Pertussis toxin or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate can distinguish between epidermal growth factor- and angiotensin-stimulated signals in hepatocytes.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) causes rapid increases in free intracellular Ca2+ and stimulates the phosphorylation of 11 cytosolic proteins in hepatocytes. Ten of the 11 cytosolic proteins altered by EGF are identical to those affected by angiotensin II, a hormone that stimulates the breakdown of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. An increase in the phosphorylation of the other protein, spot c (Mr = 36,000, pI = 5.5), is observed only with EGF. Treatment of intact rats with pertussis toxin to ADP-ribosylate Ni, the inhibitory GTP-binding protein of the adenylate cyclase complex, abolished the effect of EGF on Ca2+ mobilization and on the phosphorylation of the 10 proteins affected in common with angiotensin II. This treatment had minimal effects on the ability of EGF to stimulate the phosphorylation of its unique substrate, spot c. In marked contrast, modification of Ni did not block the ability of angiotensin II to stimulate Ca2+ mobilization or protein phosphorylation. Pretreatment of normal hepatocytes with 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate blocked all responses to EGF, including the increased phosphorylation of spot c, but had no effect on the responses to angiotensin II. These results imply that Ni or a similar pertussis toxin substrate may mediate the apparent effects of EGF on phosphatidylinositol breakdown and that protein kinase C may regulate a site in the transduction pathway. Angiotensin II appears to use a different signal transduction mechanism to stimulate phosphatidylinositol metabolism in hepatocytes.