Effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide on pulmonary surfactants phospholipid synthesis in lung explants.
AIM
To investigate the effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) on pulmonary surfactants (PS) phospholipid synthesis in cultured lung explants.


METHODS
Lung explants were cultured with serum-free medium, [methyl-3H]choline incorporation, total phospholipid, phosphatidylcholine, activity of choline-phosphate cytidylyltransferase (CCT) and CCTalpha mRNA level in lung explants were determined.


RESULTS
(1) VIP (10(-10)-10(-7) mol/L) for 16 h promoted [methyl-3H]choline incorporation in dose dependence and VIP (10(-8) mol/L) for 2 h-16 h promoted [methyl-3H]choline incorporation in time dependence. (2) VIP (10(-8) mol/L) enhanced the contents of total phospholipids and phosphatidylcholine in lung explants. (3) VIP (10(-10)-10(-7) mol/L) elevated microsomal CCT activity of lung explants in dose dependence. (4) VIP (10(-8) mol/L) increased expression of CCTalpha mRNA in lung explants and alveolar type II cells (ATII). (5) [D-P-Cl-Phe(6)-Leu(17)]-VIP (10(-6) mol/L), a VIP receptors antagonist, abolished the increase of [3H]choline incorporation, microsomal CCT activity and CCTalpha mRNA level induced by VIP (10(-8) mol/L) in lung explants.


CONCLUSION
VIP could enhance synthesis of phosphatidylcholine, the major component of pulmonary surfactants by enhancing microsomal CCT activity and CCTalpha mRNA level via VIP receptor-mediated pathway.