Regulation of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis by mitogenic growth factors.

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) biosynthesis in cultured 3T3 fibroblasts was increased in varying degrees by these mitogenic growth factors: fetal bovine serum, insulin, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, epidermal growth factor, vasopressin, fibroblast growth factor and insulin-like growth factors I and II. PC synthesis was increased 2-4-fold by 10% serum, up to 4-fold by growth factors alone, and up to 8-fold by combinations of two or more growth factors. Single growth factors had no effect on the incorporation of [3H]choline into the acid-soluble precursors of PC, while serum or combinations of two or more mitogens could increase the incorporation of [3H]choline into acid-soluble material by up to 2-fold. Serum was shown to increase choline phosphorylation, choline kinase activity and the size of the phosphocholine pool. These data were utilized to calculate the radioactive specific activity of phosphocholine. Serum did not increase phosphocholine specific activity above control values; thus the increased incorporation of labelled choline into PC after serum stimulation resulted from increased PC synthesis and not from a simple change in specific activity of precursor phosphocholine.