The actions of Ca2+ ionophores on rat basophilic (2H3) cells are dependent on cellular ATP and hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids. A comparison with antigen stimulation

Calcium-specific ionophores are used widely to stimulate Ca2+-dependent secretion from cells on the assumption that permeabilization of the cell membranes to Ca2+ ions leads to a rise in concentration of cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i), which in turn serves as a signal for secretion. In this way, events that precede mobilization of Ca2+ ions via receptor stimulation are bypassed. One such event is thought to be the rapid hydrolysis of membrane inositol phospholipids to form inositol phosphates and diacylglycerol. Accordingly, rat leukemic basophil (2H3) cells can be stimulated to secrete histamine either with the ionophores or by aggregation of receptors for IgE in the plasma membrane. We find, however, that ionophore A23187 stimulates secretion of histamine only at concentrations (200-1000 nM) that stimulate hydrolysis of membrane inositol phospholipids. The extent of hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids was dependent on the concentration of ionophore and the presence of external Ca2+ ions and correlated with the magnitude of the secretory response. A similar correlation between secretion and hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids was observed in response to the Ca2+-specific ionophore, ionomycin. Although this hydrolysis (possibly a consequence of elevated [Ca2+]i) was less extensive than that induced by aggregation of receptors, it may govern the secretory response to A23187. The studies revealed one paradox. The rise in [Ca2+]i depended on intracellular ATP levels, when either an ionophore or antigen was used as a stimulant irrespective of whether hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids was stimulated or not. The concept of how the ionophores act, therefore, requires critical reevaluation.     

Anaerobic degradation of papermill sludge in a two-phase digester containing rumen microorganisms and colonized polyurethane foam

Summary The use of reticulated polyurethane foam as a support material for the immobilization of methanogenic associations and its application to the anaerobic treatment of fine particulate solid wastes was investigated. The colonization of polyurethane support particles in a continuous upflow reactor fed on a mixture of acetate, propionate and butyrate, was both rapid and dense. The combination of rumen microorganisms and colonized support particles in a two-phase digester resulted in an efficient anaerobic decomposition of papermill sludge.     

BSF-1 action on resting B cells does not require elevation of inositol phospholipid metabolism or increased [Ca2+]i

B cell stimulatory factor-1 (BSF-1) acts on resting B cells to increase expression of class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules and to prepare for more prompt entry into S phase in response to anti-IgM and lipopolysaccharide. It also acts as a costimulant, with low concentrations of anti-IgM, to cause resting B cells to synthesize DNA. Unlike anti-IgM, BSF-1 does not cause elevation in inositol phospholipid metabolism or in concentration of intracellular free calcium, nor does it enhance such biochemical responses to anti-IgM. Furthermore, increased expression of class II MHC molecules to BSF-1 is observed when essentially all extracellular calcium is chelated by EGTA, whereas lower concentrations of EGTA completely inhibit increases in class II molecules in response to anti-IgM. These results indicate that BSF-1 effects on resting B cells are not mediated by the inositol phospholipid metabolic pathway.     

Loss of secretory response of rat basophilic leukemia (2H3) cells at 40 degrees C is associated with reversible suppression of inositol phospholipid breakdown and calcium signals

Antigen-induced stimulatory signals as well as histamine secretion from the RBL-2H3 cells were found to be highly temperature dependent. There was no hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids, increase in cytosol calcium concentration (calcium signal), or secretion upon antigen stimulation at temperatures below 20 degrees C. At higher temperatures (i.e., 20 to 37 degrees C), all responses increased in extent with increase in temperature. Temperatures of 38 degrees C or higher, however, resulted in a marked decline in all responses, until no responses were observed at 40 to 42 degrees C. As indicated by the decay in calcium signal, the duration of response was also temperature dependent. The response was of long duration at 30 to 32 degrees C, but it became progressively more transient as the temperature was increased from 32 to 40 degrees C. The effects of low or high temperature were fully reversible. For example, in the presence of antigen, stimulatory signals immediately appeared once the temperature was decreased from 40 to 37 degrees C. Although the diminished responses could be explained, in part, by a reduction in rates of IgE receptor aggregation and phospholipase C activity, the reductions were insufficient to account for complete loss of activity at 40 degrees C. We conclude that generation of intracellular signals in 2H3 cells is blocked by quite small elevations in temperature above 37 degrees C, possibly as consequence of changes in membrane fluidity.     

The mechanism of the calcium signal and correlation with histamine release in 2H3 cells

Rat basophil leukemic (2H3) cells ( Siraganian , R.P., McGivney , A., Barsumian , E. L., Crews, F. T., Hirata , F., and Axelrod , J. (1982) Fed. Proc. 41, 30-34) loaded with fluorescent Ca2+ indicator quin 2 ( Tsien , R. Y. (1980) Biochemistry 19, 2396-2404) showed a rapid increase in free cytosol calcium concentration [( Ca]i) when histamine release was induced. Intracellular quin 2 concentrations up to 7 mM did not affect release of histamine in response to antigen (aggregated ovalbumin) or concanavalin A with cells primed with antigen-specific monoclonal IgE, or in response to Ca2+ ionophores. The [Ca]i increased from approximately 105 nM to a maximum of approximately 1200 nM within 2 to 3 min after antigenic stimulation and then declined slowly over 30 min toward the level in unstimulated cells. Histamine release was most rapid as [Ca]i reached the maximum value and then decreased continuously with [Ca]i over the subsequent 30 min. Neither the Ca signal nor histamine release was observed when the Ca2+ concentration in the medium [( Ca]o) was less than 50 microM, but both responses were restored on readdition of Ca2+ to 1 mM. The maximal Ca signal was obtained when [Ca]o was approximately greater than 1 mM and was half-maximal at [Ca]o congruent to 0.4 mM. In marked contrast [Ca]i in unstimulated cells varied very little with [Ca]o from 0.1 to 1 mM. Maintenance of the Ca signal required the continuous presence of stimulating ligand, external Ca2+, and the maintenance of cellular ATP; metabolic inhibitors blocked or reversed the Ca signal. La+ ions also caused a rapid and reversible block of the Ca signal and histamine release. The data are interpreted in a model in which the Ca signal is generated by a La3+-sensitive signal influx pathway that is functionally independent of the normal Ca2+ influx pathway in unstimulated cells, and that allows a 10-fold or greater increase in rate of Ca2+ entry. The Ca signal is maintained dynamically by the balance between the increased Ca2+ influx and active Ca2+ efflux across the plasma membrane.     

The calcium signal and phosphatidylinositol breakdown in 2H3 cells

Phosphatidylinositol (PI) and its phosphorylated derivatives are rapidly broken down in 2H3 cells stimulated with antigen, with a time course which coincides with the generation of the Ca signal. Stimulated PI breakdown is absolutely dependent on Ca2+ in the medium with a concentration dependence similar to that of the Ca signal and histamine release described in the preceding paper. However, PI breakdown does not depend on the rise in free cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration in stimulated cells over the range 100 nM to 1 microM. Thus, stimulation by the ionophore A23187 causes only a small increase in PI breakdown and the Ca signal stimulated by antigen can be selectively blocked with appropriate concentrations of Zn2+ (100 microM) or La3+ (10-100 microM) which have small or negligible effects on stimulated PI breakdown. Both PI breakdown and the Ca signal appear to depend on a common external Ca2+ site (or sites) with Km approximately equal to 0.4 mM, and the data are consistent with either independent activation of PI phosphodiesterase and the Ca signal after antigenic stimulation, or with PI breakdown as a component of the mechanism by which the Ca signal is generated.     

On the mechanism of action of dexamethasone in a rat mast cell line (RBL-2H3 cells). Evidence for altered coupling of receptors and G-proteins

Prolonged exposure of rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells, a cultured analog of rat mast cells, to 0.1 microM dexamethasone resulted in global suppression of various stimulatory events in response to Ag and a global enhancement of the same stimulatory events to the adenosine analog, N-(ethylcarboxamide)adenosine (NECA). We had previously shown that Ag and NECA both activate phospholipase C but by different mechanisms; cells that had been treated with cholera or pertussis toxin, for example, responded to Ag but not to NECA with the release of inositol phosphates, increase in levels of cytosolic Ca2+, and secretion. Because the toxins still inhibited the responses to NECA in dexamethasone-treated cells, the effects of dexamethasone may have been exerted at the level of receptor/G-protein coupling rather than at the level of effector systems. Additional evidence for this was the following: 1) NECA-induced hydrolysis of the inositol phospholipids was still enhanced after permeabilizing (with streptolysin O or Staphylococcus alpha-toxin) and washing the cells; 2) the response to the G-protein stimulant, guanosine 5'-(3-O-thio)triphosphate was also enhanced in permeabilized, dexamethasone-treated cells and 3) binding and kinetic studies suggested that the enhanced responsiveness to NECA was attributable in part to an increase in receptor number. The suppressive action of dexamethasone on Ag-induced hydrolysis of inositol phospholipids, however, was readily lost by permeabilizing RBL-2H3 cells. The results indicate, therefore, that treatment with dexamethasone leads to changes in receptor-coupling mechanisms that are either resistant to (i.e., NECA-mediated responses) or reversed by (i.e., Ag-mediated responses) cell permeabilization.     

Antigen-induced secretion of histamine and the phosphorylation of myosin by protein kinase C in rat basophilic leukemia cells

IgE-mediated stimulation of rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells results in the secretion of histamine. Myosin immunoprecipitated from these cells shows an increase in the amount of radioactive phosphate incorporated into its heavy (200 kDa) and light (20 kDa) chains. In unstimulated cells two-dimensional mapping of tryptic peptides of the myosin light chain reveals one phosphopeptide containing the serine residue phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase. Following stimulation a second phosphopeptide appears containing a serine residue phosphorylated by protein kinase C. Tryptic phosphopeptide maps derived from myosin heavy chains show that unstimulated cells contain three major phosphopeptides. Following stimulation a new tryptic phosphopeptide appears containing a serine site phosphorylated by protein kinase C. The stoichiometry of phosphorylation of the myosin light and heavy chains was determined before and after antigenic stimulation. Before stimulation, myosin light chains contained 0.4 mol of phosphate/mol of light chain all confined to a serine not phosphorylated by protein kinase C. Cells that secreted 44% of their total histamine in 10 min exhibited an increase in phosphate content at sites phosphorylated by protein kinase C from 0 mol of phosphate/mol of myosin subunit to 0.7 mol of phosphate/mol of light chain and to 1 mol of phosphate/mol of heavy chain. When RBL-2H3 cells were made permeable with streptolysin O they still showed a qualitatively similar pattern of secretion and phosphorylation. Our results show that the time course of histamine secretion from stimulated RBL-2H3 cells parallels that of myosin heavy and light chain phosphorylation by protein kinase C.