A study of cerebellar inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor following climbing and parallel fibre deafferentation

Lithium modulation of phosphoinositide signaling system in rat cortex: selective effect on phorbol ester binding

Recent work indicates that the therapeutic action of lithium may be mediated through perturbation of postreceptor second messenger systems. To elucidate further the postreceptor cellular sites of action(s) of lithium, the effect of chronic lithium treatment on various components of the receptor-activated phosphoinositide pathway was investigated. We found that chronic administration of lithium (0.2% LiCl, 21 days) to adult male rats did not significantly affect phosphoinositide hydrolysis in cerebral cortical slices induced by carbachol (1 mM) or NaF (10 mM). Nor did the same treatment alter the carbachol (1 mM) potentiation of guanosine 5'-(gamma-thio)triphosphate (30 microM) stimulation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis (an index of receptor/G protein coupling) in cortical membranes. Immunoblotting studies revealed no changes in the levels of G alpha q/11 immunoreactivity in the cortex after chronic lithium treatment. The levels of protein kinase C, as revealed by specific binding of [3H]phorbol dibutyrate ([3H]PDBu), were significantly reduced in the cytosolic fraction and increased in the particulate fraction of rat cortex after chronic lithium, whereas the KD of [3H]PDBu binding remained relatively constant. A small and insignificant decrease in the density of [3H]inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate binding was also found in the cortex. The above data suggest that chronic lithium treatment affects neither the muscarinic cholinergic-linked phosphoinositide turnover nor the putative G protein alpha subunit (G alpha q/11) responsible for phospholipase C activation. However, a possible translocation and activation of protein kinase C activity may be significant in the therapeutic effect of this mood-stabilizing agent.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor in developing and senescent rat cerebellum

Numerous process associated with intracellular calcium homeostasis have previously been found to vary with age. To determine whether the binding sites for the calcium-mobilizing second messenger, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3), also displays such variation, [3H]InsP3 binding was investigated in cerebellar or cerebral cortical membranes prepared from rats at different ages from birth up to 24 months of age. In the cerebellum, the InsP3 receptor density was very low during the first week after birth, increased markedly between days 8 and 28 and then reached an apparent plateau between 28 to 56 days of age. The InsP3 receptor binding affinity was comparable at different developmental stages. No age-related differences were found in InsP3 receptor density or affinity in the cerebral cortex of 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, and 24-month-old rats. In the cerebellum, InsP3 receptor density but not affinity was significantly reduced in 24-month-old compared only to 3-month-old animals. Our data suggest that the changes in InsP3 receptor binding during early development might reflect the growth and maturation of neurons containing these receptors (i.e., Purkinje cells). Furthermore, the age-dependent reduction in InsP3 receptor density, together with the recent report of senescent changes in protein kinase C activity, indicate that disruption of phosphoinositide second messenger system may be of importance to the impairment of neuronal responsiveness and behavioral deficits observed with aging.