DNA-synthesis regulation and correlation with inositol trisphosphate levels in cultured bovine retinal capillary pericytes.

Inositol phosphate (IP), inositol bisphosphate (IP2) and inositol trisphosphate (IP3) in cultured bovine retinal capillary pericytes (BRCP) were quantitated by an ion-pair reverse-phase HPLC. BRCP were grown in media with standard (5 mM) or high (30 mM) glucose, and were either labeled with myo-[2-3H]inositol (20 microCi ml-1) for 60 hr or with dual isotopes (20 microCi ml-1 myo-[2-3H]inositol and 2 microCi ml-1 [14C]glycerol) for 8 hr. In parallel, BRCP in different glucose-media were incubated with 1 microCi ml-1 [3H]thymidine for 4 hr. High glucose significantly suppressed the accumulation of [3H]label in IP, IP2 and IP3, and specifically reduced the incorporation of [14C]glycerol into inositol phospholipids, but not that of neutral lipids and other types of phospholipids. The reduced IP3 level correlated with the decrease in the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA. Both the reduced IP3 formation and DNA synthesis which were induced by high glucose were significantly reversed by adding either myo-inositol or AL1576, an aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI). However, the addition of neither myo-inositol nor ARI stimulated IP3 formation and/or DNA synthesis when BRCP were grown in the standard medium (5 mM glucose). These findings indicate that myo-inositol metabolism and the polyol pathway affect inositol phospholipid-mediated pericyte division in vitro only under the high-glucose condition. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that altered inositol phospholipid metabolism accounts for the loss of pericytes in diabetic retinopathy.