Magnesium-dependent stimulation of protein synthesis by the insulin mimic, pervanadate.

The insulin mimic, peroxide of vanadate (pervanadate), stimulated 35S-methionine incorporation into Xenopus oocyte protein in a Mg(2+)-dependent manner. Reducing the extracellular Mg2+ concentration from 1.0 to 0.1 mM decreased the pervanadate-stimulated component of incorporation by 35%; with 0.01 mM Mg2+ or lower, the pervanadate-stimulated component was abolished. In addition, reducing extracellular Mg2+ to 0.01 mM inhibited about 50% of the insulin-stimulated component of methionine incorporation. Mg2+ depletion had no effects on incorporation in controls or when protein synthesis was stimulated by Zn2+ or bovine growth hormone. Thus, not all substances that stimulated protein synthesis showed a dependence on extracellular Mg2+. Reducing extracellular Ca2+ had no effects on methionine incorporation in control cells or in cells stimulated by pervanadate or insulin. When oocytes maintained in a paraffin oil medium were brought into contact with a 0.5 microliter droplet of buffer containing the Mg2+ indicator dye, mag-fura-2, and pervanadate, apparent droplet Mg2+ decreased rapidly, indicating net uptake by the cells. Insulin also caused a net uptake of Mg2+. In contrast, apparent extracellular Mg2+ was constant when cells were in contact with droplets containing no effectors. Together, these data indicate that extracellular Mg2+, but not Ca2+, is involved in the stimulation of protein synthesis by pervanadate, and to a lesser extent by insulin. Pervanadate appears to induce a net uptake of Mg2+, and this change in membrane transport may be an early event in signalling the increase in translation.