Effects of local anaesthetics and phenothiazines on 32P-incorporation into the inositol phospholipids and glycosyl phosphatidylinositol of Tetrahymena pyriformis GL.

In Tetrahymena local anaesthetics significantly decreased, while phenothiazines completely inhibited, the uptake of 32P into inositol phospholipids. Glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPl) synthesis was also reduced by phenothiazines, in contrast to local anaesthetics which significantly increased the GPl synthesis. The results present interpretation of prior observations that inositol phospholipids and GPl in the unicellular Tetrahymena play an essential role in signal transduction similar to the cells of multicellular organisms. Hormonal imprinting does not develop in the presence of phenothiazines or local anaesthetics in Tetrahymena.