Serotonin regulation of palatal cell motility and metabolism.

Serotonin has been previously shown to stimulate palate reorientation. To elucidate the mechanism by which the neurotransmitter may be regulating palate morphogenesis, the effects of serotonin on cell motility and various metabolic reactions have been measured in vitro. To monitor cell motility, a chemotactic system was employed in which cultured palate mesenchymal cells in a modified Boyden chamber migrate toward the chemoattractant(s) in N-18 neuroblastoma conditioned medium. Serotonin stimulated cell motility and 10(-5) M was optimal with nearly 100% stimulation achieved. With N-18 conditioned medium diluted 1:100, serotonin stimulated cell motility 4.9-fold. Serotonin itself was not chemotactic but modulated cell movement in the presence of the chemoattractant. Protein carboxyl methylation was stimulated by serotonin about 100% at concentrations ranging from 3 X 10(-7) M to 3 X 10(-6) M in different experiments. The net stimulation may have been elicited by an indirect effect since serotonin also inhibited demethylation of protein methyl esters. Serotonin was shown to inhibit cyclic AMP in cultured palate cells: 10(-5) M agonist depressed levels to 19% of control in 3 h. Further, prostaglandin E1, which stimulated cyclic AMP levels, markedly inhibited cell motility in the chemotactic assay. Thus there is an inverse relationship between cyclic AMP levels and cell motility in fetal palate cells. Finally it was observed that serotonin stimulated cyclic GMP levels; 10(-5) M serotonin optimally stimulated cyclic GMP with a spike of stimulation (6.1-fold) within 30 sec. In summary, serotonin in palate cells stimulates both protein carboxyl methylation and cyclic GMP. Modulation of these reactions could be regulating cell motility and/or protein secretion, which in turn could function in palate reorientation.