Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 7, Issue 11, November 1982, Pages 2867-2872
Neuroscience

Evidence for the existence of α- and β-adrenoceptors on cultured glial cells—an electrophysiological study

https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4522(82)90109-9Get rights and content

Abstract

The action of adrenergic α- and β-agonists and antagonists has been studied on the membrane potential and resistance of glial cells of cultured rat central nervous system. Noradrenaline and the α-adrenoceptor stimulating agents phenylephrine and clonidine (10−7 to 10−4 M) depolarized the glial membrane, whereas the β-agonist isoprenaline caused a hyperpolarization at low concentrations (10−7 and 10−6 M). The effects of noradrenaline and phenylephrine were reversibly blocked by the α-antagonist phentolamine, whereas those of isoprenaline were antagonized by the β-blocker atenolol. Atenolol did not affect the depolarization by noradrenaline. The glial depolarization induced by the α-agonists was not the consequence of a change in the extracellular K+-concentration unlike that produced by amino acid transmitters.

The present results, together with those of biochemical and autoradiographic binding studies, suggest that α- and β-adrenoceptors occur on glial cells and that the glial depolarization is mediated by α-receptors, whereas the hyperpolarization is due to activation of β-receptors.

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