Zymosan-induced release of inositol phosphates at resting cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations in macrophages.

Hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides by phosphodiesterase has been demonstrated to be involved in the control of cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations. The stimulation of Ca2+ ionophores of the release of inositol phosphates in macrophages, and other cells, together with the Ca2+ requirements for zymosan-induced phospholipase C activation, make unclear the relationship between Ca2+ mobilization and polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis. The results in the present paper strongly suggest that, for zymosan-induced phospholipase C activation, a previous increase in cytosolic Ca2+ is not a required event. These results also show that zymosan-activated release of inositol phosphates may be mediated by a guanine-nucleotide-binding protein.