A calcium-dependent component of the action potential in sympathetic nerve terminals in rat tail artery

Sympathetic and Sensory-Motor Nerves in Peripheral Small Arteries

Small arteries, which play important roles in controlling blood flow, blood pressure, and capillary pressure, are under nervous influence. Their innervation is predominantly sympathetic and sensory motor in nature, and while some arteries are densely innervated, others are only sparsely so. Innervation of small arteries is a key mechanism in regulating vascular resistance. In the second half of the previous century, the physiology and pharmacology of this innervation were very actively investigated. In the past 10-20 yr, the activity in this field was more limited. With this review we highlight what has been learned during recent years with respect to development of small arteries and their innervation, some aspects of excitation-release coupling, interaction between sympathetic and sensory-motor nerves, cross talk between endothelium and vascular nerves, and some aspects of their role in vascular inflammation and hypertension. We also highlight what remains to be investigated to further increase our understanding of this fundamental aspect of vascular physiology.

Single-channel properties of BK-type calcium-activated potassium channels at a cholinergic presynaptic nerve terminal

1. A high-conductance calcium-activated potassium channel (BK KCa) was characterized at a cholinergic presynaptic nerve terminal using the calyx synapse isolated from the chick ciliary ganglion. 2. The channel had a conductance of 210 pS in a 150 mM:150 mM K+ gradient, was highly selective for K+ over Na+, and was sensitive to block by external charybdotoxin or tetraethylammonium (TEA) and by internal Ba2+. At +60 mV it was activated by cytoplasmic calcium [Ca2+]i with a Kd of approximately 0.5 microM and a Hill coefficient of approximately 2.0. At 10 microM [Ca2+]i the channel was 50 % activated (V) at -8.0 mV with a voltage dependence (Boltzmann slope-factor) of 32.7 mV. The V values hyperpolarized with an increase in [Ca2+]i while the slope factors decreased. There were no overt differences in conductance or [Ca2+]i sensitivity between BK channels from the transmitter release face and the non-release face. 3. Open and closed times were fitted by two and three exponentials, respectively. The slow time constants were strongly affected by both [Ca2+]i and membrane potential changes. 4. In cell-attached patch recordings BK channel opening was enhanced by a prepulse permissive for calcium influx through the patch, suggesting that the channel can be activated by calcium ion influx through neighbouring calcium channels. 5. The properties of the presynaptic BK channel are well suited for rapid activation during the presynaptic depolarization and Ca2+ influx that are associated with transmitter release. This channel may play an important role in terminating release by rapid repolarization of the action potential.

Ion channels in presynaptic nerve terminals and control of transmitter release

The primary function of the presynaptic nerve terminal is to release transmitter quanta and thus activate the postsynaptic target cell. In almost every step leading to the release of transmitter quanta, there is a substantial involvement of ion channels. In this review, the multitude of ion channels in the presynaptic terminal are surveyed. There are at least 12 different major categories of ion channels representing several tens of different ion channel types; the number of different ion channel molecules at presynaptic nerve terminals is many hundreds. We describe the different ion channel molecules at the surface membrane and inside the nerve terminal in the context of their possible role in the process of transmitter release. Frequently, a number of different ion channel molecules, with the same basic function, are present at the same nerve terminal. This is especially evident in the cases of calcium channels and potassium channels. This abundance of ion channels allows for a physiological and pharmacological fine tuning of the process of transmitter release and thus of synaptic transmission.

Paired pulse analysis of ATP and noradrenaline release from sympathetic nerves of rat tail artery and mouse vas deferens: effects of K+ channel blockers

1. The paired pulse stimulus paradigm - two pulses of equal strength delivered at variable interpulse intervals was used to study the release of ATP and noradrenaline (NA) from post ganglionic sympathetic nerves of rat tail artery and mouse vas deferens. 2. Excitatory junction currents (EJCs) were used to measure the release of ATP, and differential pulse amperometry to measure that of NA. 3. At interpulse intervals of 0.1 - 1 s paired pulse stimulation caused an increase in the size of the second EJC, both in rat tail artery and mouse vas deferens. As the interpulse interval was increased to 10 s or more, the two EJCs became of equal size. 4. In both preparations the K+ channel blockers tetraethylammonium (TEA, 20 mM) and 4-aminopyridine (4-AP, 1 mM) prolonged the duration of the nerve terminal spike and greatly amplified the first EJC of the pair. 5. In the presence of TEA and 4-AP in rat tail artery paired pulse stimulation caused a dramatic depression of the second EJC without markedly affecting the nerve terminal spike. The depression of the second EJC decreased with increasing interpulse intervals, and also when external Ca2+ was reduced to 0.2 mM. In mouse vas deferens, TEA and 4-AP caused only a modest depression of the second EJC. 6. In rat tail artery in the presence of TEA and 4-AP paired pulse stimulation caused a depression of the NA oxidation current evoked by the second pulse, which was similar in magnitude and time course to that of the EJC. Similar TEA and 4-AP induced depression of the second pulse response was also observed when the purinergic and noradrenergic components of the contractile response were investigated. 7. The results show that in rat tail artery K+ channel blockers cause a dramatic paired pulse depression of the release of ATP and NA. The similarity in the depression of the EJC, the NA oxidation current, and the purinergic and noradrenergic components of the contractile response is compatible with the hypothesis that ATP and NA are released in parallel from the same neuronal sources.

Effects of Ca2+ and K+ channel blockers on nerve impulses recorded from guinea-pig postganglionic sympathetic nerve terminals

1. A focal extracellular suction electrode was used to investigate the contributions of K+ and Ca2+ currents to the nerve impulse recorded from sympathetic nerve terminals innervating the guinea-pig vas deferens in vitro. 2. Perfusing the electrode with Cd2+ (0.1-0.5 mM) had little effect on the configuration of the nerve impulse. 3. Perfusing the electrode with Ba2+ (1-3 mM) caused the appearance of a second negative-going component of the nerve impulse. Local application of Cd2+ (0.1 mM) had little affect on this component of the nerve impulse. 4. Perfusing the electrode with 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) and/or tetraethylammonium (TEA) caused the appearance of a second negative-going component of the nerve impulse. This component has been termed the late negative-going component (LNC). 5. The LNC produced by local application of 1 mM 4-AP and 10 mM TEA was not changed when the solution perfusing the electrode contained no added Ca2+, 10 mM Ca2+ or omega-conotoxin GVIA (0.1 microM). Perfusion of the electrode with Cd2+ (0.1 mM) reduced the amplitude and slowed the time course of the LNC. 6. The LNC was markedly inhibited when the organ bath was perfused with TEA (10 mM) or 4-AP and TEA (1 and 10 mM, respectively). In some experiments the LNC was completely abolished. 7. The LNC was reduced in amplitude and slowed in time course when the solution perfusing the organ bath contained no added Ca2+. A similar effect on the LNC was observed when the solution perfusing the organ bath contained omega-conotoxin GVIA (0.1 microM), charybdotoxin (0.05 microM) or low concentrations of TEA (0.3-1 mM) or Ba2+ (10-500 microM). 8. Bath application of the alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist clonidine (0.1-0.3 microM) did not detectably change the LNC. 9. The results demonstrate that the LNC produced by the local application of K+ blockers is due primarily to K+ efflux from sites outside the recording electrode and that a part of the change in conductance that underlies this component is due to opening of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels. The failure to detect an effect of clonidine on the LNC suggests that activation of presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptors does not change either the K+ or the Ca2+ conductance of the nerve terminals.

Geometry, kinetics and plasticity of release and clearance of ATP and noradrenaline as sympathetic cotransmitters: roles for the neurogenic contraction

The paper compares the microphysiology of sympathetic neuromuscular transmission in three model preparations: the guinea-pig and mouse vas deferens and rat tail artery. The first section describes the quantal release of ATP and noradrenaline from individual sites. The data are proposed to support a string model in which: (i) most sites (> or = 99%) ignore the nerve impulse and a few (< or = 1%) release a single quantum of ATP and noradrenaline; (ii) the probability of monoquantal release is extremely non-uniform; (iii) high probability varicosities form 'active' strings; and (iv) an impulse train causes repeated quantal release from these sites. Analogy with molecular mechanisms regulating transmitter exocytosis in other systems is proposed to imply that coincidence of at least two factors at the active zone, Ca2+ and specific cytosolic protein(s), may be required to remove a 'fusion clamp', form a 'fusion complex' and trigger exocytosis of a sympathetic transmitter quantum, and that the availability of these proteins may regulate the release probability. The second section shows that clearance of noradrenaline in rat tail artery is basically > or = 30-fold slower than of co-released ATP, and that saturation of local reuptake and binding to local buffering sites maintain the noradrenaline concentration at the receptors, in spite of a profound decline in per pulse release during high frequency trains. The third section describes differences in the strategies by which mouse vas deferens and rat tail artery use ATP and noradrenaline to trigger and maintain the neurogenic contraction.

Effects of potassium channel activators on isolated cerebral arteries of large and small diameter in the cat

The smooth-muscle relaxant action of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels in cerebral arteries of large diameter has been confirmed in a number of in vitro studies, but there is still debate about the presence of KATP channels in small cerebral arteries. In the present study, the authors compare the effects of cromakalim and bimakalim, two putative KATP channel activators, in different parts of the feline isolated middle cerebral artery (MCA) designated proximal, intermediate, and distal. The latter corresponds to those small pial arteries that are usually studied in vivo. In ring segments precontracted with 10(-5) M of uridine-5-triphosphate (UTP), both cromakalim and bimakalim induced concentration-related relaxation, with bimakalim being more potent than cromakalim, and no significant differences noted among segments obtained from the different regions of the MCA. In vessels precontracted by adding 30 mM KCl the potency of cromakalim and bimakalim was reduced compared with that obtained after UTP precontraction. In the presence of 10(-6) M glibenclamide, an antagonist of KATP channel activators, the concentration-effect curve to bimakalim was shifted to the right in the proximal and distal MCA, indicating a similar route of action for bimakalim and cromakalim in these arteries. The present study therefore indicates the presence of KATP channels in isolated small cerebral arteries according to results obtained in vivo. Activators of KATP channesl may prove helpful in the treatment of vasospasm, which may occur in large and small cerebral arteries after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Spatiotemporal pattern of quantal release of ATP and noradrenaline from sympathetic nerves: consequences for neuromuscular transmission

The recent explosive development in research concerning the fundamental mechanisms of synaptic transmission helps put the present paper in context. It is now evident that not all transmitter vesicles in a nerve terminal, not even all those docked at its active zones, are immediately available for release (36). We watch, fascinated, the unraveling of the amazingly complex cellular mechanisms and molecular machinery that determine whether or not a vesicle is "exocytosis-competent" (77,78,39,79). Studies on quantal release in different systems show that neurons are fundamentally similar in one respect: that transmitter release from individual active zones is monoquantal (2). But they also show that active zones in different neurons differ drastically in the probability of monoquantal release and in the number of quanta immediately available for release (3). This implies that one should not extrapolate directly from transmitter release in one set of presynaptic terminals (e.g., in neuromuscular endplate or squid giant synapse) to that in other nerve terminals, especially if they have a very different morphology. As shown here, one should not even extrapolate from transmitter release in sympathetic nerves in one tissue (e.g., rat tail artery) to that in other tissues or species (e.g., mouse vas deferens). It is noteworthy that most studies of quantal release are based on electrophysiological analysis and therefore deal with release of fast, ionotropic transmitters from small synaptic vesicles at the active zones, especially in neurons in which these events may be examined with high resolution (49,48,46,33,32). Such data are useful as general models of the release of both fast and slow transmitters from small synaptic vesicles at active zones in other systems, provided that these transmitters are released in parallel, as are apparently ATP and NA in sympathetic nerves. They tell us little or nothing, however, about the release of transmitters (e.g., neuropeptides) from the large vesicles, nor about the spatiotemporal pattern of monoquantal release from small synaptic vesicles in the many neurons that have boutons-en-passent terminals. They show that the time course of effector responses to fast, rapidly inactivated transmitters such as ACh or ATP is necessarily release related. But they do not even address the possibility that the effector responses to slow transmitters such as NA, co-released from the same terminals, may obey completely different rules and perhaps rather be clearance related (7).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Prostaglandin modulation of Ca2+ channels in rat sympathetic neurones is mediated by guanine nucleotide binding proteins

1. The effects of prostaglandins on whole-cell Ca2+ currents of acutely isolated and short-term cultured adult rat superior cervical ganglion neurones were investigated using the patch-clamp technique. 2. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) produced a rapid, reversible and concentration-dependent reduction of the sympathetic neurone Ca2+ current. The effects of PGE2 were both voltage and time dependent. The relationship between Ca2+ current inhibition and test potential was 'bell' shaped with maximal inhibition occurring near the potential where the Ca2+ current amplitude was maximal (ca + 10 mV). In the presence of PGE2, the Ca2+ current rising phase was slower and biphasic at potentials between 0 and +40 mV. 3. Prolonged (> 2 min) application of 1 microM PGE2 resulted in a desensitization of the response. Similarly, repeated short (ca 1 min) applications of 1 microM PGE2 resulted in a progressive tachyphylaxis of the response. 4. A concentration-response curve for PGE2 was well described by a single-site binding isotherm. The concentration producing half-maximal block (IC50) and the maximal attainable reduction of the Ca2+ current were 7.8 nM and 48%, respectively. 5. When compared at a concentration of 1 microM, PGF2 alpha was less potent (33% inhibition) than PGE2 but otherwise produced similar effects. In contrast, 1 microM PGD2 had negligible effects. 6. Activation curves, as derived from tail current amplitudes, were described by the sum of two Boltzmann functions in both the presence and absence of PGE2. In the presence of PGE2, the activation curve was shifted toward more depolarized potentials. Most of the shift could be accounted for by a decrease in the fractional amplitude of the current component activated at hyperpolarized potentials along with a concomitant increase in the component activated at depolarized potentials. The deactivation time constant (0.33 ms), measured at -40 mV, was not altered by PGE2. 7. The majority of the Ca2+ current inhibition produced by PGE2 was relieved by depolarizing conditioning pre-pulses to +80 mV for 50 ms. 8. Dialysis of sympathetic neurones with a pipette solution containing 2.0 mM guanosine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP-beta-S) abolished the effects of PGE2 on the Ca2+ current. Pretreatment of the neurones overnight with pertussis toxin significantly, but incompletely, decreased the Ca2+ current inhibition produced by PGE2. 9. The prolonged Ca2+ tail current component induced by the dihydropyridine Ca2+ channel 'agonist' (+)202-791 (2 microM) was unaffected by 1 microM PGE2. 10. PGE2 partially inhibited the Ca2+ current component remaining after pretreatment of the neurones with 10 microM omega-conotoxin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

K+ and Ca2+ channel blockers may enhance or depress sympathetic transmitter release via a Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism "upstream" of the release site

Extracellular recording of the pre- and postjunctional electrical activity in guinea-pig or mouse vas deferens or rat tail artery was employed to study the mechanisms by which the K+ channel blockers, tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine and the Ca2+ channel blockers, Cd2+, Mn2+ or nifedipine influence the nerve stimulation-induced release of adenosine 5'-triphosphate as a sympathetic co-transmitter. The K+ and Ca2+ channel blocking agents examined had no effect on the spontaneous quantal release of adenosine 5'-triphosphate. However, addition of tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine inside the recording electrode broadened the nerve terminal action potential and caused it to become more resistant to local application of tetrodotoxin, and dramatically increased the magnitude and tetrodotoxin resistance of adenosine 5'-triphosphate release within the patch. Surprisingly, tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine were equally effective when added outside the recording electrode; now they did not increase the duration of the nerve terminal action potential inside the patch but increased its resistance to locally applied tetrodotoxin and dramatically increased the magnitude as well as the tetrodotoxin resistance of adenosine 5'-triphosphate release from sites inside the patch. Both tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine contributed to these effects, with a strong potentiating interaction. Nifedipine was without effect, but application of 1-100 microM Cd2+ or 1-5 mM Mn2+ either inside or outside the recording electrode blocked adenosine 5'-triphosphate release inside the patch. The results indicate: (i) that the nerve terminal action potential is generated by activation of voltage-gated, regenerative Na+ channels but also has a small component carried by influx of Ca2+ and that it is "normally" terminated by activation of voltage- as well as Ca(2+)-dependent K+ channels; (ii) that the release probability is tonically depressed by the resting K+ efflux, and promoted by the resting Ca2+ influx, "upstream" of the release sites; and (iii) that the upstream control of the release probability may involve both changes in properties of ionic channels in the nerve terminal membrane, and effects on the cytoskeleton leading to changes in the availability of releasable quanta in varicosities within the patch.