title: Spontaneous transients of [Ca2+]i depend on external calcium and the activation of L-type voltage-gated calcium channels in a clonal pituitary cell line (AtT-20) of cultured mouse corticotropes.
abstract: Spontaneous transients of [Ca2+]i were recorded from single nonstimulated cells of a clonal pituitary cell line of corticotropes, AtT-20/D16v. The spontaneous [Ca2+]i transients were dependent on calcium entry from the extracellular solution because they were abolished both in the absence of extracellular calcium and with the addition of cobalt to the calcium-containing extracellular solution. Calcium entry occurred through voltage-gated (VGCC) L-type calcium channels because the [Ca2+]i transients were blocked by L-type calcium channel antagonists, e.g. nifedipine, and were unaffected by the addition of tetrodotoxin. Bay K 8644 (1 microM) induced transient increases in [Ca2+]i which were also blocked reversibly by either the absence of extracellular calcium or the addition of an L-type calcium channel antagonist (e.g. nifedipine). The resting levels of [Ca2+]i and the frequency, but not the amplitude or duration, of the spontaneous [Ca2+]i transients increased as the concentration of extracellular calcium was elevated in concentrations ranging from 1.8-7.2 mM. Potassium depolarization reversibly elevated resting levels of [Ca2+]i and initiated the spontaneous calcium transients. These results indicate that extracellular calcium modulates the frequency of spontaneous [Ca2+]i transients in AtT-20 cells which are caused by the activation of L-type calcium channels by a spontaneous increase in the permeability of the cell membrane to calcium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405, USA.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Fiekers
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Konopka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002999:Clone Cells; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D051379:Mice; D010903:Pituitary Gland, Anterior / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D002118:Calcium