Effects of glucose on receptor-mediated phosphoinositide hydrolysis and second messenger generation in rat glomerular mesangial cells.

The phosphoinositide system plays a critical role in mesangial cell contraction. myo-Inositol depletion occurs in glomeruli from diabetic animals and may result in mesangial cell dysfunction. The hypothesis that mesangial cell exposure to high concentrations of glucose could lead to abnormalities in phosphoinositide metabolism and receptor-mediated inositol phosphate release was tested. When compared with controls (5 mM glucose), inositol phosphate release in mesangial cells exposed to 28 mM glucose was decreased by 27% after maximal stimulation with angiotensin II, by 41% after arginine vasopressin, and by 63% after the thromboxane A2 analog, U46619. Increasing the concentration of glucose to 50 mM caused a further reduction (from 27 to 54%) in maximal angiotensin II stimulation of inositol phosphate release. High glucose decreased incorporation of myo-inositol into phospholipids but did not change phosphoinositide mass. High glucose also resulted in increased de novo synthesis of diacylglycerol which was associated with membrane translocation of protein kinase C. myo-inositol supplementation prevented the reduction in phosphoinositide hydrolysis whereas sorbinil did not. It was concluded that high concentrations of glucose cause abnormalities in myo-inositol metabolism in mesangial cells which lead to reduced receptor-mediated phosphoinositide hydrolysis. These abnormalities appear to be related to desensitization of receptor-mediated phosphoinositide responses due to negative feedback by protein kinase C which becomes activated as a result of enhanced de novo diacylglycerol formation from glucose. These changes are unrelated to the polyol pathway and can be prevented by myo-inositol supplementation.