Mechanism of maitotoxin-stimulated phosphoinositide breakdown in HL-60 cells.

The marine toxin maitotoxin (MTX) and the chemotactic peptide fMet-Leu-Phe (fMLP) induce the formation of inositol phosphates in HL-60 cells differentiated with dibutyryl cyclic AMP. The increase in [3H]inositol(1,4,5)-trisphosphate is rapid but transient after fMLP stimulation, whereas MTX-induced increase in [3H]inositol(1,4,5)-trisphosphate occurs at a slower rate and is sustained over time. In both cases increases in [Ca++]i, measured with fura-2, parallel the formation of inositol trisphosphate. MTX-mediated stimulation of inositol phosphate formation is inhibited in the absence of calcium, whereas the response to fMLP is not. The calcium ionophore ionomycin stimulates the formation of inositol phosphates in differentiated HL-60 cells. The magnitude of the response is smaller than that obtained with MTX. Ionomycin also induces a rapid but sustained increase of [Ca++]i. In undifferentiated HL-60 cells, neither fMLP nor ionomycin induce significant inositol phosphate formation, and the increase in [Ca++]i elicited by ionomycin is transient. In contrast, the effects of MTX on phosphoinositide breakdown and on [Ca++]i in undifferentiated cells are nearly identical to those elicited by MTX in differentiated cells. In the presence of the intracellular calcium chelator BAPTA, fMLP, ionomycin and MTX still stimulate the generation of inositol phosphates. Guanyl nucleotides and calcium stimulate phospholipase C activity in membrane preparations from differentiated HL-60 cells. fMLP stimulates the enzyme only in the presence of GTP. MTX has no effect on membrane phospholipase C activity.