The Journal of Neuroscience, October 15, 2002, 22(20):8819-8826
Patch Cramming Reveals the Mechanism of Long-Term Suppression of
Cyclic Nucleotides in Intact Neurons
Bhavya
Trivedi1 and
Richard H.
Kramer1, 2
1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology,
University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33101, and
2 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of
California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
To understand cyclic nucleotide dynamics in intact cells, we used
the patch-cramming method with cyclic nucleotide-gated channels as
real-time biosensors for cGMP. In neuroblastoma and sympathetic neurons, both muscarinic agonists and nitric oxide (NO) rapidly elevate
cGMP. However, muscarinic agonists also elicit a long-term (2 hr)
suppression (LTS) of subsequent cGMP responses. Muscarinic agonists
elevate cGMP by triggering Ca2+ mobilization, which
activates NO synthase to produce NO, leading to the activation of
soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC). Here we examine the mechanism of LTS.
Experiments using direct intracellular cGMP injection demonstrate that
enhancement of phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity, rather than depression
of sGC activity, is responsible for LTS. Biochemical measurements show
that both cGMP and cAMP content is suppressed, consistent with the
involvement of a nonselective PDE. Application of pharmacological
agents that alter Ca2+ mobilization from
intracellular stores and experiments involving injection of the
Ca2+ chelator BAPTA show that
Ca2+ mobilization is necessary and sufficient for
LTS induction but also show that LTS maintenance is
Ca2+-independent. Protein phosphatase injection
reverses LTS, and specific inhibitors of
Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) prevent induction
and inhibit maintenance. The switch between the Ca2+
dependence of LTS induction to the Ca2+ independence
of LTS maintenance is consistent with CaMKII autophosphorylation, similar to proposed mechanisms of hippocampal long-term potentiation. Because the molecular machinery underlying LTS is common to many cells,
LTS may be a widespread mechanism for long-term silencing of cyclic
nucleotide signaling.
Key words:
sympathetic neuron; neuroblastoma; cGMP; nitric oxide; CaMKII; cyclic nucleotide-gated channel; synaptic plasticity
Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/02/22208819-08$05.00/0