Hyperactivation of phospholipase C does not support the enhanced proliferation of aortic smooth muscle cells from spontaneously hypertensive rats.

When cultured in the presence of fetal calf serum, arterial smooth muscle cells from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) proliferate more rapidly and are more numerous at confluency than cells from normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) animals. The phenomenon has been demonstrated in several laboratories but its molecular origin remains unclear. On the other hand phospholipase C activation and c-fos transcription are early events able to trigger cell mitosis. Therefore, the enhancement of inositol phosphates formation induced in SHR cells by various vasoactive agents and growth factors suggests that this enzyme might be implicated in the abnormal proliferation triggered by serum. In this case a unique molecular abnormality would be responsible for both arterial hypercontractility and dystrophy encountered in hypertension. In order to test this hypothesis we have compared DNA replication, phospholipase C activation, and c-jun and c-fos nuclear protooncogene transcriptions stimulated by fetal calf serum (FCS), vasoactive agents (angiotensin II and vasopressin), and epithelial growth factor (EGF) in SHR and WKY rat cells. The results obtained with these various agonists tested under the same experimental conditions confirm that the classical pathogenic diagram: (PLC hyperactivation----increase in c-fos transcription----enhanced cell proliferation) may apply to the action of vasoactive agents which are only slightly mitogenic on SHR cells, but not to the very important effect of fetal calf serum. Indeed, FCS stimulated inositol phosphate formation and c-jun and c-fos transcription, but none of these parameters was enhanced in SHR cells. Phospholipase C activation may exert some control upon DNA replication, as its partial inhibition by pertussis toxin coincided with an equivalent decrease in thymidine incorporation. It is, however, not absolutely required for the onset of DNA replication in aortic smooth muscle cells, as shown by the results obtained with EGF under the same experimental conditions. An abnormal molecular reaction different from PLC activation is therefore responsible for the enhanced proliferation of cultured SHR aortic smooth muscle cells, and several cell alterations may concur to the formation of the hypertensive arteriopathy.