Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 16, 1370-1379, Copyright © 1996 by Society for Neuroscience
Ba2+ ions evoke two kinetically distinct patterns of exocytosis in chromaffin cells, but not in neurohypophysial nerve terminals
EP Seward, NI Chernevskaya and MC Nowycky
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19129, USA.
The coupling between divalent cations and exocytosis of large dense- cored
vesicles (LDCV) was studied with capacitance-detection techniques in nerve
terminals of the rat neurohypophysis (NHP) and bovine chromaffin cells.
Ba2+ substitution for Ca2+ produced kinetically distinct responses in the
two preparations. In NHP terminals, Ba2+ ions behave as weak substitutes
for Ca2+. Exocytotic events occur principally during depolarizing pulses,
i.e., events are "stimulus- coupled" to Ba2+ entry through voltage-gated
Ca2+ channels. Stimulus- coupled exocytosis apparently requires elevated
submembrane cation concentrations that dissipate rapidly on
hyperpolarization-induced Ca(2+)-channel closure. Intracellular dialysis of
NHP terminals with Ba2+ does not evoke exocytosis, nor does it interfere
with depolarization-evoked Ca2+ influx and exocytosis. In chromaffin cells,
Ba2+ ions evoke a small quantity of stimulus-coupled secretion, but the
dominant response is an additional pronounced poststimulus capacitance
increase that outlasts channel closures by 20-50 sec. "Stimulus- decoupled"
exocytosis is slow (approximately 25-40 fF/sec) compared with Ca(2+)-evoked
stimulus-coupled exocytosis (approximately 1000 fF/sec). Decoupled
secretion is not attributable to Ba2+ displacement of intracellular Ca2+
ions, because it is insensitive to 10 mM EGTA or thapsigargin. Slow
exocytosis is initiated by inclusion of Ba2+ ions in the recording pipette
and continues steadily for 5-12 min, producing a total increase of several
thousand fF, which ultimately doubles or triples the original cell-surface
area. We propose that two pathways of regulated exocytosis with distinct
kinetics and divalent cation sensitivity exist in chromaffin cells. Only a
single kinetic pattern is detected in NHP terminals, suggesting that
mechanisms for secretion are not universally distributed in excitable
cells.