Stimulation of mitogenesis and glucose transport by 1-monooleoylglycerol in Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts.

1-Monooleoylglycerol (MOG), a recently reported diacylglycerol kinase inhibitor (Bishop, W. R., Ganong, B. R., and Bell, R. M. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 6993-7000), exerts potent stimulatory effects on [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA and glucose transport in Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts. MOG induces a rapid and sustained 2.5-fold increase in the cellular 1,2-diacylglycerol (1,2-DG) content, and phosphorylation of an acidic 80-kDa protein, a putative substrate for the protein kinase C (Ca2+/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase). The effect of MOG is additive to that of bombesin in terms of both an increase in tissue diacylglycerol content and phosphorylation of the 80-kDa proteins. In addition to these effects, MOG potently stimulates release of arachidonic acid from phospholipids. Inhibitors of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase have little effect, if any, on MOG-induced stimulation of glucose transport and DNA synthesis, while exogenously applied arachidonic readily stimulates both of these cellular responses. Furthermore, arachidonic acid, at its biologically active concentrations, is found to induce a rapid and sustained increase in cellular 1,2-DG content and stimulate the phosphorylation of the 80-kDa protein, although to a lesser extent than MOG. Prolonged pretreatment of the cells with phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, which reduces the cellular protein kinase C content, markedly attenuates the effects of both MOG and arachidonic acid on glucose transport and DNA synthesis. These data indicate that MOG increases endogenous 1,2-DG content and thereby acts as a potent activator of protein kinase C, and that activation of protein kinase C is a crucial step in MOG-induced stimulation of mitogenesis and glucose transport.