Integrative effects of egf on metabolism and proliferation in primary cultures of renal proximal tubule cells. Nowak, Grayna, and Rick G. Schnellmann. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 4301 West Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205-7199
APStracts 2:0204C, 1995.
This study examined the relationship between alterations in cellular metabolism and induction of proliferation in renal proximal tubule cells (RPTC) after EGF exposure. EGF treatment (10 ng/ml) of confluent RPTC cultures for 6 consecutive days increased monolayer DNA content 3.3-fold. EGF-stimulated proliferation of RPTC was preceded by a rapid (within 4 hours) induction of glycolysis and a decrease in basal and ouabain-sensitive oxygen consumption (20% and 30%, respectively). EGF stimulated the pentose cycle by 58% and decreased gluconeogenesis by 48%. Supplementation of the culture medium with ribose-5-phosphate or ribose abolished the stimulation of glycolysis and the pentose cycle by EGF but had no effect on proliferation. These results show that EGF rapidly stimulates the pentose cycle, shifts glucose metabolism from gluconeogenesis to glycolysis, and decreases oxygen consumption prior to any increase in proliferation. The lack of an EGF effect on the pentose cycle and glycolysis in the presence of exogenous precursors for DNA synthesis suggests that the stimulation of these pathways prior to proliferation is due to increased demands for ribose for subsequent nucleic acid synthesis.

Received 21 November 1994; accepted in final form 19 May 1995.
APS Manuscript Number C678-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 26 May 1995.