Effects of trifluoperazine upon the calcium-dependent ciliary arrest response of freshwater mussel gill lateral cells

Calcium sensors in sea urchin sperm flagella

The asymmetry of ATP-reactivated flagellar bending waves of Triton-demembrated sea urchin spermatozoa has been measured over a range of free Ca2+ ion concentrations from 10(-9) to 10(-4) M. Detailed examination of the gradual response of asymmetry to Ca2+ ion concentration over this wide range indicates the presence of two Ca2+ sensors. A high-affinity sensor operates at Ca2+ concentrations near 10(-7.5) M. A lower-affinity sensor operates at Ca2+ concentrations above 10(-6) M, in the typical range for calmodulin-mediated responses. Incubation of demembranated sperm flagella at high Ca2+ concentrations to release calmodulin is required to enable these Ca2+ responses to be observed. This treatment also causes a decrease in the apparent affinity of the flagella for calmodulin, as determined by measuring the increase in asymmetry in response to addition of exogenous calmodulin at low Ca2+ concentration.

Messenger role of calcium in ciliary electromotor coupling: a reassessment

Electrophysiological and cell reactivation studies in Paramecium and other ciliates have established that depolarizing stimulation opens voltage-sensitive ciliary Ca2+ channels leading to an elevation in intraciliary Ca2+, a rapid 'reversal' in sliding-microtubule based ciliary activity and backward swimming. Regulation of cilia by hyperpolarization modulates the pitch and rate of forward locomotion. The control of this predominant behaviour has been a matter of controversy because ciliary conductances do not change with negative shifts from the resting potential. Recordings of ciliary responses during electrophysiological manipulation of the Ca driving force in the ciliates Stylonychia and Didinium now suggests that a crucial step in hyperpolarization-induced ciliary activation (HCA) is a reduction in intraciliary Ca2+ from a resting steady-state level. The data are discussed with respect to previous hypotheses for the regulation of HCA.

Calcium activation of macrocilia in the ctenophore Beroë

1. Macrocilia on the lips of the ctenophore Beroë are usually quiescent, but can be activated to beat rapidly and continuously by various stimuli. 2. During feeding, macrocilia beat actively and serve to spread the lips of Beroë over its prey. 3. Vigorous, repetitive mechanical stimulation of the lips evokes widespread activation of macrocilia via a pathway that is probably neural. 4. Extracellular electrical stimulation (DC or bipolar pulse-trains) elicits immediate activation of macrocilia on lip pieces, but not on dissociated cells. 5. Macrocilia on lip pieces are activated to beat by high KCl artificial sea water (ASW), but not by high KCl Ca-free ASW. Continuous beating for long periods is also elicited by high Ca ASW or Mg-free ASW, but not by Ca-Mg-free ASW. Addition of La, Cd, Co or Mn (10 mM) to high KCl ASW reversibly blocks activation. Verapamil, D-600, nifedipine, or BAY K 8644 (10 microM) has no effect on KC1-induced activation, but the anticalmodulin drug W-7 (10 microM) reversibly inhibits beating. 6. Mild heat treatment dissociates macrociliary cells from lip tissue. Such isolated macrociliary cells usually beat continuously in normal sea water, and swim in circular paths. Ca-free ASW, or addition of Co or Mn to ASW, inhibits beating of dissociated cells. High KCl ASW activates beating of quiescent, isolated macrociliary cells. 7. Ca-Mg-free ASW inhibits beating of dissociated macrociliary cells, and return to Mg-free ASW activates motility, allowing one to activate macrocilia on isolated cells simply by addition of Ca.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Control of ciliary beat frequency in the gill of Mytilus--II. Effects of saponin and Brij-58 on the lateral cilia

The effects of saponin and Brij-58 on the beat activation of the lateral cilia on the gill of Mytilus edulis were investigated. The ciliary activation by 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) decreased as the saponin-induced permeabilization progressed, increasing the reactivation of the ciliary beat by extracellularly applied ATP (1 mM). The cilia were activated by 5HT even after the treatment with saponin (0.01 and 0.02% w/v) or Brij-58 (0.07%) rendered the preparation capable of the reactivation by ATP. The saponin treatment itself stimulated the beat of the cilia. Theophylline (1 mM) augmented the saponin-induced activation of the cilia.

Mechanical stimulation activates beating in calcium-arrested lateral cilia of Mytilus edulis gill

Lateral cilia of Mytilus edulis gill arrest upon mechanical stimulation, the result of calcium influx. A mechanical stimulus that deflects these cilia toward the effective stroke, and is normally sufficient to cause transient arrest in beating lateral cilia or transient movement into the recovery stroke in quiescent cilia, initiates beating in Ca2+ ionophore-arrested cilia at 9-15 Hz, for periods as long as 30 s. This movement is restricted to the stimulated cilia and the beat pattern appears constrained in the first half of the beat cycle. Application of dopamine causes ciliary arrest in the presence (but not absence) of Ca2+ and mechanical stimulation will also activate such cilia to beat. In the presence of ATP, mechanical stimulation of detergent-permeabilized lateral cell models arrested in the presence of 50 microM Ca2+ will also cause activation comparable in frequency, duration, and beat pattern to that seen in Ca2+-arrested cells, but the initiation is more difficult. Upon application of ionophore in Ca2+-free (EGTA) seawater, the cilia become quiescent, stopped at the end of the recovery stroke. Mechanical stimulation will cause activation of beat, with a similar range of frequencies and duration as in Ca2+-arrested lateral cilia, but the beat pattern is normal and cilia of adjacent cells may also beat, presumably initiated by mechanical coupling. Gently lifting cilia at their basal ends, using small, slow movements of a mechanical probe, will initiate several beat cycles in quiescent lateral cilia but will cause Ca2+-arrested cilia to 'snap' into the effective stroke and back.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Spreading ciliary arrest in a mussel gill epithelium: characterization by quick fixation

Spreading ciliary arrest, induced by local laser microinjury, in freshwater mussel (e.g., Elliptio) gill lateral (L) cell cilia, has been characterized by quick fixation with osmium tetroxide, which permits the correlation of known features of the response with structural features of the gill epithelium. Quick fixation reliably preserves the state of the epithelium including the activity state of the L cilia at the moment of fixation. From a disrupted region, the stimulus that triggers arrest spreads outward along an undamaged filament preferentially from L cell to L cell for more than 300 microns to either side of the lesion. In physiological salt solutions transverse spread across the filament via heterologous cells is insufficient to elicit L ciliary arrest on the opposite side of the filament. The spread of arrest is dependent upon the structural integrity of the L epithelium, normally terminates at a boundary between adjacent L cells, and does not spread past a focal break. Arrest occurs asynchronously because cilia in different stroke positions respond to the stimulus with different time courses. The cilia stop in a uniform "hands up" position, i.e., pointing frontally. The arrest response is inhibited by reducing the concentration of extracellular Ca2+ (less than 10(-7) M) or by adding extracellular La3+ (1 mM) or K+ (15 mM). Recovery begins at the margin of a segment of arrested L cilia and spreads back toward the lesion at a constant initial velocity of ca. 60 microns/sec. About 300 microns from the lesion the recovery velocity rapidly falls to ca. 5 microns/sec. Recovery of ciliary beat precedes the recovery of metachronal coordination. Neither spread of the stimulus nor recovery require ciliary beat. The data support the hypothesis that the microinjury-induced arrest is initiated by an injury potential that triggers a graded regenerative depolarization that is propagated electrotonically along the epithelium from L cell to L cell, triggering Ca2+ influx into the axoneme and consequent Ca2+-induced L ciliary arrest as it spreads. A temporary non-linear gradient of intracellular Ca2+ concentration is established along the injured L epithelial tract. As individual cells recover, they lower their intracellular Ca2+ concentration from pCa 5 to pCa 7 in about 10 seconds.

The antagonistic effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine and methylxanthine on the gill cilia of Mytilus edulis

The laterofrontal (LF) cirri on isolated gill filaments of Mytilus edulis, prepared in natural seawater, are active and initially beat with an average frequency of about 8 Hz (with a range of 6-14 Hz). However, the lateral (L) cilia on these filaments are arrested in a position at the end of their recovery stroke. Perfusion of the filament with artificial seawater (ASW), with or without 1% ethanol, has little or no biological effect on the activity of the LF cirri, although a transitory decrease in frequency often accompanies the perfusion process. The L cilia remain arrested during perfusion with ASW. The exposure of the gill to low levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) (10(-8) less than 5HT less than 10(-7) M) has no effect on the activity of the LF cirri but stimulates the L cilia to beat. Exposure to higher concentrations of 5HT (greater than 10(-7) M) elevates the beat frequency of the L cilia and simultaneously inhibits the activity of the LF cirri, leading to their arrest in a position at the end of the effective stroke. This arrest of the LF cirri occurs as the L cilia attain a 5HT-induced beat frequency between 12 to 14 Hz. The influence of 5HT on the L cilia and the LF cirri can be reversibly mimicked or enhanced by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX). A concentration of 0.5 mM IBMX mimics low 5HT concentrations (about 10(-7) M) by stimulating the L cilia to beat without affecting the beat frequency of the LF cirri. A combination of 10(-7) M 5HT and 0.5 mM IBMX in ASW mimics high (greater than 10(-6) M) 5HT concentrations by arresting the LF cirri and increasing the beat frequency of the L cilia. Under these conditions, the threshold of the LF cirri arrest response is again found to occur as the L cilia attain a beat frequency of 12-14 Hz. These results suggest that the mechanisms of LF cirri arrest and L cilia activation are mediated by 5HT-induced changes in intracellular cyclic AMP levels.

Mutants in paramecium tetraurelia defective in their axonemal response to calcium

Six mutants of Paramecium tetraurelia, which display altered axonemal responses to Ca++, are described. The mutants, designated atalantas, are impaired in their ability to swim backward when stimulated by ions or heat; instead they spin very rapidly in one place. Three mutants, ataA1-3, are completely unable to swim backward. The three lines, however, can be distinguished from one another by their forward swimming velocities. The remaining three mutants are leaky. ataB swims backward briefly when stimulated, then stops and spins in place. ataC and ataD are extremely leaky and only display the spinning phenotype at elevated temperatures. An electrophysiological analysis reveals that all six mutants have normal membrane properties, including the Ca++ inward current under voltage clamp. When the membrane is disrupted so as to allow the axoneme free access to Ca++, wild-type cells swim backward, but the mutants do not. These data indicate the site(s) of lesion in the mutants is in the axoneme or in some step linking Ca++ influx and the axoneme, not within the ciliary membrane. These mutants may be useful in investigating the role of Ca++ in the regulation of axonemal motion.

Trifluoperazine-induced changes in swimming behavior of paramecium: evidence for two sites of drug action

Trifluoperazine (TFP), a drug that binds to Ca2+-calmodulin (CaM) complexes, altered swimming behavior not only in living paramecia, but also in reactivated, Triton-extracted "models" of the ciliate. By comparing the responses of living cells and models, we have ascertained that two sites of drug action exist in paramecium cilia. Swimming movements were recorded in darkfield stroboscopic flash photomicrographs; this permitted accurate quantitation of velocities and body-shape parameters. When living paramecia were incubated in a standard buffer containing 10 microM TFP, their speed of forward swimming fell over several minutes and their bodies shortened. Untreated paramecia backed up repeatedly and frequently upon transfer to a solution containing barium ions (the "barium dance"), but cells preincubated in TFP did not "dance." Instead they swam forward slowly for long periods of time without reversing and occasionally then exhibited abnormally prolonged reversals. W7 effects on swimming mimicked low doses of TFP, and the analog W5 did not visibly alter normal swimming patterns. These results suggest that TFP induces a decrease in the intracellular pCa of living paramecia, perhaps by reducing the efficiency of a calmodulin-activated calcium pump in the cell membrane. Paramecia extracted with Triton X-100 and reactivated to swim forward (7 greater than or equal to pCa greater than or equal to 6) were not affected by addition of up to 40 microM TFP to the reactivation medium. We conclude that the main drug effect in living cells is probably not at the axoneme. However, at low pCa, TFP directly affected the ciliary axoneme to shift its behavior to one characteristic of a higher pCa: TFP inhibited backward swimming in models reactivated at pCa less than 6; instead they swam forward or rocked in place. The mechanism of ciliary reversal in paramecium may therefore depend on an axonemal Ca2+-sensor, possibly bound CaM, which is affected by TFP only at low pCa, as has been postulated for other types of cilia.