of the incorporation in the absence of CDP-DG was 7.4–7.5, while that of the incorporation in its presence was 8.5–8.6. The incorporation in the absence of CDP-DG was activated by Mn²⁺ but not by Mg²⁺, while that in the presence of CDP-DG was activated by either Mn²⁺ or Mg²⁺. These results indicated that the incorporation in the absence of CDP-DG and the incorporation in its presence were catalyzed by different enzymes. Before Solubilization, the CDP-DG-independent enzyme was bound to endoplasmic reticulum. The CDP-DG-dependent enzyme also was bound mainly to endoplasmic reticulum and, to a minor extent, to plasma membrane. The CDP-DG-independent enzyme was more easily solubilized by sodium cholate than the CDP-DG-dependent enzyme. There were also differences between these two enzyme activities of the solubilized preparation with respect to their sensitivity to various detergents and their dependence on exogenous lipids. The CDP-DG-independent incorporation was inhibited by CDP-DG, by some nucleotides, and by phosphatidyl serine, while the CDP-DG-dependent incorporation was not inhibited by these substances. Both activities were both inhibited by thiol-reactive compounds.     

Vasopressin and angiotensin induce inositol lipid breakdown in rat adenohypophysial cells in primary culture

Adenohypophysial cells from female Wistar rats were dispersed and maintained for 4 days in primary culture in the presence of [3H]myoinositol. The effects of several releasing hormones, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), arginine vasopressin (AVP), angiotensin II (A II), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) on the liberation of labelled inositol phosphate (InsP), inositol-bisphosphate (InsP2), and inositol-trisphosphate (InsP3) from prelabelled inositol lipids were tested alone and in combination. Of the corticotropin (ACTH) secretagogues tested, AVP and A II produced a dose-dependent increase in inositol phosphate accumulation. CRF was inactive. The ED50 values of about 1 nM for both AVP and A II were close to the corresponding dissociation constants for binding to pituitary membranes: and, in the case of A II, close to the ED50 for A II-induced inhibition of pituitary membrane adenylate cyclase. The responses to A II and AVP could be inhibited by [Sar1,Ile8]A II and the AVP antagonist d(Et2)-VAVP, respectively. The magnitude of the maximal effect of AVP on accumulation of inositol phosphates was small (25% increase over basal value) suggesting that this effect was restricted to a minor subpopulation of pituitary cells (probably corticotrophes). CRF did not potentiate AVP-induced inositol phosphates accumulation. Maximal A II-induced increase in inositol phosphates accumulation represented 150% of the basal value and was partially additive with that of TRH suggesting that lactotrophes represent the main A II-sensitive subpopulation.     

Calcium regulation of phosphatidyl inositol turnover in macrophage activation by formyl peptides

Stimulation by the tripeptide N-formyl norleucyl leucyl phenylalanine (FNLLP) of the guinea pig alveolar macrophage gives rise to transient production of superoxide anion (O2-). Components of the phosphatidyl inositol (PI) cycle (phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidyl inositol-4,5-bisphosphate (TPI) and phosphatidyl inositol-4-phosphate (DPI) were monitored using 32P in order to examine the possible association of this cycle with the FNLLP-stimulated production of O2-. Macrophage stimulation by FNLLP led to an increased flux of metabolites through the PI cycle. The level of 32P label in both TPI and DPI rapidly decreased upon exposure to FNLLP, followed by a 5-min period during which the 32P label in TPI and DPI approached prestimulated levels. During this period, there was a fivefold increase in 32P-PA. It is suggested that diacylglycerol (DAG) is the O2- -activating intermediate in the stimulated mechanism, as evidenced by the buildup of PA (for which DAG is the precursor) in parallel with the time course of O2- production. The importance of continued cycling of PI in the stimulated mechanism is demonstrated by the inhibition by LiCl of the extent, but not the initial rate, of both O2- production and the formation of 32P-PA upon peptide stimulation after 1-h preincubation with 10 mM LiCl. The influence of calcium on this mechanism was also examined. It has previously been demonstrated that intracellular availability of calcium can influence the rate and extent of O2- production. In cells preloaded with quin-2, which acts as a high-affinity sink for calcium in the cytosol, the initial rate of FNLLP-stimulated O2- production is inhibited in low (10 microM) extracellular calcium medium. High extracellular calcium (1 mM) completely reverses this inhibition and also significantly extends the time course of O2- production in both quin-2 and control cells (Stickle et al., 1984). In parallel with these effects on O2- production, varying calcium conditions is demonstrated to influence the rate and extent of PA formation. These same calcium conditions were found to have little or no effect on the initial unstimulated levels of TPI, DPI, and PA. These results indicate that the influence of an intracellular pool of calcium on O2- production may be via its influence on stimulated PI turnover.