Protein kinase C is not necessary for peptide-induced suppression of M current or for desensitization of the peptide receptors

Inhibition of the M current in NG 108-15 neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells

The M current, IM, a voltage-dependent non-inactivating K current, was recorded in NG108-15 neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells, using the whole-cell mode of the patch-clamp technique. We studied inhibition of the M current by bradykinin, phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu), an activator of protein kinase C (PKC), and methylxanthines. Focal application of 0.1-5 microM bradykinin inhibited IM by about 60%; 5 nM bradykinin inhibited by about 40%. Bath application of 0.1 microM and 1 microM PDBu diminished IM to about half of the control value. Staurosporine, a PKC inhibitor, applied for 35-43 min in a concentration of 0.3 microM significantly reduced the effect of 1 microM PDBu. M current blockage by PDBu could be partly reversed by bath application of H-7 (51-64 microM), another PKC inhibitor. These observations suggest that the PDBu effect is really due to activation of PKC. The findings are compatible with the view [Brown DA, Higashida H (1988) J Physiol (Lond) 397:185-207] that the bradykinin effect on IM is mediated by PKC. However, three further observations suggest that this is only true for part of the bradykinin effect. When the suppression of IM by 1 microM PDBu was fully developed, 0.1 microM bradykinin produced a further inhibition of IM. Down-regulation of PKC by long-term treatment with PDBu reduced the effect of 0.1 microM bradykinin significantly but did not abolish it. Staurosporine (0.3 microM, applied for 31-46 min) failed to reduce the effect of 5 nM bradykinin significantly. The M current could be reversibly blocked by methylxanthines (caffeine, isobutyl-methylxanthine, theophylline) in the millimolar range, probably because of a direct action on the M channels.

ATP regulates muscarine-sensitive potassium current in dissociated bull-frog primary afferent neurones

1. Bull-frog dorsal root ganglion cells in primary culture were voltage clamped in the whole-cell configuration. The pipette solution contained ATP (5 mM). 2. Step depolarizations (5-70 mV, 0.1-1 s) from a holding potential close to the resting potential (range, -64 to -79 mV) evoked a non-inactivating potassium current with properties indistinguishable from those which have been reported for the M-current of bull-frog sympathetic neurones. 3. An unhydrolysable ATP analogue APP(NH)P (5 mM), substitute with ATP in the pipette solution, did not support the M-current activation. 4. Bath application of ATP (30 nM-30 microM) reduced the amplitude of the M-current in a concentration-dependent manner, congruent to 50% inhibition of the current occurring with 1 microM-ATP. The main effect of ATP was to reduce the maximum M-conductance without changing the activation and deactivation kinetics of the M-current. 5. Essentially the same results were obtained with ADP (0.1-30 microM) and alpha, beta-methylene-ATP (10-30 microM). AMP (10-100 microM) and adenosine (10-30 microM) were without effect on the M-current. 6. The ATP-induced inhibition of the M-current was irreversible when an unhydrolysable GTP analogue GTP-gamma-S (10-30 microM) was present in the pipette solution. ATP (3 microM) reduced the amplitude of the M-current only by about 10% when GDP-beta-S (100 microM) was present in the pipette solution. Pre-treatment of the cells with pertussis toxin (IAP; 500 ng ml-1) for 24 h at 24 degrees C did not prevent the ATP-induced M-current inhibition. 7. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA; 1-3 microM) reduced the amplitude of the M-current to about 50%. A reduction in the M-current amplitude by PMA (3 microM) and ATP (10 microM) was attenuated when staurosporine (200 nM) was present in the pipette solution. Forskolin (10 microM) was without effect on the M-current. 8. It is concluded that ATP acting at P2 receptors, associated with an IAP-insensitive GTP-binding protein, inhibits the M-current in amphibian primary afferent neurones.

Effects of muscarine and adrenaline on neurones from Rana pipiens sympathetic ganglia

1. Neurones dissociated from Rana pipiens paravertebral sympathetic ganglia were studied by means of the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Responses to agonists were best recorded when cyclic AMP was included in the patch pipette. 2. Two populations of cells were identified on the basis of size (input capacitance, Cin) and the presence or absence of a fast, transient outward current (A-current, IA). This current was usually present in the 'large' cells (Cin = 40.5 +/- 1.5 pF, n = 66) but absent from 'small' cells (Cin = 21.0 +/- 0.8 pF, n = 70). 3. Both cell types exhibited a slowly activating, non-inactivating K+ current (M-current, IM) which was suppressed by luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH, 10-100 microM). Threshold for activation of IM was about -75 mV, half-maximal activation was at -50 mV and the M-conductance GM increased e-fold for at 7 mV change in membrane potential. The maximum value for IM studied in large cells by patch-clamp procedures was less than 0.2 nA. More M-channels were available per unit membrane area in the small cells (GM = 1495 microS cm-2) than in the large cells (GM = 1034 microS cm-2). Time constants for IM deactivation at -70 mV were faster in the large cells (37.2 +/- 4.6 ms, n = 16) than in the small cells (66.1 +/- 5.9 ms, n = 9). 4. Muscarine (10 microM) produced inward current in the large cells as a result of IM suppression. In 40% of the large cells, some of the M-channels were also sensitive to adrenaline (10-100 microM). In a few large cells (less than 10%) adrenaline produced outward current by increasing IM. 5. Muscarine failed to effect IM in the small cells and instead produced an inwardly rectifying K+ current which activated within 5 ms at -110 mV. The outward current produced in twenty out of thirty-seven small cells by adrenaline was occluded by that produced by muscarine, suggesting that both agonists affect the same K+ channels. 6. Inclusion of the protein kinase inhibitors, 1-(5-isoquinolinyl-sulphonyl)-2-methyl piperazine (H-7, 50 microM) or gold sodium thiomalate (GST, 50 microM) in the pipette solution failed to antagonize either muscarine-induced current. Both currents were prolonged when the 'internal solution' contained GTP-gamma-S (50 microM). 7. Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA, 2-5 microM) produced an inward current as a result of IM suppression in both small and large cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Bradykinin inhibits a potassium M-like current in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells

We studied the action of bradykinin (BK) on ionic currents in fused pheochromocytoma PC12 cells under voltage-clamp in whole-cell mode, and on intracellular calcium using fura-2 BK induced the development of an outward current associated with an increase in intracellular calcium, followed by inhibition of an M-like current. The outward current was blocked by (+)-tubocurarine, and prevented when the calcium BAPTA or high concentrations of inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate were introduced into the cell, whereas the M-like current and its inhibition by BK remained unaffected. The protein kinase activator phorbol 12,13 dibutyrate partially reduced the M-current. M-current density did not substantially change after prolonged treatment with nerve growth factor.