Importance of the phospholipase D-initiated sequential pathway for arachidonic acid release and prostaglandin D2 generation by rat peritoneal mast cells.

The association of prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) production as well as arachidonic acid release with the phospholipase D (PLD)-linked mechanism was studied in rat peritoneal mast cells. Stimulation of mast cells with cross-linking of the high-affinity Fc receptor for IgE caused increases in the release of arachidonic acid and PGD2, which are suppressed almost completely by ethanol or RHC 80267, a diacylglycerol lipase inhibitor. Ethanol did not influence inositol phosphate release in response to an antigen. An increase in diacylglycerol, that is inhibited by propranolol, was observed, with a peak within 1 min. Antigen stimulation induced little production of lysophosphatidylcholine, while ionomycin as a control markedly induced the production. However, the phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity in the cytosol of antigen-stimulated cells increased to the level in ionomycin-stimulated cells. The addition of the ADP-ribosylation factor-containing fraction prepared from bovine brain, that is known to specifically activate PLD, to permeabilized mast cells in the presence of GTP gamma S, apparently increased arachidonic acid and PGD2 release, but not in the presence of ethanol. Furthermore, arachidonic acid release by an antigen was enhanced by melittin, that activates PLA2, but PGD2 production was not. These results suggest that antigen-stimulated PGD2 production as well as arachidonic acid release are strongly associated with the sequential PLD-linked pathway.