Phospholipase D activation by platelet-activating factor, leukotriene B4, and formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine in rabbit neutrophils. Phospholipase D activation is involved in enzyme release.

Lipid chemoattractants, such as platelet-activating factor and leukotriene B4, as well as the peptide chemoattractant FMLP, were found to stimulate 3H]phosphatidic acid (3H]PA) formation in 1-O-3H]octadecyl-lyso platelet-activating factor-labeled rabbit neutrophils. The stimulation of 3H]PA formation appears to result from the activation of phospholipase D (PLD), because in the presence of ethanol, chemoattractant stimulation produced 3H]phosphatidylethanol, the characteristic compound produced by PLD at the expense of 3H]PA formation. The PLD activation by all chemoattractants tested was primed by cytochalasin B and revealed a similar time dependence. However, lipid chemoattractants were less potent as compared with FMLP, and the maximal stimulation by the former was lower than that by the latter. From these results, it is concluded that the mechanism of PLD activation by lipid chemoattractants is similar to, but different from, that by FMLP. Cytochalasin B stimulated degranulation and 3H]PA formation in agonist-stimulated neutrophils, and their stimulations were well correlated. Ethanol inhibited both agonist-stimulated 3H]PA formation and degranulation in a concentration-dependent manner, but the inhibition in degranulation was much less than that in 3H]PA formation. These results suggest that PLD activation is involved in degranulation, but another signaling pathway may also be required for full stimulation of degranulation. When the radiolabeled neutrophils were stimulated by chemoattractants for 5 min, 1,2-3H]diglyceride was found to accumulate. The accumulation was inhibited by either ethanol or the phosphatidate phosphohydrolase inhibitor propranolol, which indicates that PA produced by PLD can be converted to 1,2-diglyceride by phosphatidate phosphohydrolase. Under these conditions, propranolol did not inhibit degranulation stimulated by chemoattractants. These results indicate that PA produced by PLD is more important than its metabolite diglyceride for the degranulation of rabbit neutrophils.