Abstract
Adenosine A1 receptors induce an inhibition of adenylyl cyclase via
G-proteins of the Gi/o family. In addition, simultaneous stimulation
of A1 receptors and of receptor-mediated activation of phospholipase
C (PLC) results in a synergistic potentiation of PLC activity. Evidence
has accumulated that Gbetagamma subunits mediate this potentiating
effect. However, an A1 receptor-mediated increase in extracellular
glutamate was suggested to be responsible for the potentiating effect
in mouse astrocyte cultures. We have investigated the synergistic
activation of PLC by adenosine A1 and alpha1 adrenergic receptors
in primary cultures of astrocytes derived from different regions
of the newborn rat brain. It is reported here that (1) adenosine
A1 receptor mRNA as well as receptor protein is present in astrocytes
from all brain regions, (2) A1 receptor-mediated inhibition of adenylyl
cyclase is of similar extent in all astrocyte cultures, (3) the A1
receptor-mediated potentiation of PLC activity requires higher concentrations
of agonist than adenylyl cyclase inhibition and is dependent on the
expression level of A1 receptor, and (4) the potentiating effect
on PLC activity is unrelated to extracellular glutamate. Taken together,
our data support the notion that betagamma subunits are the relevant
signal transducers for A1 receptor-mediated PLC activation in rat
astrocytes. Because of the lower affinity of betagamma, as compared
with alpha subunits, more betagamma subunits are required for PLC
activation. Therefore, only in cultures with higher levels of adenosine
A1 receptors is the release of betagamma subunits via Gi/o activation
sufficient to stimulate PLC. It is concluded that variation of the
expression level of adenosine A1 receptors may be an important regulatory
mechanism to control PLC activation via this receptor.
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