thapsigargin and zaprinast

The species-specific sound production of acoustically communicating grasshoppers can be stimulated by pressure injection of both nicotinic and muscarinic agonists into the central body complex and a small neuropil situated posterior and dorsal to it. To determine the role of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) in the control of acoustic communication behavior and to identify the second-messenger pathways affected by mAChR-activation, muscarinic agonists and membrane-permeable drugs known to interfere with specific mechanisms of intracellular signaling pathways were pressure injected to identical sites in male grasshopper brains. Repeated injections of small volumes of muscarine elicited stridulation of increasing duration associated with decreased latencies. This suggested an accumulation of excitation over time that is consistent with the suggested role of mAChRs in controlling courtship behavior: to provide increasing arousal leading to higher intensity of stridulation and finally initiating a mating attempt. At sites in the brain where muscarine stimulation was effective, stridulation could be evoked by forskolin, an activator of adenylate cyclase (AC); 8-Br-cAMP-activating protein kinase A (PKA); and 3-isobuty-1-methylxanthine, leading to the accumulation of endogenously generated cAMP through inhibition of phosphodiesterases. This suggested that mAChRs mediate excitation by stimulating the AC/cAMP/PKA pathway. In addition, muscarine-stimulated stridulation was inhibited by 2'-5'-dideoxyadenonsine and SQ 22536, two inhibitors of AC; H-89 and Rp-cAMPS, two inhibitors of PKA; and by U-73122 and neomycin, two agents that inhibit phospholipase C (PLC) by independent mechanisms. Because the inhibition of AC, PKA, or PLC by various individually applied substances entirely suppressed muscarine-evoked stridulation in a number of experiments, activation of both pathways, AC/cAMP/PKA and PLC/IP(3)/diacylglycerine, appeared to be necessary to mediate the excitatory effects of mAChRs. With these studies on an intact "behaving" grasshopper preparation, we present physiological relevance for mAChR-evoked excitation mediated by sequential activation of the AC- and PLC-initiated signaling pathways that has been reported in earlier in vitro studies.

Topics: Acetylcholine; Adenine; Adenylyl Cyclases; Animal Communication; Animals; Brain; Cyclic AMP; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; Cyclic GMP; Dideoxyadenosine; Diglycerides; Enzyme Inhibitors; Estrenes; Grasshoppers; Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate; Isoquinolines; Muscarine; Muscarinic Agonists; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors; Purinones; Pyrrolidinones; Receptors, Muscarinic; Second Messenger Systems; Sphingosine; Sulfonamides; Thapsigargin; Thionucleotides; Type C Phospholipases

As previously described for endothelin-3, platelet exposure to cyclic GMP-elevating agents such as sodium nitroprusside and M&B-22948 (2-o-propoxyphenyl-8-azapurin-6-one), a cGMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor, lowered Ca2+ mobilization in response to thrombin. Interestingly, when cGMP phosphodiesterases were blocked, endothelin-3 produced a dose-dependent cGMP accumulation (P < 0.001). Since endothelin-3 has been proposed to decrease the activity of Ca2+ accumulating pumps, we examined whether this latter effect could be mediated by a rise in cGMP content. Cyclic GMP decreased in a dose-dependent manner the initial rate and plateau value of the ATP-dependent 45Ca2+ uptake in platelet membrane vesicles (P = 0.006 for each). Furthermore, combined treatment with endothelin-3 and M&B-22948 or a moderate concentration of Na(+)-nitroprusside further reduced the thrombin-evoked Ca2+ discharge (P = 0.004 and 0.01, respectively), suggesting that endothelin-3 pre-exposure had reduced the amount of mobilizable Ca2+. We propose that the depletion of platelet Ca2+ stores and the reduction of Ca2+ release evoked by endothelin-3 could be due, at least in part, to the elevation of cGMP content and to a decrease in Ca2+ accumulating pump activity.

Topics: Analysis of Variance; Biological Transport, Active; Blood Platelets; Calcium; Cyclic GMP; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Endothelin-3; Enzyme Inhibitors; Humans; Indicators and Reagents; Nitroprusside; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors; Purinones; Thapsigargin; Thrombin