The liberation of arachidonic acid (AA) was investigated in platelet membranes prelabelled with [3H]AA. In rat platelet membranes, Ca2+ at concentrations over several hundred nanomolar induced [3H]AA release, with a concurrent decrease in 3H radioactivity of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. Some 4-6% of total radioactivity incorporated into platelet membrane lipids was released at 1-10 microM-Ca2+, which is nearly equivalent to that attained in agonist-stimulated platelets. Formation of lysophospholipids in [3H]glycerol-labelled membranes and decrease in [3H]AA liberated by the phospholipase A2 inhibitors mepacrine and ONO-RS-082 suggest that [3H]AA release is mainly catalysed by phospholipase A2. In intact platelets agonist-stimulated [3H]AA release was markedly decreased in the absence of extracellular Ca2+ or in the presence of the intracellular Ca2+ chelator quin 2. These results indicate that in rat platelets the rise of intracellular Ca2+ plays a primary role in the activation of phospholipase A2. In contrast, Ca2+ even at high millimolar concentrations did not effectively stimulate [3H]AA release in human platelet membranes. Thus factor(s) additional to or independent of Ca2+ is required for the liberation of AA in human platelets.

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