title: cAMP: fuel for extracellular adenosine formation?
abstract: It is well known that cAMP, an important intracellular second messenger, is released from many cells upon adenylate cyclase stimulation. Cell surface bound phosphodiesterase together with ecto-5'-nucleotidase may convert the extracellular cAMP to adenosine, which may stimulate in a paracrine and/or autocrine manner cells expressing P1 receptors. In this issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology, Chiavegatti et al. demonstrate the existence of an extracellular cAMP-adenosine cascade in skeletal muscle cells which suggests a link between adrenergic stimulation of contraction, elevated cAMP formation and release and exercise hyperaemia.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Herz- und Kreislaufphysiologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. axel.goedecke@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gödecke
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism*; D005110:Extracellular Space; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000242:Cyclic AMP; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases; D000241:Adenosine