Increase in norepinephrine-induced formation of phosphatidic acid in rat vas deferens after denervation

Surgical denervation of rat vas deferens causes supersensitivity in that the tissue sensitivity and the maximum response to a variety of agonists increase. To understand the molecular mechanism of supersensitivity in smooth muscle, norepinephrine(NE)-induced alteration in phospholipid metabolism was studied using control and denervated vasa deferentia. When the tissue was stimulated by NE, only [32P]Pi incorporation into phosphatidic acid(PA) was increased in proportion to the increase in NE concentration without any significant effect on that into other phospholipids. This PA labeling was significantly accelerated by denervation. In the denervated tissue, PA labeling was stimulated by lower concentrations of NE and the maximum response to NE was increased compared to the control. The breakdown of phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate(DPI) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-diphosphate (TPI) was also accelerated by NE. But the influence of denervation on this NE-induced DPI and TPI was not marked. Therefore, it is likely that denervation clearly enhanced NE-induced PA labeling without an appreciable effect on that of the other phospholipids. Furthermore, the absolute amount of PA was also increased by NE, and this increase was exaggerated by denervation. Considering that PA can behave as a Ca2+ ionophore in the plasma membrane, these results suggest that the stimulated accumulation of PA plays an important role in receptor-linked supersensitivity in smooth muscle.