Intercellular Ca2+ waves in rat hippocampal slice and dissociated glial–neuron cultures mediated by nitric oxide

FEBS Letters

Willmott, Nicholas J.¹  Strong, Anthony J.¹  Wong, Kay¹ 

[1] Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK

关键词: Nitric oxide;    Glia;    Astrocyte;    Hippocampus;    Calcium wave;    Depolarisation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(00)02359-0

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Nitric oxide (NO) may participate in cell–cell communication in the brain by generating intercellular Ca²⁺ waves. In hippocampal organotypic and dissociated glial–neuron (>80% glia) cultures local applications of aqueous NO induced slowly propagating intercellular Ca²⁺ waves. In glial cultures, Ca²⁺ waves and Mn²⁺ quench of cytosolic fura-2 fluorescence mediated by NO were inhibited by nicardipine, indicating that NO induces Ca²⁺ influx in glia which is dihydropyridine-sensitive. As NO treatments also depolarised the plasma membrane potential of glia, the nicardipine-sensitive Ca²⁺ influx might be due to the activation of dihydropyridine-sensitive L-type Ca²⁺ channels. Both nicardipine-sensitive intercellular Ca²⁺ waves and propagating cell depolarisation induced by mechanical stress of individual glia were inhibited by pretreating cultures with either an NO scavenger or N ^G-methyl-L-arginine. Results demonstrate that NO can induce Ca²⁺ waves in hippocampal slice cultures, and that Ca²⁺ influx coupled to NO-mediated membrane depolarisation might assist in fashioning their spatio-temporal dynamics.

【 授权许可】

Unknown