Butyrate stimulates fibronectin synthesis in cultured rabbit cornea.

To understand corneal wound healing, in which fibronectin plays an important role, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of fibronectin synthesis in cultured rabbit corneal blocks in situ. The amount of fibronectin was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We found that butyrate stimulated fibronectin synthesis in a dose-response fashion, and that butyrate had a greater stimulatory effect than did any of its derivatives examined. This suggests that butyrate stimulates fibronectin synthesis specifically; 8Br-cAMP also stimulated fibronectin synthesis. Additivity of stimulation by butyrate and by 8Br-cAMP was observed at the saturated concentration of each; the present result indicated an independent mechanism of action for these two compounds.