Extracellular ATP stimulates proliferation of cultured mesangial cells via P2-purinergic receptors.

We examined the role of the platelet product ATP in regulating replication and secretory activity of cultured rat mesangial cells (MCs). Extracellular ATP (25-100 microM) significantly increased [3H]thymidine uptake of growth-arrested MCs 2.1-fold; cell counts increased by 35.1%. Addition of ATP to MCs in combination with other platelet products, such as platelet-derived growth factor, isoform BB (100 ng/ml), and serotonin (1 microM), resulted in strong synergistic mitogenicity (up to 45.6-fold over control). As immediate signaling events following stimulation with ATP, we found increased production of inositol phosphates (3.2-fold increase for inositol bisphosphate and 1.6-fold increase for inositol trisphosphate by 30 s) and release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2, 9.2-fold increase by 5 min). When we studied the rank order of potency of various ATP analogues for the production of inositol phosphates and PGE2, ATP, UTP, and adenosine 5'-O-(3-thio)triphosphate (ATP gamma S) were the most potent agonists. Although ATP and ATP gamma S were also strong mitogens, UTP was not. Additional inhibitor studies indicated that protein kinase C or cyclooxygenase products were not involved in the mitogenic effects of ATP. In summary, the major platelet product ATP is a potent comitogen for cultured MCs and strongly synergizes with other growth factors. The experiments with ATP analogues point to different receptors mediating mitogenesis, generation of inositol phosphates, and PGE2 production. The precise mechanism of the mitogenic action of ATP on MCs remains to be characterized.