Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the neurones of autonomic ganglia

Autonomic neural control of intrathoracic airways

Autonomic neural control of the intrathoracic airways aids in optimizing air flow and gas exchange. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, the autonomic nervous system contributes to host defense of the respiratory tract. These functions are accomplished by tightly regulating airway caliber, blood flow, and secretions. Although both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system innervate the airways, it is the later that dominates, especially with respect to control of airway smooth muscle and secretions. Parasympathetic tone in the airways is regulated by reflex activity often initiated by activation of airway stretch receptors and polymodal nociceptors. This review discusses the preganglionic, ganglionic, and postganglionic mechanisms of airway autonomic innervation. Additionally, it provides a brief overview of how dysregulation of the airway autonomic nervous system may contribute to respiratory diseases.

Src family kinase potentiates the activity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in rat autonomic ganglion innervating urinary bladder

Src family kinases (SFKs), one of the tyrosine kinase groups, are primary regulators of signal transductions that control cellular functions such as cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, metabolism, and other important roles of the cell. One of the crucial functions of SFKs is to regulate the activities of various neuronal channels. In this study, we investigated the modulatory action of SFK on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed in rat major pelvic ganglion (MPG) neurons innervating the urinary bladder. PP1 and PP2 (5 μM), selective Src-kinase inhibitors, attenuated ACh-induced ionic currents and [Ca²+](i) transients in MPG neurons, whereas PP3, an inactive analogue, had no effect. Blocking the tyrosine kinase activity of Src kinase by pp60 c-src inhibitory peptide also reduced the ACh-induced currents. Conversely, sodium orthovanadate (200 μM), a tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, significantly augmented the ACh-induced currents. In the kinase assay, the activities of SFKs in MPG neurons were also inhibited by PP2, but not by PP3. These data suggests that SFKs may have a facilitative role on the synaptic transmission in rat pelvic autonomic ganglion.

Autoantibodies to ganglionic acetylcholine receptors in autoimmune autonomic neuropathies

BACKGROUND

Idiopathic autonomic neuropathy is a severe, subacute disorder with a presumed autoimmune basis. It is indistinguishable from the subacute autonomic neuropathy that may accompany lung cancer or other tumors. Autoantibodies specific for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the autonomic ganglia are potentially pathogenic and may serve as serologic markers of various forms of autoimmune autonomic neuropathy.

METHODS

We tested serum from 157 patients with a variety of types of dysautonomia. Immunoprecipitation assays with iodine-125-labeled epibatidine and solubilized human neuroblastoma acetylcholine receptors were used to detect autoantibodies that bound to or blocked ganglionic receptors.

RESULTS

Ganglionic-receptor-binding antibodies were found in 19 of 46 patients with idiopathic or paraneoplastic autonomic neuropathy (41 percent), in 6 of 67 patients with postural tachycardia syndrome, idiopathic gastrointestinal dysmotility, or diabetic autonomic neuropathy (9 percent), and in none of 44 patients with other autonomic disorders. High levels of the binding antibodies correlated with more severe autonomic dysfunction (including the presence of tonic pupils). Levels of these antibodies decreased in patients who had clinical improvement. All seven patients with ganglionic-receptor-blocking antibodies had ganglionic-receptor-binding antibodies and had idiopathic or paraneoplastic autonomic neuropathy.

CONCLUSIONS

Seropositivity for antibodies that bind to or block ganglionic acetylcholine receptors identifies patients with various forms of autoimmune autonomic neuropathy and distinguishes these disorders from other types of dysautonomia. The positive correlation between high levels of ganglionic-receptor antibodies and the severity of autonomic dysfunction suggests that the antibodies have a pathogenic role in these types of neuropathy.

Synaptic transmission at visualized sympathetic boutons: stochastic interaction between acetylcholine and its receptors

Excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) were recorded with loose patch electrodes placed over visualized boutons on the surface of rat pelvic ganglion cells. At 34 degrees C the time to peak of the EPSC was about 0.7 ms, and a single exponential described the declining phase with a time constant of about 4.0 ms; these times were not correlated with changes in the amplitude of the EPSC. The amplitude-frequency histogram of the EPSC at individual boutons was well described by a single Gaussian-distribution that possessed a variance similar to that of the electrical noise. Nonstationary fluctuation analysis of the EPSCs at a bouton indicated that about 120 ACh receptor channels were available beneath boutons for interaction with a quantum of ACh. The characteristics of these EPSCs were compared with the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the quantal release of 9000 acetylcholine (ACh) molecules onto receptor patches of density 1400 microns-2 and 0.41 micron diameter, using a kinetic scheme of interaction between ACh and the receptors similar to that observed at the neuromuscular junction. The simulated EPSC generated in this way had temporal characteristics similar to those of the experimental EPSC when either the diffusion of the ACh is slowed or allowance is made for a finite period of transmitter release from the bouton. The amplitude of the simulated EPSC then exhibited stochastic fluctuations similar to those of the experimental EPSC.

Mechanism of long-lasting block of ganglion nicotinic receptors by mono-ammonium compounds with long aliphatic chain

The effect of long-chain mono-ammonium compounds (long-chain MACs), t-butyldecylammonium (IEM-1078), 2,2,6,6-tetramethyldecylpiperidine (IEM-1559), and diisopropyldecylammonium (IEM-1194), on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) was studied in sympathetic ganglion neurons using the patch clamp method. Long-chain MACs (1-10 microM) strongly inhibited acetylcholine (ACh)-induced current (ACh-current); the block persisted for hours after washing the drugs out. Short-chain MACs had a much weaker and completely reversible blocking effect. Suppression of ACh-current by MACs was dose- and voltage-dependent; it was absent at low ACh doses or at potentials > or = 60 mV and increased with higher ACh doses or hyperpolarization. The second of two ACh-currents induced by paired application of ACh was inhibited by long-chain MACs more strongly than the first. This use-dependent block also persisted for hours after washing the drugs out. Additional inhibition of the second ACh-current was reduced by lengthening the time interval between ACh applications in the pair. Time constants of the recovery of the second ACh-current in the presence and after washing out of long-chain MACs were similar, ranging from 45 to 140 s at -50 mV for different long-chain MACs, and decreased with de- or hyperpolarization. The use-dependent block produced by long-chain MACs could be prevented by another long-chain MAC with a small ammonium head (IEM-1195, 75-100 microM) or trimethaphan (30 microM), a competitive antagonist of ACh in ganglia. Neither the short-chain MAC (IEM-1405, 100 microM) nor ACh (100 microM) could exert this protective effect. Long-chain MACs did not exert any use-, dose- or voltage-dependent suppression of ACh-current when applied intracellularly. Single-channel conductance was not affected by IEM-1194 (3-10 microM). We suggest that inhibition of ACh-current by long-chain MACs is accounted for by (i) a long-lasting, apparently irreversible, binding of the drug near the channel of nAChR via its long aliphatic chain and (ii) a slow reversible block of the nAChR channel with the MAC's ammonium head.

Selective pharmacological blockade of parasympathetic and enteric ganglia

The blocking effects of two newly synthetized compounds, diisopropyldecylammonium iodide (IEM-1194) and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyldecylpiperidinium chloride (IEM-1559), on insulin- and pentagastrin-induced gastric secretion in chronic dogs, on stress-induced changes in gastric mucosa in rats, on vagus-induced effects in heart and intestine, on arterial blood pressure and on synaptic transmission through isolated ciliary and superior cervical ganglia in cats were studied. The effects observed were compared with those produced by hexamethonium (C6), a conventional ganglionic blocking agent. Both IEM-1194 and IEM-1559 inhibited gastric secretion and acid output for a much longer time than C6 did and effectively protected gastric mucosa against stress-induced erosions and hemorrhages. IEM-1194 blocked the vagus-induced decrease in heart rate and increase in duodenal motility for a longer time than did C6 and also, in contrast to C6, did not reduce the arterial blood pressure. The blockade of synaptic transmission through isolated ciliary and superior cervical ganglia produced by IEM-1194 and IEM-1559 was characterized by lower EC50 and was more prolonged than that produced by C6. In addition, both IEM-1194 and IEM-1559 were more potent blocking agents in ciliary ganglion than in superior cervical ganglion. It is suggested that IEM-1194 and IEM-1559 are selective blocking agents for parasympathetic and enteric ganglia versus sympathetic ganglia.

Dimensions of the ion channel in neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor as estimated from analysis of conformation-activity relationships of open-channel blocking drugs

Relationship between the size of the molecule in the series of organic ions Et3+N--(CH2)5--+NR1R2R3 (Ri--alkyl or cycloalkyl substituents) and their abilities to block nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) due to their open-channel blockade in the neurons of autonomic ganglia and in frog end-plate was analyzed. All low-energy equilibrium conformations of the drugs were calculated by the molecular mechanics method. A unique rectangular channel profile 6.1 x 8.3 A, for which the best correlation between blocking activity of the drugs and total population of their conformations being able to penetrate into the channel, was deduced from all those tested.

Rectification of currents activated by nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in rat sympathetic ganglion neurones

1. The inward rectification of the whole-cell current evoked by acetylcholine (ACh) and other nicotinic agonists in rat sympathetic ganglion neurones has been studied using patch-clamp recording techniques. The selective nicotinic agonist 1,1-dimethyl-4-phenylpiperazinium iodide (DMPP) (20 microM) induced an average peak current of -367 pA at -50 mV but no detectable outward current at +50 mV. Similar observations were made with ACh and carbachol. 2. The current-voltage relation of the whole-cell response induced by DMPP was linear in the negative voltage range; however, there was no detectable outward current in the voltage range 0 to about +70 mV. Above +70 mV an outward current became clearly detectable. Rapid depolarizing jumps in the holding potential failed to reveal any rapidly decaying outward current. 3. The rectification was not alleviated by changing the main permeant cation, by removal of divalent cations from the intracellular or extracellular solutions or by altering the pH buffer in the extracellular solution from HEPES to Tris. 4. Intracellular magnesium ions can block the channel. This effect increases with depolarization, but dissociation outwards (i.e. permeation by Mg2+) appears to relieve the block at more extreme positive potentials. This effect alone, or in combination with the voltage dependence of the burst length, is unlikely to be able to account for the whole-cell rectification in intact cells, much less that seen in cells perfused with Mg2(+)-free intracellular medium. 5. When the reversal potential was shifted to approximately -50 mV (by the use of impermeant cations) nicotinic agonists produced small outward currents in the membrane potential range -20 to +10 mV while shifting it to about +40 mV produced small inward currents in the potential range 0 to +20 mV. The rectification therefore appears to be independent of the direction of current flow and is maximum at a potential positive to 0 mV. 6. At positive potentials the receptors desensitized much less than at negative potentials in the continued presence of agonist. Thus, exposure of the cells to a steady application of 30 microM-ACh produced no detectable response if the cell was at a positive potential, but when the cell was stepped to a negative potential in the continued presence of ACh (at a time when much of the ACh current would be expected to have desensitized), ACh induced a large inward current. The onset of the ACh current had a time constant of 10 ms. It then decayed with a time constant of 790 ms as desensitization developed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)