In vivo administered reserpine increases piecemeal degranulation in rat adrenal chromaffin cells.
The effects of the amine-depletory agent reserpine have been evaluated by transmission electron microscopy in chromaffin cells of the rat adrenal glands. The drug has been injected intraperitoneally in the animals at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg body weight in two administrations at 24-hr interval. The observed ultrastructural changes closely reminded of piecemeal degranulation (PMD), a slow and long-lasting secretory process previously described in normal and tumor pheochromocytes. Both adrenaline- and noradrenaline-storing cells presented the following microscopic features: high granule polymorphism, due to coexistence in the same cell of normal resting granules, granules with partially mobilized components, and large empty containers; absence of granule fusion; characteristic "haloed" pattern of residual secretory contents; great amount of 30-150 nm diameter, membrane-bound, electron-dense and -lucent vesicles, free in the cytoplasm or attached to granules; and multiple vesicles budding from the granule-limiting membranes. Morphometric analysis revealed that the frequency of all these microscopic parameters was found to be significantly increased in adrenal chromaffin cells from reserpinized rats in comparison to cells from control animals. These data suggest that reserpine, besides blocking the inward transport of catecholamines in chromaffin granules, might also stimulate a complex secretory reaction, which shares many common passages with bona fide PMD.
Crivellato
Enrico
E
Department of Medical and Morphological Research, Section of Anatomy, University of Udine School of Medicine, Udine, Italy. enrico.crivellato@uniud.it
Belloni
Anna
A
Nico
Beatrice
B
Nussdorfer
Gastone G
GG
Ribatti
Domenico
D
D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000166:cytology; D018663:Adrenergic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D015550:Cell Degranulation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D019439:Chromaffin Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012110:Reserpine / Q000494:pharmacology*
D018663:Adrenergic Agents; D012110:Reserpine