Stimulation of phospholipase D activity and phosphatidic acid production by norepinephrine in rat aorta.

We sought to relate norepinephrine (NE) stimulation of phosphatidic acid (PA) production to functional responses of rat aorta and pathways for PA production. The time course for changes in PA was closely related to Ca-dependent tonic responses in 42K efflux and contraction. NE (30 microM for 1 min) increased PA and reduced phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) based on Pi analyses and 32P labeling of phospholipids. The 32P-to-Pi ratio in PA (0.8 +/- 0.2, n = 13) was similar to PC (0.8 +/- 0.1, n = 14) but was significantly lower (P < 0.001) than PI (4.6 +/- 0.5, n = 14). The 32P-to-Pi ratio in PA was also lower (P < 0.02) than phosphatidylinositol phosphate and phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate. NE also increased [3H]PA twofold (P < 0.05) when PC was selectively labeled with [3H]myristic acid. These observations are more consistent with PA being formed from the hydrolysis of PC by phospholipase D (PLD) than by the phosphorylation of diacylglycerol produced by the action of phospholipase C. PLD was assayed by the formation of phosphatidylethanol (PEt) via a transphosphatidylation reaction with ethanol (half-maximal stimulation at 0.4-0.5% vol/vol). The time course for PLD stimulation by NE was similar to PA, with significant increases (P < 0.002) during 10 s to 30 min exposure. Once formed, PEt was degraded slowly, with a half time > 3 h. It is concluded that NE stimulates PLD in rat aorta, which forms a significant amount of PA from the hydrolysis of PC.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)