Arachidonic acid level in cellular lipids determines the amount of prostaglandins synthesized during cell growth in tissue culture.

Methylcholanthrene transformed mouse fibroblast cells can be induced to synthesize prostaglandins by a short term incubation with various vasoactive agents including serum, bradykinin and thrombin or in response to mechanical detachment from the culture dish. The ability of the cells to synthesize prostaglandins upon stimulation changes during growth of the culture on the dish; the response is maximal on the first day after inoculation and decreased sharply thereafter. Feeding of the cells with fresh growth medium enhances prostaglandin production induced by all stimuli. The difference in the cell response during growth is probably not due to change of prostaglandin synthetase activity since the specific enzyme activities assayed with microsomal preparations of cells harvested from the first and third day culture are similar. However, analysis of the cellular content of arachidonic acid after saponification of the total lipid extract of cells harvested at different days of growth reveals that the level of arachidonic acid per cell during growth is parallel to the response to stimuli. It is maximal on the first day and decreases sharply on the second day and stays low on the third day. Our study suggests that the level of arachidonic acid in the cell governs the extent of prostaglandin synthesis upon stimulation.