title: Regulation of intracellular free calcium in normal and dystrophic mouse cerebellar neurons.
abstract: We measured free intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) in cultured cerebellar granule cells from normal and mdx mice. Resting levels of ([Ca2+]i) were 24% higher in the dystrophic neurons (normal: 61.2 +/- 1.5 nM calcium, n = 104; dystrophic: 76.1 +/- 2.4 nM calcium, n = 136, P less than 0.01). Dystrophic neurons showed a significantly greater increase in ([Ca2+]i) in the presence of elevated (18 mM) extracellular calcium levels. Resting sodium levels ([Na+]i), however, were found to be similar in normal and dystrophic granule neurons. In addition, sodium influx rates after ouabain inhibition of the Na+/K+ ATPase were also identical. Therefore, the increased permeability of granule neurons was specific to calcium, and did not result from a non-selective cation-permeable conductance. Unlike granule cells, astrocytes do not express dystrophin. Glial cells from normal and dystrophic mice showed no difference in their resting free calcium levels or their response to a high calcium load. Thus, cerebellar granule neurons from mdx mice show a calcium-specific regulatory defect similar to that found in dystrophic muscle fibers, while cerebellar glial cells, which do not normally express dystrophin, have no such defect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Hopf
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steinhardt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000378:metabolism*; D016257:Fura-2; D006706:Homeostasis; D007700:Kinetics; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008818:Mice, Neurologic Mutants; D009137:Muscular Dystrophy, Animal / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D010042:Ouabain / Q000494:pharmacology; D012016:Reference Values; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D010042:Ouabain; D012964:Sodium; D002118:Calcium; D016257:Fura-2