The effect of light on glycogen turnover in the retina of the intact honeybee drone (Apis mellifera)

A glia-neuron alanine/ammonium shuttle is central to energy metabolism in bee retina

It has been proposed that glial cells may supply carbon fuel to neurons and also that there are fluxes of ammonium from neurons to glia. We have investigated both these proposals in Apis retinal slices, in which virtually all the mitochondria are in the photoreceptor neurons. Normally the superfusate contained no substrate of energy metabolism; addition of glucose or alanine did not increase oxygen consumption (QO2), confirming that the neurons received adequate substrate from glycogen in the glia. 1,4-Dideoxy-1,4-imino-D-arabinitol (DAB, 100 microm), an inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase, progressively decreased QO2. This decrease was reversed by alanine but not glucose. Ammonium-sensitive microelectrodes did not detect significant extracellular [NH(4)(+)] ([NH(4)(+)](e)) in slices superfused with normal superfusate. Removal of Cl(-), necessary for cotransport of NH(4)(+) into the glia, increased [NH(4)(+)](e) so that at the end of 2 min photostimulation mean [NH(4)(+)](e) was 0.442 mM (S.E.M. = 0.082 mM, n = 16). In 0 Cl(-), [NH(4)(+)](e) was reduced by 2-(methylamino)isobutyrate (MeAIB) an inhibitor of alanine transport. MeAIB also blocked oxidation of alanine in the presence of DAB, but did not decrease QO2 in normal superfusate. Lactate (l and d) and pyruvate (but not glucose) increased QO2 in DAB and decreased [NH(4)(+)](e) in 0 Cl(-). These results strengthen the evidence that in superfused retinal slices, glucose is metabolized exclusively in the glia, which supply alanine to the neurons, and that ammonium returns to the glia. They also show that another fuel (perhaps lactate) can be supplied by the glia to the neurons.

A glycogen phosphorylase inhibitor selectively enhances local rates of glucose utilization in brain during sensory stimulation of conscious rats: implications for glycogen turnover

Glycogen is degraded during brain activation but its role and contribution to functional energetics in normal activated brain have not been established. In the present study, glycogen utilization in brain of normal conscious rats during sensory stimulation was assessed by three approaches, change in concentration, release of (14)C from pre-labeled glycogen and compensatory increase in utilization of blood glucose (CMR(glc)) evoked by treatment with a glycogen phosphorylase inhibitor. Glycogen level fell in cortex, (14)C release increased in three structures and inhibitor treatment caused regionally selective compensatory increases in CMR(glc) over and above the activation-induced rise in vehicle-treated rats. The compensatory rise in CMR(glc) was highest in sensory-parietal cortex where it corresponded to about half of the stimulus-induced rise in CMR(glcf) in vehicle-treated rats; this response did not correlate with metabolic rate, stimulus-induced rise in CMR(glc) or sequential station in sensory pathway. Thus, glycogen is an active fuel for specific structures in normal activated brain, not simply an emergency fuel depot and flux-generated pyruvate greatly exceeded net accumulation of lactate or net consumption of glycogen during activation. The metabolic fate of glycogen is unknown, but adding glycogen to the fuel consumed during activation would contribute to a fall in CMR(O2)/CMR(glc) ratio.

Uptake of locally applied deoxyglucose, glucose and lactate by axons and Schwann cells of rat vagus nerve

We asked whether, in a steady state, neurons and glial cells both take up glucose sufficient for their energy requirements, or whether glial cells take up a disproportionate amount and transfer metabolic substrate to neurons. A desheathed rat vagus nerve was held crossways in a laminar flow perfusion chamber and stimulated at 2 Hz. (14)C-labelled substrate was applied from a micropipette for 5 min over a < 0.6 mm band of the surface of the nerve. After 10-55 min incubation, the nerve was lyophilized and the longitudinal distribution of radioactivity measured. When the weakly metabolizable analogue of glucose, 2-deoxy-[U-(14)C]D-glucose (*DG), was applied, the profiles of the radioactivity broadened with time, reaching distances several times the mean length of the Schwann cells (0.32 mm; most of the Schwann cells are non-myelinating). The profiles were well fitted by curves calculated for diffusion in a single compartment, the mean diffusion coefficient being 463 +/- 34 microm(2) s(-1) (+/- S.E.M., n = 16). Applications of *DG were repeated in the presence of the gap junction blocker, carbenoxolone (100 microM). The profiles were now narrower and better fitted with two compartments. One compartment had a coefficient not significantly different from that in the absence of the gap junction blocker (axons), the other compartment had a coefficient of 204 +/- 24 microm(2) s(-1), n = 4. Addition of the gap junction blocker 18-alpha-glycyrrhetinic acid, or blocking electrical activity with TTX, also reduced longitudinal diffusion. Ascribing the compartment in which diffusion was reduced by these treatments to non-myelinating Schwann cells, we conclude that 78.0 +/- 3.6 % (n = 9) of the uptake of *DG was into Schwann cells. This suggests that there was transfer of metabolic substrate from Schwann cells to axons. Local application of [(14)C]glucose or [(14)C]lactate led to variable labelling along the length of the nerve, but with both substrates narrow peaks were often present at the application site; these were greatly reduced by subsequent treatment with amylase, a glycogen-degrading enzyme.

Signalling from neurones to glial cells in invertebrates

Recent work shows that glial cells in species throughout the animal kingdom appear to contribute to the functioning of the neurones and are equipped to receive signals from them. However, the detailed mechanisms of the signalling and its role in vivo are generally unclear. Parts of some invertebrate nervous systems are particularly favourable for addressing these problems, and the four preparations that have been studied most intensively are the subject of this review. Between the giant axons and their Schwann glial cells in squid and crayfish, within snail brain, and in leech ganglion, there appear to be multiple, and in some cases very complex, signalling pathways, whose precise functions remain to be elucidated. In bee retina only a single signal to the glia has been demonstrated, and its function appears to be to activate transfer of metabolic substrates to the photoreceptor neurones.

Metabolic signaling between photoreceptors and glial cells in the retina of the drone (Apis mellifera)

Experimental evidence showing metabolic interaction and signaling between photoreceptors-neurons and glial cells of the honeybee drone retina is presented. In this tissue [3H]2-deoxyglucose ([3H]2DG) in the dark and during repetitive light stimulation is phosphorylated to [3H]2-deoxyglucose-6P ([3H]2DG-6P) almost exclusively in the glial cells. Hence, stimulus-induced changes in the rate of formation of [3H]2DG-6P occurs predominantly in the glial cells. Repetitive stimulation of the photoreceptors with light flashes induced about a 47% rise in the rate of formation of [3H]2DG-6P in the glial cells and this effect is probably due to the activation of hexokinase. The potent inhibitor of glycolysis iodoacetic acid (IAA), inhibited this phosphorylation by about 75%. Probably this was largely due to an about 70% decrease of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Exposure of the retina to IAA suppressed the transient rise in oxygen consumption (delta QO2) in the photoreceptors and subsequently the light-induced receptor potential. This indicates that the supply of a glycolytic substrate by glial cells to the photoreceptors is greatly reduced by IAA. Anoxia, by rapidly suppressing QO2, abolished the receptor potential of the photoreceptors and caused a rapid drop of about 50% in the ATP content of the retina. At the same time the formation of [3H]2DG-6P was inhibited by about 30%. This indicates that respiring photoreceptors send a metabolic signal to glial cells which is suppressed by anoxia.

Increase in glial intracellular K+ in drone retina caused by photostimulation but not mediated by an increase in extracellular K+

The predominant glial cells of the drone retina (outer pigment cells) respond to an increase in extracellular [K+] (Ko) by a net uptake of K+; thus, they contribute to bringing Ko back toward its baseline value. The authors report herein that there is also a different mechanism by which light stimulation of the retina causes an increase in intracellular free [K+] in the glial cells. In superfused retinal slices, after 5-10 minutes of continuous illumination at physiological intensities, extracellular [K+] often fell back to below its original level in the dark. This fall can be explained by increased activity of the Na/K pump in the photoreceptors and diffusion of K+ down their axons. Despite the absence of raised Ko, K+-selective microelectrodes in glial cells recorded a small increase in intracellular [K+] that was maintained for the duration of the illumination; i.e. a change occurred in the glia that was not mediated by an increase in Ko. The increase in intracellular [K+] is not mediated by illumination of the screening pigment in the glia. Unless the increase is caused by illumination of some other, unknown, pigment in the glia, the results show that some unidentified signal (that is not K+) passes from the photoreceptors to the glia.

Functions of glial cells in the retina of the honeybee drone

In the retina of the honey bee drone, Apis mellifera male, physiological interactions between glial cells and neurons (the photoreceptors) are exceptionally clear-cut and amenable to investigation. The principal glia (outer pigment cells) contribute to the homeostasis of extracellular [K+] and [Na+] by 1) spatial buffering of K+ and 2) net uptake of K+ and Cl-. The glia supply carbohydrate metabolic substrate to the neurons; only the glia take up and phosphorylate glucose. Neuronal activity 1) modifies glycogen metabolism in the glia, and 2) can be signalled to the glia in the absence of elevated extracellular [K+].