Inositol lipids: receptor-stimulated hydrolysis and cellular lipid pools

Our current knowledge of the process by which receptors stimulate the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) has its origin in the discovery by Hokin & Hokin (J. biol. Chem. 263, 967 (1953] that some pancreatic secretagogues not only elicit exocrine secretion but also stimulate the metabolism of membrane phospholipids. Despite the recent elucidation of many aspects of this widespread signalling system, there is still little information on the control of the supply of its substrate, PtdIns(4,5)P2. In particular, some studies have suggested that inositol-lipid-mediated signalling involves much or all of the inositol lipid complement of the stimulated cells, whereas other observations have equally clearly implicated the receptor-activated hydrolysis of an inositol phospholipid pool that comprises only a small fraction of the total cellular complement of these lipids. These studies, which have largely employed radiochemical analyses using single isotopes, are briefly reviewed. In addition, we report the first information obtained by a new procedure for analysing the metabolic characteristics of the inositol lipids that are broken down during stimulation. This technique employs cells that are doubly labelled in the inositol moiety of their lipids (to isotopic equilibrium with 14C and only briefly with 3H) to search for functional metabolic heterogeneity among the inositol lipids of stimulated cells. Using this method, we have found that the inositol phosphates liberated in stimulated cells during brief stimulation of V1a-vasopressin receptors or prostaglandin F2 alpha receptors come from phospholipid that has a turnover rate typical of the bulk of the cellular inositol lipids.