title: Intercellular calcium signaling mediated by point-source burst release of ATP.
abstract: Calcium signaling, manifested as intercellular waves of rising cytosolic calcium, is, in many cell types, the result of calcium-induced secretion of ATP and activation of purinergic receptors. The mechanism by which ATP is released has hitherto not been established. Here, we show by real-time bioluminescence imaging that ATP efflux is not uniform across a field of cells but is restricted to brief, abrupt point-source bursts. The ATP bursts emanate from single cells and manifest the transient opening of nonselective membrane channels, which admits fluorescent indicators of < or = 1.5 kDa. These observations challenge the existence of regenerative ATP release, because ATP efflux is finite and restricted to a point source. Transient efflux of cytosolic nucleotides from a subset of cells may represent a conserved pathway for coordinating local activity of electrically nonexcitable cells, because identical patterns of ATP release were identified in human astrocytes, endothelial cells, and bronchial epithelial cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Anatomy, and Pathology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arcuino
authors.forename: Jane H-C
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: Collins
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Maiken
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nedergaard
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D051381:Rats; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014471:Umbilical Veins
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate