Effects of theophylline on expression of the long cilia phenotype in sand dollar blastulae

Previously, increases in ciliary length have only been obtained through genetic mutation in Chlamydomonas or by incubation of swimming echinoderm blastulae in trypsin or elastase. We have found that the phenotypic switch from short to long cilia on sand dollar blastulae can also be effected by incubation in theophylline. Cilia detached from control blastulae have a mean length of 21 +/- 7 microns with 10% of the cilia being greater than 30 microns. Upon incubation in 10 mM theophylline additional long cilia appeared after 10 hours and by 24-32 hours 1/2-3/4 of the embryo was covered with long cilia. The percentage of long cilia increased to 65% with a mean length of 40.0 +/- 17.6 microns. Incubation in other methylxanthines, such as aminophylline, caffeine, or isobutylmethylxanthine, inhibited development but had no effect on ciliary length distribution. Dibutyryl cAMP, 8-bromoadenosine, and calcium ionophore also had no effect on ciliary length. Cyclic AMP levels were measured and showed only slight differences among controls and embryos incubated in trypsin, caffeine, or theophylline. These data suggest that theophylline may be altering ciliary length control through some mechanism other than elevations in cAMP.