Stimulatory Effects of a Short Chain Phosphatidate on Superoxide Anion Production in Guinea Pig Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes1

Treatment of guinea pig polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) with a phosphatidate containing short-chain fatty acids, 1,2-didecanoyl-3-sn-phosphatidate (PA10), induced substantial superoxide anion (O2-) production in a dose-dependent manner, whereas phosphatidates prepared from egg lecithin and 1,2-dioleoyl-3-sn-phosphatidate (PA18:1) had no such effect. Calcium was not involved in PA10-induced O2- production, since the production was also observed in the case of addition of EGTA prior to PA10 or pretreatment of PMNL with quin-2 and EGTA to eliminate contributions of both extracellular and intracellular calcium. We have reported in previous papers that the phosphorylation of 46K protein(s), which was commonly observed in parallel with an activation of NADPH oxidase in PMNL, was increased by treatment with 10 microM 1-oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol (OAG) with little change in the O2- production (Okamura et al. (1984) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 228, 270-277; Ohtsuka et al. (1988) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 260, 226-231). Treatment of PMNL with a combination of PA10, which slightly increased 46K protein phosphorylation, and such a low concentration of OAG induced a marked increase in the O2- production with the increase in 46K protein phosphorylation, which was probably due to OAG action. Thus, it is likely that this protein phosphorylation plays a significant role in the stimulation of the O2- production by phosphatidate in PMNL.