The specific involvement of G proteins in thrombin receptor-mediated Ca2+ mobilization and DNA synthesis has been studied in single Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts (CCL39 cells) activated by the hexapeptide SFLLRN. Immunoblots performed with antibodies directed against the COOH terminus of G protein alpha subunits revealed that alpha q, alpha i, and alpha o were each present in CCL39 cells. Th...

Reactive oxygen species are known to contribute to tissue damage during injury and inflammation. However, these species can also be sensed by the cells and trigger intracellular signaling cascades. This review examines recent evidence on the involvement of reactive oxygen species in lipid signaling. Attention is focused on activation of phospholipase A2s, enzymes whose action on membrane phosph...

Intracellular Ca2+ release in directly stimulated diaphragm muscles of mice was found to be dependent on external Ca2+, using the intracellular Ca2+ aequorin luminescence transient technique. The Ca2+ mobilization into the cells may operate via a voltage- and external Ca2+-dependent mechanism, and via a caffeine- and external Ca2+-independent one, from the Ca2+ pools in plasma membranes or in t...

We investigated the effect of various excitatory amino acids on intracellular free Ca2+ concentration ( [Ca2+]i) in single mouse hippocampal neurons in vitro by using the Ca2+-sensitive dye fura-2. In normal physiological solution, glutamate, kainate, N-methyl-D-aspartate, and quisqualate all produced increases in [Ca2+]i. When all extracellular Ca2+ was removed, kainate and N-methyl-D-aspartat...

Leukotrienes are recognized as important mediators of the inflammatory process. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the role of noninflammatory cells in the regulation of the inflammatory process. To further increase our knowledge of this matter we have, in the present study, investigated leukotriene-induced Ca2* signaling, using a single cell technique in a human epithelial cell li...

Addition of norepinephrine, angiotensin II, or histamine leads to a transient rise in the cytoplasmic (i' concentration (ICa2 I), as measured with aequorin, in rabbit aortic strips. Each induces a 1Ca2ill transient which peaks in 2 min and then falls either back to baseline (angiotensin II) or to a plateau (norepinephrine aid histamine). The ICa2 transient is due to the mobilization of Ca2+ fro...

Mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ stores is coupled to Ca2+ influx across the plasma membrane, a process termed capacitative Ca2+ entry. Capacitative Ca2+ entry was examined in cultured guinea pig enteric glia exposed to 100 μM ATP, an inositol trisphosphate-mediated Ca2+-mobilizing agonist, and to 1 μM thapsigargin, an inhibitor of microsomal Ca2+ ATPase. Both agents caused mobilization of in...

Leukotrienes are recognized as important mediators of the inflammatory process. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the role of noninflammatory cells in the regulation of the inflammatory process. To further increase our knowledge of this matter we have, in the present study, investigated leukotriene-induced Ca2* signaling, using a single cell technique in a human epithelial cell li...

Serum stimulates both Ca2+ mobilization and colony growth of many small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines, but the factors involved remain unknown. We demonstrate that 1-oleoyl-lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), like serum, induced a dose-dependent increase in intracellular Ca2+ in the H-510, H-345, and H-69 SCLC cell lines with half maximal concentrations of 18 nM, 22 nM, and 20 nM, respectively. T...

MHC class II (MHC II) proteins are competent signaling molecules on APC. However, little is known about the mechanisms that control generation of their activating signals. Previous reports highlighted a number of factors that could affect the nature and outcome of MHC II signals, including the inability of MHC II ligation on resting vs activated murine B cells to induce mobilization of Ca2+. In...