title: Nifedipine blocks Ca2+ store refilling through a pathway not involving L-type Ca2+ channels in rabbit arteriolar smooth muscle.
abstract: This study assessed the contribution of L-type Ca2+ channels and other Ca2+ entry pathways to Ca2+ store refilling in choroidal arteriolar smooth muscle. Voltage-clamp recordings were made from enzymatically isolated choroidal microvascular smooth muscle cells and from cells within vessel fragments (containing < 10 cells) using the whole-cell perforated patch-clamp technique. Cell Ca2+ was estimated by fura-2 microfluorimetry. After Ca2+ store depletion with caffeine (10 mM), refilling was slower in cells held at -20 mV compared to -80 mV (refilling half-time was 38 +/- 10 and 20 +/- 6 s, respectively). To attempt faster refilling via L-type Ca2+ channels, depolarising steps from -60 to -20 mV were applied during a 30 s refilling period following caffeine depletion. Each step activated L-type Ca2+ currents and [Ca2+]i transients, but failed to accelerate refilling. At -80 mV and in 20 mM TEA, prolonged caffeine exposure produced a transient Ca2+-activated Cl- current (I(Cl)(Ca)) followed by a smaller sustained current. The sustained current was resistant to anthracene-9-carboxylic acid (1 mM; an I(Cl)(Ca) blocker) and to BAPTA AM, but was abolished by 1 microM nifedipine. This nifedipine-sensitive current reversed at +29 +/- 2 mV, which shifted to +7 +/- 5 mV in Ca2+-free solution. Cyclopiazonic acid (20 microM; an inhibitor of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase) also activated the nifedipine-sensitive sustained current. At -80 mV, a 5 s caffeine exposure emptied Ca2+ stores and elicited a transient I(Cl)(Ca). After 80 s refilling, another caffeine challenge produced a similar inward current. Nifedipine (1 microM) during refilling reduced the caffeine-activated I(Cl)(Ca) by 38 +/- 5 %. The effect was concentration dependent (1-3000 nM, EC50 64 nM). In Ca2+-free solution, store refilling was similarly depressed (by 46 +/- 6 %). Endothelin-1 (10 nM) applied at -80 mV increased [Ca2+]i, which subsided to a sustained 198 +/- 28 nM above basal. Cell Ca2+ was then lowered by 1 microM nifedipine (to 135 +/- 22 nM), which reversed on washout. These results show that L-type Ca2+ channels fail to contribute to Ca2+ store refilling in choroidal arteriolar smooth muscle. Instead, they refill via a novel non-selective store-operated cation conductance that is blocked by nifedipine.
authors: Smooth Muscle Group, Department of Physiology, Queens University, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK.
authors: T M
authors: TM
authors: Curtis
authors: C N
authors: CN
authors: Scholfield
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type / Q000378:metabolism*; D002829:Choroid / Q000098:blood supply; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009543:Nifedipine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010726:Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type; D019332:Endothelin-1; D010726:Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors; D002110:Caffeine; D009543:Nifedipine; D002118:Calcium