Human adrenal chromaffin cell calcium channels: drastic current facilitation in cell clusters, but not in isolated cells

 Human adrenal medullary chromaffin cells were prepared and cultured from a cystic tumoral adrenal gland whose medullary tissue was unaffected. Adrenaline-containing and noradrenaline-containing cells were identified using a confocal fluorescence microscope and antibodies against dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) and phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT). Current/voltage (I/V) curves performed with the voltage-clamped cells bathed in 10 mM Ba²⁺ (holding potential, V _h=–80 mV) revealed the presence of only high-threshold voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ channels; T-type Ca²⁺ channels were not seen. By using supramaximal concentrations of selective Ca²⁺ channel blockers, the whole-cell I _Ba could be fractionated into various subcomponents. Thus, I _Ba had a 25% fraction sensitive to 1 μM nifedipine (L-type channels), 21% sensitive to 1 μM ω-conotoxin GVIA (N-type channels), and 60% sensitive to 2 μM ω-agatoxin IVA (P/Q-type channels). The activation of I _Ba was considerably slowed down, and the peak current was inhibited upon superfusion with 10 μM ATP. The slow activation and peak current blockade were reversed by strong depolarizing pre-pulses to +100 mV (facilitation). A drastic facilitation of I _Ba was also observed in voltage-clamped human chromaffin cell surrounded by other unclamped cells; in contrast, in voltage-clamped cells not immersed in a cell cluster, facilitation was scarce. So, facilitation of Ca²⁺ channels in a voltage-clamped cell seems to depend upon the exocytotic activity of neighbouring unclamped cells, which is markedly increased by Ba²⁺. It is concluded that human adrenal chromaffin cells mostly express P/Q-types of voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ channels (60%). L-Type channels and N-type channels are also expressed, but to a considerably minor extent (around 20% each). This dominance of P/Q-type channels in human chromaffin cells clearly contrasts with the relative proportion of each channel type expressed by chromaffin cells of five other animal species studied previously, where the P/Q-type channels accounted for 5–50%. The results also provide strong support for the hypothesis that Ca²⁺ channels of human chromaffin cells are regulated in an autocrine/paracrine fashion by materials co-secreted with the catecholamines, i.e. ATP and opiates. Received: 1 May 1998 / Received after revision and accepted: 21 May 1998