1,2-Diacylglycerols and phorbol esters stimulate phosphatidylcholine metabolism in GH3 pituitary cells. Evidence for separate mechanisms of action.

Phorbol esters have been shown to cause degradation and synthesis of phosphatidylcholine. The present studies measure effects of another class of protein kinase C activators, the 1,2-diacylglycerols, on phosphatidylcholine metabolism using GH3 rat pituitary cells. 1,2-Dioctanoylglycerol (diC8, 200 micrograms/ml) reduced phosphatidylcholine levels to 95 and 70% of control by 5 min and 1 h, respectively, in cells labeled to equilibrium with [3H]choline. Concomitantly, lysophosphatidylcholine increased 3.5-fold by 15 min and remained elevated for 1 h. Glycerol 3-phosphocholine, the product of sequential deacylation of phosphatidylcholine, increased 5-fold in the medium over 1 h. DiC8 also increased the levels of unesterified arachidonic and stearic acids. Arachidonic acid was preferentially released from the 2-position of phosphatidylcholine to form lysophosphatidylcholine. These results suggest that diC8 stimulates a phospholipase A2. 1-Oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol produced similar effects. In contrast, phorbol esters failed to enhance degradation in these cells. 1,2-Diacylglycerols and phorbol esters, however, stimulated phosphatidylcholine synthesis via the CDP-choline pathway. This was measured as concentration-dependent incorporation of 32Pi and [3H]choline into phosphatidylcholine in short-term labeling studies. The effects of maximal concentrations of diC8 and the phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, were additive. Furthermore, in cells down-modulated for phorbol ester action, diC8-induced degradation and synthesis were unchanged. These studies demonstrate that phorbol esters and 1,2-diacylglycerols have different effects on phosphatidylcholine metabolism and suggest that 1,2-diacylglycerols may stimulate phosphatidylcholine metabolism via a pathway independent of the protein kinase C which mediates phorbol ester action. This represents the first description of a biochemical pathway activated by 1,2-diacylglycerols and not by phorbol esters.