The Effect of Neomycin on PDGF-Induced Mitogenic Response and Actin Organization in Cultured Human Fibroblasts

Abstract

Actin organization and DNA synthesis were studied in cultured, serum-starved, subconfluent human fibroblasts in response to human recombinant platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB and neomycin, an inhibitor of phosphoinositide (PI) turnover. The labeling of F-actin with TRITC-phalloidin showed that PDGF (10 ng/ml) and neomycin (3.5 mM) induced, within minutes, similar changes in the actin cytoskeleton and when used together potentiated each other's effects. PDGF stimulated a twofold increase in DNA synthesis, as shown by [3H]thymidine incorporation, 48 h after the beginning of incubation. Neomycin did not induce DNA synthesis but reduced the mitogenic response to PDGF to control levels. Stimulation of DNA synthesis was correlated with an intense increase in lamellipodia formation and ruffling, whereas inhibition of the DNA synthesis was correlated with the development of elongated cell shape with few ruffles and lamellipodia, similarly to untreated control cells. Our findings support the conclusion that early changes in the actin cytoskeleton and induction of DNA synthesis are separable biological processes that are mediated by different pathways. The inhibitory effect of neomycin on PDGF-induced DNA synthesis was dose-dependent during the first 24 h of PDGF incubation, after which the cells were irreversibly and maximally stimulated to synthesize DNA. Results of experimental treatments with neomycin at various times during the incubation with PDGF indicate that the critical period during which PDGF acts to stimulate DNA synthesis is after the 1st h but before the 12th h of incubation.