PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

E Clementi

Publications and source records attributed to E Clementi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

The type 2 ryanodine receptor of neurosecretory PC12 cells is activated by cyclic ADP-ribose. Role of the nitric oxide/cGMP pathway.

Of two neurosecretory PC12 cell clones that respond to NO donors and 8-bromo-cGMP with similar increases in cADP-ribose and that possess molecularly similar Ca2+ stores, only one (clone 16A) expresses the type 2 ryanodine receptor, whereas the other (clone 27) is devoid of ryanodine receptors. In PC12-16A cells, activation of the NO/cGMP pathway induced slow [Ca2+]i responses, sustained by release from Ca2+ stores. In contrast, PC12-27 cells were insensitive to NO donors. Likewise, in PC12-16A cells preincubated with NO donors, Ca2+ stores were partially depleted, as revealed by a test with thapsigargin, whereas those in clone 27 were unchanged. The NO-induced Ca2+ release was increased synergistically by caffeine, and the corresponding store depletion was magnified by ryanodine. The specificity for the NO/cGMP pathway was confirmed by the effects of two blockers of cGMP-dependent protein kinase I, while the role of cADP-ribose was demonstrated by the effects of its antagonist, 8-amino-cADP-ribose, administered to permeabilized cells. These results demonstrate in neurosecretory cells a ryanodine receptor activation pathway similar to that known in sea urchin oocytes. The signaling events described here could be of great physiological importance, especially in the nervous system.

Adenosine Diphosphate Ribose↗
PubMed1996

CD95 engagement releases calcium from intracellular stores of long term activated, apoptosis-prone gammadelta T cells.

Engagement of the CD95 (Apo-1, Fas) membrane receptor is known to induce apoptosis in a variety of sensitive cells, even in the absence of extracellular Ca2+. The signal transduction events implicated in this pathway are poorly understood. We have recently characterized normal human Vgamma9/Vdelta2+ T cell clones that maintain similar levels of CD95 membrane expression throughout the culture. Here we show that 3 wk of culture after in vitro restimulation are necessary for the cells both to die and to acquire the ability to mobilize intracellular Ca2+ upon CD95 ligation. Buffering of intracellular Ca2+ by accumulation of the chelator 1,2-bis(2-amino phenoxy)ethane-N,N,N1,N-tetraacetic acid protects from CD95-triggered apoptosis, suggesting that the two phenomena are causally related. As intracellular Ca2+ release by inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum ATPases induces apoptosis in both recently and long term activated gamma delta cells, the molecular regulation of activation-dependent apoptosis is likely to involve events upstream of CD95-dependent Ca2+ release. The CD95-triggered increase in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration depends on depletion of the same intracellular Ca2+ stores mobilized by ligation of the TCR, and Ca2+ release does not depend on inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate generation.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed1996

Cytosolic Ca2+ buffering, a cell property that in some neurons markedly decreases during aging, has a protective effect against NMDA/nitric oxide-induced excitotoxicity.

In order to clarify the role of cytosolic Ca2+ buffering, a property that in living cells is sustained primarily by high affinity binding proteins, in NMDA receptor-sustained neuron excitotoxicity, cultures of the neuroblastoma line CHP 100 (which is known to express the receptor) were loaded with the chelator BAPTA by incubation with various concentrations (0.03-1 microM) of its acetoxymethylester derivative. The effectiveness of the loading in terms of cytosolic buffering was confirmed by fura-2 measurement experiments in which the [Ca2+]i transients induced by cell exposure to ATP were blunted in the initial peak (up to -75%) and also in the following plateau. When the BAPTA-loaded neuroblastoma cells were exposed to NMDA (1 mM), excitotoxicity was reduced dose-dependently up to almost 70%, while the generation of cGMP was inhibited up to completion. The latter result suggested the possible involvement of nitric oxide in the NMDA-induced excitoxicity, a mechanism confirmed by the dose-dependent inhibitory effect induced by the nitric oxide synthase blocker, L-N-(1-iminoethyl)-ornithine, which protected the cells completely when administered at 300 microM. Flow cytometry analysis of DNA revealed that the mechanism of excitotoxicity in CHP100 cells does not involve apoptosis. We conclude that cytosolic Ca2+ buffering, a property known to vary considerably among neuronal cells and to change in some neurons also during ageing, has a general protective effect. Such a protection appears to take place via the blunting of the glutamate-induced [Ca2+]i responses mediated by the NMDA receptor, with prevention of the ensuing overactivation of nitric oxide synthase and of the irreversible derangement of the ionic homeostasis of the cell.

Aging↗
PubMed1996

Pharmacological and functional properties of voltage-independent Ca2+ channels.

During the last few years, considerable progress has taken place in our knowledge of the molecular and functional properties of the various voltage-independent Ca2+ channels. In addition to the ionotropic receptor-channels (ROCs), that are not discussed in the present review, these channels include the SMOCs, activated via second messengers or other transducing processes directly triggered by receptor activation; and the SOCCs, activated as a consequence of depletion of the rapidly exchanging Ca2+ stores in the cytoplasm. In parallel, a pharmacological approach to the study of these channels has been developed, based primarily on heterogeneous drugs already known for different biological effects, and subsequently recognized as voltage-independent Ca(2+)-channel blockers. From the systematic analysis of the effects of these drugs new information has emerged about SMOCs and SOCCs function. In addition, pharmacological blockade of these channels appears to have beneficial therapeutic effects in pathological conditions such as tumoral cell growth, inflammation and immunity. At the moment the field is rapidly evolving, with major developments expected in the years ahead.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Nitric oxide action on growth factor-elicited signals. Phosphoinositide hydrolysis and [Ca2+]i responses are negatively modulated via a cGMP-dependent protein kinase I pathway.

The role of nitric oxide (NO) in the phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) hydrolysis and intracellular Ca2+ release responses induced by epidermal, platelet-derived, and fibroblast growth factors was investigated in three cell lines, a clone of NIH-3T3 fibroblasts overexpressing epidermal growth factor receptors and the tumoral epithelial cells A431 and KB. In all three cell types, pretreatment with NO donors decreased growth factor-induced PIP2 and Ca2+ responses, whereas pretreatment with NO synthase inhibitors increased them. The Ca2(+)-dependent PIP2 hydroysis induced by micromolar concentrations of the Ca2+ ionophore, ionomycin, was also modulated negatively and positively by NO donors and synthase inhibitors, respectively. In contrast, the Ca2+ content of the intracellular stores was unaffected by the various pretreatments employed. NO donors and synthase inhibitors induced an increase and decrease, respectively, of the intracellular cGMP formation in all three cell lines investigated. All of the effects of the NO donors were mimicked by 8-bromo-cGMP administration and abolished by pretreatment with the specific blocker of the cGMP-dependent protein kinase I, KT5823, which by itself mimicked the effects of the synthase inhibitors. Together with previous observations on G protein-coupled receptors, the present results demonstrate that PIP2 hydrolysis and Ca2+ release occur under the feedback control of NO, independently of the phospholipase C (beta, gamma, or delta type) involved and of the mechanism of activation. Such a control, which appears to be effected by the cGMP-dependent protein kinase I acting at the level of the phospholipases C themselves, might ultimately contribute to the inhibitory role of NO on growth previously observed with various cell types.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed1995

LU52396, an inhibitor of the store-dependent (capacitative) Ca2+ influx.

The effects of 1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)cyclohexyl]-2-[4-(3-phenylalkyl)-piperazin -1-yl]- ethanol, LU52396, on a) Ca2+ influx across the plasma membrane and b) Ca2+ mobilization from intracellular rapidly-exchanging Ca2+ stores were investigated in HeLa cells and in isolated microsomal fractions derived from the cerebellum and the skeletal muscle. LU52396 was found to be a potent inhibitor (Ki of about 2 microM) of the Ca2+ influx activated by depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores, a phenomenon referred to as store-dependent or capacitative Ca2+ influx. Such an effect, which was reversed by cell washing, was mediated neither by a depolarization of the cell, with decrease in the driving force for cation influx, nor by a change of the intracellular pH, and might therefore be due to a direct action of the drug on either the responsible channel in the plasma membrane or, less likely, on its regulatory mechanisms. Additional effects, i.e. inhibition of receptor-mediated Ca2+ influx, of Ca2+ release from intracellular stores via either inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate or ryanodine receptors, and of Ca2+ reuptake into the stores via sarcoplasmic-endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPases, were also induced by the drug, however at concentrations 20-fold or more than those effective on the store-dependent influx. To our knowledge LU52396 is the first pharmacological tool that is found to be addressed with some preference to the store-dependent Ca2+ influx. It promises, therefore, to be useful for the characterization of the process, the identification of the responsible channel and, possibly, also of the molecular mechanisms through which these channels operate.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Nitric oxide modulates agonist-evoked Ca2+ release and influx responses in PC12-64 cells.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a signalling molecule involved in events crucial to neuronal cell function such as neurotransmitter release, gene transcription, and neurotoxicity. In these, as well as in many other neuronal processes, a key role may be played by the increases of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) occurring in response to activation of plasma membrane receptors coupled to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate hydrolysis. Such a [Ca2+]i increases are sustained by release of the cation from intracellular stores and stimulation of influx through specific Ca2+ channels. We have investigated the role of NO in modulating the two above Ca2+ processes occurring subsequently to muscarinic receptor activation in a selected clone (PC12-64) of PC12 cells, a neurosecretory/neuronal cell model. Analysis of [Ca2+]i variations in fura-2-loaded cells, exposed to different NO synthase inhibitors or NO donors, showed that Ca2+ release from intracellular stores was moderately inhibited and stimulated by these two groups of drugs, respectively, while Ca2+ influx through the channels directly coupled to muscarinic receptors was found to be insensitive to NO action. In contrast, Ca2+ influx activated by muscarinic receptor-induced store depletion (investigated also by Mn2+ quenching of the fura-2 signal) was increased by NO generation and inhibited by NO synthase blockade. Incubation of the cells with 8-bromo cGMP did not mimick the action of NO, suggesting that the effect of the messenger on Ca2+ influx is exerted through a signalling pathway different from cGMP generation.

Amino Acid Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1995

Interferon-gamma induces T lymphocyte proliferation in multiple sclerosis via a Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism.

The intracellular mechanisms underlying T lymphocyte activation leading to demyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) have not yet been clarified. We have recently reported that interferon (IFN)-gamma activates a novel trans-plasmalemma Ca2+ influx on T lymphocytes (mainly CD4+) from patients with MS which induces intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) elevation. Since Ca2+ is an essential second messenger in regulating transcription of T lymphocyte activation genes, we have evaluated how [Ca2+]i elevation due to the activity of this particular influx affects T lymphocyte proliferative behaviour in 12 influx-positive relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) patients. Fourteen influx-negative RR-MS patients and 14 healthy donors were used as controls. In lymphocytes from healthy controls, a significant correlation (r = 0.62; P < 0.001) was found between [Ca2+]i levels and proliferation rate after phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation. Sustained proliferation was induced in T lymphocytes by > or = 10 micrograms/ml of PHA, a dose leading to a [Ca2+]i increase of at least 45% over basal level. Similar [Ca2+]i elevations were obtained when > or = 10 micrograms/ml of PHA were used on cells from RR-MS patients. However, T lymphocytes from RR-MS patients, but not from healthy donors, proliferated also in response to 1 micrograms/ml of PHA, indicating a state of preactivation. Moreover, 1 microgram/ml of PHA used in combination with suboptimal doses of IFN-gamma (5 UI/ml) doubled the proliferation rate of influx-positive MS cells, but not influx-negative MS cells or cells from healthy donors compared to the values obtained using PHA alone (P < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Age-related changes in mitogen-induced beta-endorphin release from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

beta-Endorphin is an opioid peptide synthesized in the pituitary, hypothalamus, and immunocytes, known to affect immune responses both when added in vitro and when its synthesis is increased in vivo (e.g., during stress). We show here that, similar to its concentrations in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the release of the opioid peptide from these cells after stimulation with polyclonal mitogens such as PHA or Con-A is also age dependent. Moreover, the effect of both mitogens on Ca2+ homeostasis changes with age. Finally, the ionophore ionomycin and the Ca2+ ATPase blocker thapsigargin induce the same age related effect on beta-endorphin release. For these reasons, we suggest that calcium homeostasis might be important for the differences observed in the release of the opioid from cells obtained from younger (< or = 30 years) or older (> or = 45 years) volunteers.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Differential localization and functional role of calsequestrin in growing and differentiated myoblasts.

Calsequestrin (CSQ) is the low affinity, high capacity Ca(2+)-binding protein concentrated within specialized areas of the muscle fiber sarcoplasmic reticulum (a part of the ER) where it is believed to buffer large amounts of Ca2+. Upon activation of intracellular channels this Ca2+ pool is released, giving rise to the [Ca2+]i increases that sustain contraction. In order to investigate the ER retention and the functional role of the protein, L6 rat myoblasts were infected with a viral vector with or without the cDNA of chicken CSQ, and stable clones were investigated before and after differentiation to myotubes. In the undifferentiated L6 cells, expression of considerable amounts of heterologous CSQ occurred with no major changes of other ER components. Ca2+ release from the ER, induced by the peptide hormone vasopressin, remained however unchanged, and the same occurred when other treatments were given in sequence to deplete the ER and other intracellular stores: with the Ca2+ pump blocker, thapsigargin; and with the Ca2+ ionophore, ionomycin, followed by the Na+/H+ ionophore, monensin. The lack of effect of CSQ expression on the vasopressin-induced [Ca2+]i responses was explained by immunocytochemistry showing the heterologous protein to be localized not in the ER but in large vacuoles of acidic content, positive also for the lysosomal enzyme, cathepsin D, corresponding to a lysosomal subpopulation. After differentiation, all L6 cells expressed small amounts of homologous CSQ. In the infected cells the heterologous protein progressively decreased, yet the [Ca2+]i responses to vasopressin were now larger with respect to both control and undifferentiated cells. This change correlated with the drop of the vacuoles and with the accumulation of CSQ within the ER lumen, where a clustered distribution was observed as recently shown in developing muscle fibers. These results provide direct evidence for the contribution of CSQ, when appropriately retained, to the Ca2+ capacity of the rapidly exchanging, ER-located Ca2+ stores; and for the existence of specific mechanism(s) (that in L6 cells develop in the course of differentiation) for the ER retention of the protein. In the growing L6 myoblasts the Ca(2+)-binding protein appears in contrast to travel along the exocytic pathway, down to post-Golgi, lysosome-related vacuoles which, based on the lack of [Ca2+]i response to ionomycin-monensin, appear to be incompetent for Ca2+ accumulation.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Overexpression of calreticulin increases the Ca2+ capacity of rapidly exchanging Ca2+ stores and reveals aspects of their lumenal microenvironment and function.

A molecularly tagged form of calreticulin (CR), a low affinity-high capacity Ca2+ binding protein that resides in the ER lumen, was transiently transfected into HeLa cells to specifically modify the Ca2+ buffering capacity of the intracellular Ca2+ stores. Fluorescence and confocal microscope immunocytochemistry revealed the tagged protein to be expressed by over 40% of the cells and to overlap in its distribution the endogenous CR yielding a delicate cytoplasmic network, i.e., the typical pattern of ER. In contrast, no signal was observed associated with the plasmalemma (marked by ConA) and within the nucleus. One- and two-dimensional Western blots revealed the transfected to exceed the endogenous CR of approximately 3.5-fold and to maintain its Ca2+ binding ability, whereas the expression of other ER proteins was unchanged. Ca2+ homeostasis in the transfected cells was investigated by three parallel approaches: (a) 45Ca equilibrium loading of cell populations; (b) [Ca2+]c measurement with fura-2 followed by quantitative immunocytochemistry of single cells and iii) [Ca2+]c measurement of cell population upon cotransfection with the Ca(2+)-sensitive photoprotein, aequorin. The three approaches revealed different aspects of Ca2+ homeostasis, yielding results which were largely complementary. In particular, the following conclusions were established: (a) both endogenous and transfected CR participate in Ca2+ buffering within the IP3-sensitive, rapidly exchanging, Ca2+ stores; the other pools of the cells were in contrast unaffected by CR transfection; (b) the Ca2+ capacity of the stores is not the main limiting factor of individual IP3-mediated Ca2+ release responses triggered by receptor agonists; (c) in control cells, the contribution of CR to Ca2+ buffering within the IP3-sensitive stores accounts for approximately 45% of the total, the rest being probably contributed by the other lumenal (and also membrane) Ca2+ binding proteins; (d) the free [Ca2+] within the lumen of the IP3-sensitive stores, revealed by the degree of Ca2+ binding to the transfected CR protein, amounts to values in (or approaching) the millimolar range; and (e) Ca2+ influx across the plasmalemma activated by depletion of the stores is directly dependent on the lumenal [Ca2+].

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Nitric oxide modulation of agonist-evoked intracellular Ca2+ release in neurosecretory PC-12 cells: inhibition of phospholipase C activity via cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase I.

Nitric oxide is a signaling molecule involved in events crucial to neuronal cell function, such as neurotransmitter release, gene transcription, and neurotoxicity, i.e., a number of processes in which a key role appears to be played by increases in intracellular Ca2+ concentration. In the neurosecretory/neuronal cell line PC-12, we have investigated the role of nitric oxide in the modulation of Ca2+ release from intracellular stores elicited by activation of three different receptors coupled to phosphatidyl-inositol-4,5-bisphosphate hydrolysis, i.e., the purinergic P2U, muscarinic M3, and bradykinin B2 receptors. The results obtained show that nitric oxide donors have an inhibitory effect on agonist-evoked Ca2+ release. This effect is not due to nitric oxide-induced modifications of Ca2+ storage, because the total releasable Ca2+ pool, measured as the radioactivity released by thapsigargin and ionomycin in cells loaded at equilibrium with 45Ca2+, was unchanged. In contrast, nitric oxide donors decreased agonist-evoked inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate generation and total inositol phosphate accumulation. Similarly, nitric oxide inhibited total inositol phosphate accumulation stimulated by either aluminium fluoride or Ca2+. All of these effects were mimicked by the cGMP analogue 8-bromo-cGMP. When cells were incubated with nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, the results observed were opposite those produced by nitric oxide donors. All of the effects of nitric oxide were abolished when cells were treated with the cGMP-dependent protein kinase I inhibitor KT5823. Furthermore, KT5823 mimicked the effects of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors. We conclude that nitric oxide and Ca2+ signaling pathways are interconnected in PC-12 cells. Modulation of inositol phosphate generation and Ca2+ release by nitric oxide appears to be exerted primarily at the level of phospholipase C functioning and to be mediated by the activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase I.

Amino Acid Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1995

Growth factor-induced Ca2+ responses are differentially modulated by nitric oxide via activation of a cyclic GMP-dependent pathway.

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a modulatory role on cell growth and differentiation, biological processes that occur under the control of various signal transduction mechanisms, including those triggered by activation of membrane receptors for polypeptide growth factors. The increases in intracellular Ca2+ concentration elicited by the activation of these receptors are sustained by release of the cation from intracellular stores and by stimulation of this influx from the extracellular medium. Using NIH 3T3 cells overexpressing the human epidermal growth factor receptor, we investigated both of these processes stimulated by the administration of epidermal and platelet-derived growth factors as the receptor agonists. Pharmacological and functional analyses carried out on Fura-2-loaded cells showed that Ca2+ influx elicited by both growth factors is the summation of two distinct pathways, with the major pathway dependent on and the minor pathway independent of store depletion. Exposure of the cells to either No donors or NO synthase inhibitors induced increase and inhibition, respectively, of the two components of Ca2+ influx. When Ca2+ release was investigated, the above drugs were also active but in the opposite direction. The effects of NO were mimicked by the cGMP analogue 8-Br-cGMP and abolished by two cGMP-dependent protein kinase I inhibitors, whereas the cAMP analogue 8-Br-cAMP and two protein kinase A inhibitors had no appreciable effects. In addition, growth factors induced an increase in cGMP formation, an effect that was prevented by NO synthase inhibitors. In conclusion, NO appears to exert a feedback modulatory control on CA2+ responses to growth factor administration. Such a control might contribute to the inhibitory effect of NO on growth previously reported with various cell types.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1994

Stable expression of truncated inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor subunits in 3T3 fibroblasts. Coordinate signaling changes and differential suppression of cell growth and transformation.

Stable clones of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts transfected with the cDNA of either the wild-type or deletion forms of the rat type I (or cerebellar) inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor (IP3R) were investigated. The delta form, missing the NH2-terminal sequence that includes the IP3-binding site, is expected to be still assembled with wild-type subunits to yield a tetrameric Ca2+ channel across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane; the s form, missing the membrane-spanning sequences, is expected to remain as a soluble monomer in the cytosol. With respect to control clones transfected with the vector only, the synthesis fo IP3Rs was markedly stimulated in the receptor-transfected clones. The mass accumulation, however, was increased only moderately (deletion forms = 15-30% of the endogenous IP3R), apparently because of a compensatory increase in receptor turnover. Coordinate changes in IP3 generation and Ca2+ release were revealed in the delta clones by experiments in both intact and permeabilized cells. In these clones, the IP3R was more sensitive to IP3, and IP3 generation at the ATP P2u surface receptor was decreased. This latter effect was due neither to a defect in G protein coupling nor to changes in phospholipase C expression, but to down-regulation of the P2u receptor. In the cells expressing the s- and delta-IP3R subunits, no differences with respect to the controls were observed in epidermal growth factor-induced DNA synthesis, whereas long-term growth stimulated by serum was reduced. Even more marked, especially in the delta clones (-90%), was the inhibition of cell transformation induced by autocrine stimulation with transforming growth factor alpha of the overexpressed epidermal growth factor receptors or by other growth factor receptors and oncogenes (platelet-derived growth factor/platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta, HER2/neu, and v-erbB). These effects appear not to be connected to the signaling processes mediated by tyrosine phosphorylation since the latter was unchanged in the delta clones. These results demonstrate for the first time (a) that the changes in cellular homeostasis directly induced by deleted IP3R subunits (increased receptor synthesis and increased IP3R sensitivity) are largely compensated by indirect coordinate changes apparently aimed to keep near normal the signaling properties of the cells; (b) that modulation of intracellular Ca2+ channels induces profound consequences that differentially affect growth and oncogenesis; and (c) that IP3Rs and the Ca2+ stores are important cross-roads of intracellular signaling pathways.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1994

Gamma interferon activates a previously undescribed Ca2+ influx in T lymphocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. The etiology of the disease is still unknown. Activated T lymphocytes are considered essential in mediating the inflammatory process leading to demyelination in MS. They operate through a complex network of cytokines among which gamma interferon (gamma-IFN) plays a key role. Here we report that exposure to gamma-IFN of T lymphocytes from patients with MS activates, by a protein kinase C-mediated pathway, a previously undescribed gamma-IFN-activated Ca2+ influx, functionally coupled to the gamma-IFN receptor. The influx mainly expressed by CD4+ T lymphocytes, was found in 12 of 15 (80%) patients with clinically active MS and in 14 of 30 (46%) patients with stable MS. The influx was found in only 3 of 24 (12%) control patients and in none of the 15 healthy subjects studied. Our results document the appearance in MS lymphocytes of a gamma-IFN-activated, protein kinase C-dependent, Ca2+ influx that might be due to the expression of a new cation-specific plasmalemma channel. This finding suggests that at least part of gamma-IFN's contribution to the pathogenesis of MS is exerted through a Ca(2+)-dependent regulation of T lymphocyte activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Caffeine-induced transmitter release is mediated via ryanodine-sensitive channel.

An isolated clone PC12-37 of rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells, which lacks ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ channel, responds to depolarization and to agonist activation and triggers [3H]dopamine ([3H]DA) release. A caffeine-stimulated transmitter release, while present in the parental PC12 cell line, is completely abolished in PC12-37 cells. In contrast, caffeine-induced Ca2+ influx in PC12-37 cells is similar to that observed in PC12 cells, indicating that caffeine-induced CA2+ influx is neither mediated by caffeine-induced Ca2+ release nor contributes to the caffeine-induced secretion. These results show (a) a tight coupling between caffeine activation of a ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ store and transmitter release, (b) no significant involvement of the ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ channel in depolarization- and agonist-mediated transmitter release, and (c) exclude a major role for caffeine-mediated Ca2+ entry in the caffeine-activated secretion.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Intracellular Ca2+ stores of T lymphocytes: changes induced by in vitro and in vivo activation.

Intracellular Ca2+ stores were investigated in resting and activated splenic T lymphocytes from Lewis rats. Activation was obtained either in vitro (spleen cells isolated from "naive" rats exposed to concanavalin A for 24 h) or in vivo (spleen cells from rats with fully developed symptoms of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis). In both experimental conditions several changes of Ca2+ homeostasis were observed with respect to resting lymphocytes: (1) a threefold increase of the total intracellular calcium (from 1.15 to 3.5 mmol/l); (2) a moderate increase of the pool sensitive to inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), investigated both in intact T lymphocytes (fura-2 and 45Ca(2+)-release techniques in cells challenged with phytohemagglutinin) and in T lymphocytes permeabilized with beta-escin (45Ca2+ release induced by saturating concentrations of IP3); and (3) the appearance of a pool released by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin (Tg), but insensitive to IP3, which, therefore, appears to be localized in areas of the ER devoid of the cognate receptor. The latter two findings were paralleled in activated lymphocytes by an increase of expression of ER markers, involved (calreticulin; Ca2+ ATPase) or not (protein disulfide isomerase) in the regulation of Ca2+ homeostasis. In contrast, calnexin (another ER marker) and the receptor for IP3 were increased to only a moderate extent. Finally, an enlargement of non-ER Ca2+ pools was observed in the cells pretreated with Tg in which 45Ca2+ release was induced by the Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin. Our results document structural and functional changes of intracellular Ca2+ stores which might play an important regulatory role in activated T lymphocytes.

Animals↗