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Evidence for evoked release of adenosine and glutamate from cultured cerebellar granule cells

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Abstract

Evoked release of [3H]-D-aspartate which labels the neurotransmitter glutamate pool in cultured cerebellar granule cells was compared with evoked release of adenosine from similar cultures. It was found that both adenosine and [3H]-D-aspartate could be released from the neurons in a calcium dependent manner after depolarization of the cells with either 10–100 μM glutamate or 50 mM KCl. Cultures of cerebellar granule cells treated with 50 μM kainate to eliminate GABAergic neurons behaved in the same way. This together with the observation that cultured astrocytes did not exhibit a calcium dependent, potassium stimulated adenosine release strongly suggest that cerebellar granule cells release adenosine in a neurotransmitter-like fashion together with glutamate which is the classical neurotransmitter of these neurons. Studies of the metabolism of adenosine showed that in the granule cells adenosine is rapidly metabolized to ATP, ADP, and AMP, but in spite of this, adenosine was found to be released preferential to ATP.

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Author notes

  1. Jørgen Drejer

    Present address: NeuroSearch A/S, DK-2600, Glostrup, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PharmaBiotec Research Center, The Neurobiology Unit, Department of Biochemistry A, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Arne Schousboe & Aase Frandsen

  2. CNS-division, Ferrosan A/S, DK-2860, Soborg, Denmark

    Jørgen Drejer

Authors
  1. Arne Schousboe
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  2. Aase Frandsen
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  3. Jørgen Drejer
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Schousboe, A., Frandsen, A. & Drejer, J. Evidence for evoked release of adenosine and glutamate from cultured cerebellar granule cells. Neurochem Res 14, 871–875 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00964817

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