Enhanced phospholipase D activity in vascular smooth muscle cells derived from spontaneously hypertensive rats.

When cultured in the presence of fetal calf serum, aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) derived from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) grow faster than those from normotensive control Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. In order to investigate the mechanism underlying this growth abnormality, we measured phospholipase D (PLD) activity in VSMC taken from both SHR and WKY rats. Upon stimulation with serum, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and porbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA), phosphatidylethanol (PEt) was produced in the presence of ethanol. The responses of the VSMC from SHR (SHR-cells) to all stimuli were significantly greater than those of the VSMC from WKY rats (WKY-cells), which suggests an enhanced PLD activity in the SHR-cells. Since PLD is regarded as an enzyme involved in signal transduction leading to cell proliferation, this PLD hyper-reactivity in the SHR-cells may account at least partially for the growth abnormality in the SHR-cells.