Figure 2 summarizes our current interpretation of data concerning signals from the activated PDGF receptor involved in directed migration and proliferation of human arterial SMC. Binding of PDGF (PDGF-BB or PDGF-AA) causes PDGF-receptor dimerization, tyrosine autophosphorylation, and subsequent binding of several molecules containing SH2 domains to the activated receptor. Binding and activation of PLC gamma by the PDGF receptor leads to PIP2 hydrolysis, resulting in generation of diacylglycerol (DAG) and IP3. Subsequently, intracellular levels of calcium are elevated as a result of IP3-mediated calcium release from intracellular compartments. The decreased levels of PIP2 and increased levels of calcium both favor actin-filament disassembly by inducing capping of actin-filament barbed ends and actin-monomer sequestration. A localized, and transient, actin-filament disassembly enables the cell to extend filopodia towards PDGF, thereby enabling chemotaxis to take place. At a later time and/or in a different compartment, actin-filament assembly is promoted by PDGF by a mechanism that is not completely understood, but that may involve small GTP-binding proteins, such as Rho, and formation of DAG. Migration on collagen requires functional alpha 2 beta 1 integrins, which may either constitute a permissive state required for a cell to migrate, or which may be actively involved in intracellular signals leading to migration. PDGF-induced DNA synthesis and proliferation involves activation of Ras, MAP kinase kinase, and MAP kinase. Cross-talk between PKA signaling and tyrosine-kinase receptor signaling results in PKA inhibition of the MAP kinase cascade, probably at the level of Raf. Activation of PI 3-kinase, or a PI 3-kinase-like enzyme, is also likely to contribute to the mitogenic effects of PDGF in these cells (Bornfeldt, unpublished observation). What determines if a SMC will migrate and/or proliferate in response to PDGF? Results are starting to emerge that show regulation of expression of molecules involved in intracellular signaling with different phenotypic states of SMC. For example, expression of PLC gamma is very low in intact vascular wall (where SMC show a "contractile phenotype"), and induced when SMC are converted to a "synthetic phenotype" in culture. Proliferation and expression of MAP kinase, but not calcium signaling, appear to be regulated by the extracellular matrix, and the profile of integrin expression is different in SMC in culture compared to SMC in the vascular wall. Thus, the relation between expression of signaling molecules involved in migration and signaling molecules involved in proliferation, as well as cross-talk between different signal-transduction pathways, may determine the net effect of PDGF.