[Changes in lipid composition and respiratory activity of wheat roots treated with inhibitor of phosphoinositide cycle of lithium ions].

A study was made of the effect of lithium ions (5 mM LiCl) on the growth and respiration of roots of 2-5 day old wheat seedlings, composition of phospholipids, free fatty acids and sterols, and superoxide radical generation. Significant growth depression was shown in roots treated with lithium, increasing with age of seedlings. The growth of seedlings on a 5 mM LiCl containing medium influenced the lipid composition in roots. In the roots of these seedlings phospholipid contents increased along with a decrease in free fatty acids, and the ratio of sterol/phospholipids, while superoxide radical production was stimulated. Lithium stimulated oxygen consumption of excised roots of 5 day old seedlings. Due to its physical and chemical properties lithium is supposed to be able to disrupt gradients of Ca2+, H+, K+, and to lead to a partial blockade of signal transduction for triggering proliferation via the phosphoinositide cycle. Changes in the lipid composition, increase in the membrane permeability for ions, and respiration of roots of seedlings grown in LiCl-containing medium are presumably associated with growth depression and juvenility of roots.