Ca2+- INDUCED Ca2+ RELEASE MEDIATES A SLOW POST-SPIKE HYPERPOLARIZATION IN RABBIT VAGAL AFFERENT NEURONS. Kimberly A. Moore, Akiva S. Cohen, Joseph P.Y. Kao, Daniel Weinreich. University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Medical Biotechnology Center and Department of Physiology, 685 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland, USA 21201- 1559.
APStracts 4:288N, 1997.
ABSTRACT
The relation between Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR) elicited by action potentials (APs) and a Ca2+-dependent slow post-spike hyperpolarization (AHPslow) in acutely dissociated adult rabbit nodose neurons was studied using microfluorimetric calcium measurements in conjunction with standard intracellular current- and voltage-clamp recording techniques. The magnitude of the AP-induced transient increase in [Ca2+]i (_Cat) was used to monitor CICR. There was a close correlation between the magnitude of the _Cat and the AHPslow current over the range of 1 - 16 action potentials (r=0.985). Functional CICR blockers, ryanodine (10 æM), thapsigargin (100 nM), 2,5-di(t- butyl)hydroquinone (10 æM) or cyclopiazonic acid (10 æM), selectively reduced the peak amplitude of the AHPslow ò 91%. In five neurons, simultaneous recordings of the _Cat and the AHPslow revealed that both responses were blocked in parallel. These findings indicate that CICR is necessary for the generation of the AHPslow in rabbit nodose neurons. The _Cat rises and decays significantly faster than the AHPslow. This temporal disparity suggests that activation of the AHPslow by Ca2+ may require additional signal transduction steps.

Received 11 August 1997; accepted in final form 10 October 1997.
APS Manuscript Number J658-7.
Article publication pending J. Neurophysiol.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1997 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 29 October 1997