Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 7, 3869-3876, Copyright © 1987 by Society for Neuroscience
Muscarinic receptor binding and muscarinic receptor-mediated inhibition of adenylate cyclase in rat brain myelin
JN Larocca, RW Ledeen, B Dvorkin and MH Makman
Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.
High-affinity muscarinic cholinergic receptors were detected in myelin
purified from rat brain stem with use of the radioligands 3H-N-
methylscopolamine (3H-NMS), 3H-quinuclidinyl benzilate (3H-QNB), and 3H-
pirenzepine. 3H-NMS binding was also present in myelin isolated from corpus
callosum. In contrast, several other receptor types, including alpha 1- and
alpha 2-adrenergic receptors, present in the starting brain stem, were not
detected in myelin. Based on Bmax values from Scatchard analyses,
3H-pirenzepine, a putative M1 selective ligand, bound to about 25% of the
sites in myelin labeled by 3H-NMS, a nonselective ligand that binds to both
M1 and M2 receptor subtypes. Agonist affinity for 3H-NMS binding sites in
myelin was markedly decreased by Gpp(NH)p, indicating that a major portion
of these receptors may be linked to a second messenger system via a
guanine- nucleotide regulatory protein. Purified myelin also contained
adenylate cyclase activity; this activity was stimulated several fold by
forskolin and to small but significant extents by prostaglandin E1 and the
beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol. Myelin adenylate cyclase activity
was inhibited by carbachol and other muscarinic agonists; this inhibition
was blocked by the antagonist atropine. Levels in myelin of muscarinic
receptors were 20-25% and those of forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase
10% of the values for total particulate fraction of whole brain stem. These
levels in myelin are appreciably greater than would be predicted on the
basis of contamination. Also, additional receptors and adenylate cyclase,
added by mixing nonmyelin tissue with whole brain stem, were quantitatively
removed during the purification procedure. In conclusion, both M1 and M2
muscarinic receptor subtypes and an adenylate cyclase system linked to at
least some of these receptors are present as intrinsic components of
myelin. The possibility that some of these muscarinic receptors may be
involved in regulation of phosphinositide metabolism and the protein kinase
activities of myelin is considered.