Retinoic acid-induced differentiation into astrocytes and glutamatergic neurons is associated with expression of functional and activable phospholipase D.

Phospholipase D (PLD) activity in mammalian cells has been associated with cell proliferation and differentiation. Here, we investigated the expression of PLD during differentiation of pluripotent embryonal carcinoma cells (P19) into astrocytes and neurons. Retinoic acid (RA)-induced differentiation increased PLD1 and PLD2 mRNA levels and PLD activity that was responsive to phorbol myristate acetate.