Lysophosphatidylcholine transduces ca2+ signaling via the platelet -activating factor receptor in macrophages. Ogita, Teruhiko, Yuji Tanaka, Takashi Nakaoka, Rumiko Matsuoka, Yuji Kira, Motonao Nakamura, Takao Shimizu, and Toshiro Fujita. Laboratory of Cardiovascular Research, Fourth Department of Internal Medicine; Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine,University of Tokyo, Tokyo 112; Tokyo Women's Medical College, Tokyo 162; and Division of Cardiology, Showa General Hospital, Kodaira City, Tokyo 187, Japan
APStracts 3:0285H, 1996.
To clarify the molecular mechanism underlying the lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) signaling, we studied the effect of LPC on the intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in murine peritoneal macrophages. LPC, when added alone, induced biphasic elevation of [Ca2+]i, which consisted of a rapid increase followed by sustained elevation. LPC, when added with equimolar cholesterol, induced only the rapid increase in ([Ca2+]i), which was blocked by WEB 2086, a selective platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor antagonist. These results suggest LPC exerts a specific calcium signaling. The sustained elevation reflected the cell lysis. Further, we confirmed its pathway in a more specific manner using cloned PAF receptors expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. LPC induced an elevation of [Ca2+]i in a concentration-dependent manner only when the PAF receptor had been expressed, and the elevation of [Ca2+]i was blocked by WEB 2086. Taken together, LPC transduces Ca2+ signaling via the PAF receptor. Activation of the PAF receptor by LPC may indicate its novel important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

Received 4 March 1996; accepted in final form 3 July 1996.
APS Manuscript Number H210-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Heart Circ. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 25 July 1996