Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 6, 2625-2634, Copyright © 1986 by Society for Neuroscience
Changes in tonicity of perfusion medium cause prolonged opening of calcium channels of the rat chromaffin cells to evoke explosive secretion of catecholamines
AR Wakade, RK Malhotra, TR Sharma and TD Wakade
Secretion of catecholamines (CA) from the isolated rat adrenal gland during
and after perfusion with hypertonic Krebs bicarbonate solution was studied.
Perfusion with hypertonic solution made by adding either 156 mM sodium
chloride, choline chloride, arginine hydrochloride, sodium thiocyanate, or
312 mM sucrose had no effect on the spontaneous secretion of CA. The
secretion evoked by splanchnic nerve stimulation (10 Hz for 30 sec) and
nicotine (2 micrograms) remained unaffected during perfusion with
hypertonic Krebs solution (156 mM excess NaCl). After perfusion of the
adrenal gland with hypertonic Krebs solution for 1 hr, if the medium was
switched to normal Krebs solution the secretion of CA increased from about
15 to 450 ng; it remained elevated for over 1 hr and eventually returned to
the control level after 150 min. Secretion of CA obtained in normal Krebs
solution after perfusion of the adrenal gland with hypertonic medium was
not affected by atropine plus hexamethonium, splanchnectomy, or
tetrodotoxin. After perfusion of the adrenal gland with Ca-free hypertonic
(275 mM NaCl) Krebs solution for 1 hr, if the medium was changed to normal
Krebs solution the secretion of CA increased from 10 to about 4000 ng in
the first 10 min. The enhanced secretion was associated with an almost 70%
reduction in the CA content of the adrenal medulla. A massive secretion of
CA obtained after switchover from hypertonic to normotonic solution was not
associated with an increase in lactate dehydrogenase content in the
perfusate, nor was there any reduction in the lactate dehydrogenase content
of the adrenal medulla. Immediately after the switchover from hypertonic to
normotonic medium, the accumulation of Ca45 increased 6- fold over the
control accumulation. The increase in Ca45 accumulation was detected as
late as 120 min after the switchover, and was accompanied by an increase in
the secretion of CA. The most likely explanation for these findings is that
Ca channels, once opened after the switchover, inactivate very slowly and
allow Ca ions to flow inside the chromaffin cells. The accumulation of
tetraphenylphosphonium (C14- TPP), a marker for the membrane potential, was
86 pg/mg in the adrenal medulla perfused with normal Krebs solution, and
decreased to 32 pg/mg in the presence of 55 mM K-Krebs solution. After
perfusion with hypertonic medium, the accumulation of C14-TPP increased to
about 190 pg/mg. Reperfusion with normal Krebs solution decreased the
accumulation to about 105 pg/mg. The increase in C14-TPP accumulation
observed in hypertonic medium was prevented by inclusion of 30 mM K in the
medium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)