Reproductive experience affects parental retrieval behaviour associated with increased plasma oxytocin levels in wild-type and CD38-knockout mice.

The transition to motherhood results in a number of hormonal, neurological and behavioural changes necessary to ensure offspring growth. Once motherhood is established, further neurological and behavioural changes may result in long-term memory in mothering. Recent research has shown that postpartum motherhood enhances both nurturing behaviour and oxytocin activities. The transmembrane glycoprotein, CD38, is expressed on many neuronal cells and has been shown to play a role in social behaviours through stimulating the release of oxytocin in the hypothalamus. The present study was performed to investigate the effects of reproductive experience (primi- and multiparity, dams and sires) on the degree of parental behaviour, such as retrieval. Comparisons were performed between wild-type (Cd38 (+/+) ) and Cd38 knockout (Cd38 (-/-) ) mice of the ICR strain. Multiparous Cd38 (-/-) dams retrieved pups much faster than primiparous mice, whereas there were no significant differences between primi- and multiparous Cd38 (+/+) dams. Plasma oxytocin levels were significantly increased in multiparous dams of both genotypes. In addition, oxytocin levels in the hypothalamus and pituitary were lower in Cd38 (-/-) than in wild-type mice. ADP-ribosyl cyclase activity in the hypothalamus, but not in the pituitary, was slightly increased in Cd38 (+/+) dams. In an identical test, 40% of first-time Cd38 (+/+) sires showed retrieval. The time required to retrieval was shorter in second-time Cd38 (+/+) sires. Both first- and second-time Cd38 (-/-) sires showed only 10% retrieval behaviour. These results indicate that parental behaviour is improved by reproductive experience, especially in Cd38 (-/-) dams, and suggest that these effects may be a result of increased oxytocin levels.

CD38/cyclic ADP-ribose system: a new player for oxytocin secretion and regulation of social behaviour.

Oxytocin is important for regulating a number of physiological processes. Disruption of the secretion, metabolism or action of oxytocin results in an impairment of reproductive function, social and sexual behaviours, and stress responses. This review discusses current views on the regulation and autoregulation of oxytocin release in the hypothalamic-neurohypophysial system, with special focus on the activity of the CD38/cADP-ribose system as a new component in this regulation. Data from our laboratories indicate that an impairment of this system results in alterations of oxytocin secretion and abnormal social behaviour, thus suggesting new clues that help in our understanding of the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.

KCR1, a membrane protein that facilitates functional expression of non-inactivating K+ currents associates with rat EAG voltage-dependent K+ channels.

Cerebellar granule neurons possess a non-inactivating K+ current, which controls resting membrane potentials and modulates the firing rate by means of muscarinic agonists. kcr1 was cloned from the cerebellar cDNA library by suppression cloning. KCR1 is a novel protein with 12 putative transmembrane domains and enhances the functional expression of the cerebellar non-inactivating K+ current in Xenopus oocytes. KCR1 also accelerates the activation of rat EAG K+ channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes or in COS-7 cells. Far-Western blotting revealed that KCR1 and EAG proteins interacted with each other by means of their C-terminal regions. These results suggest that KCR1 is the regulatory component of non-inactivating K+ channels.

Coupling of the cloned mu-opioid receptor with the omega-conotoxin-sensitive Ca2+ current in NG108-15 cells.

Voltage-dependent Ca2+ currents were measured in NG108-15 neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells transformed to express the rat mu-opioid receptor by the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique with Ba2+ as charge carrier. A mu-opioid receptor-selective agonist, [D-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]-enkephalin caused significant inhibition of voltage-dependent Ca2+ currents in mu-receptor-transformed NG108-15 cells but not in nontransfected or vector-transformed control cells. On the other hand, a delta-opioid receptor-selective agonist, [D-penicillamine2,D-penicillamine5]enkephalin, induced inhibition of voltage-dependent Ca2+ currents in both control and mu-receptor-transformed cells, which is mediated by the delta-opioid receptor expressed endogenously in NG108-15 cells. The inhibition of voltage-dependent Ca2+ currents induced by [D-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]enkephalin [D-penicillamine2,D-penicillamine5]enkephalin was reduced by pretreatment of the cells with pertussis toxin or omega-contoxin GVIA. These results indicate that the mu-opioid receptor expressed from cDNA functionally couples with omega-contoxin-sensitive N-type Ca2+ channels through the action of pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins in NG108-15 cells.

Participation of a proton-cotransporter, MCT1, in the intestinal transport of monocarboxylic acids.

A molecular mechanism for the intestinal monocarboxylic acid transport was characterized by using a proton/monocarboxylate transporter, MCT1, in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, first found by Garcia et al. (Cell, 76, 865-873, 1994). Northern blotting analysis showed that MCT1-isomers exist in the rat and rabbit intestinal enterocytes and Caco-2 cells. The expression of [14C]lactic acid uptake by Xenopus laevis oocytes injected with rabbit intestinal mRNA was reduced by hybridizing the mRNA with a MCT1 cDNA of CHO cells before microinjection used as the antisense DNA. [14C]Lactic acid uptake by CHO cells was pH dependent, saturable, stereospecific, and reduced in the presence of acetic acid, benzoic acid, S- and R-ibuprofen, S- and R-mandelic acid, nicotinic acid, pravastatin, propionic acid and valproic acid. In addition, several monocarboxylic acids were transported in pH-dependent and saturable manners. These results suggest that the intestinal MCT1-related protein contributes to a carrier-mediated absorption for organic weak acid compounds.

Whole-cell analysis of NGK2 (mKv3.1a) K+ channels stably expressed in mouse fibroblast cells.

NGK2 (mKv3.1a) K+ channel cDNA was introduced into mouse B82 fibroblast cells to express in a mammalian system. The NGK2 current in the stably transformed fibroblast cells exhibited a high threshold for activation and slow decay with two components. The data suggest that the NGK2 channel may contribute to slowly inactivating K+ currents observed in excitable and inexcitable cells.

Discrete acetylcholine release from neuroblastoma or hybrid cells overexpressing choline acetyltransferase into the neuromuscular synaptic cleft.

Neuroblastoma (clones NS-20Y, N1E-115, and Neuro2A) and neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid (NG108-15) cells were transfected with mouse choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) complementary DNA (cDNA) or vector DNA alone and stably transformed cell lines were established to examine their ability to secrete acetylcholine (ACh). Membrane potentials were recorded from either presynaptic neuroblastoma and hybrid cells or postsynaptic myotubes in co-culture. After transformation with ChAT, synapses were formed and miniature end-plate potentials (MEPPs) were recorded in myotubes co-cultured with Neuro2A and N1E-115 cells, while parental and mock-transfected control cells totally lacked this ability. The rate of synapse formation and/or MEPP frequency was higher in transformed NG108-15 hybrid and NS-20Y cells than that in the control cells. Action potentials of NS-20Y, Neuro2A or NG108-15 cells overexpressing ChAT were able to evoke end-plate potentials in myotubes, though the average quantum content of these cells was 0.04-0.14, which is as low as the control value. The results show that increased concentrations of ACh by ChAT cDNA transfection reveal a masked property in vesicular ACh release from Neuro2A and N1E-115 cells with no endogenous ChAT activity, or modify their secretory capacity upwardly from NG108-15 and NS-20Y cells with endogenous activity.

Overexpression of choline acetyltransferase reconstitutes discrete acetylcholine release in some but not all synapse formation-defective neuroblastoma cells.

Secretion of acetylcholine (ACh) in neuroblastoma cells overexpressing choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was examined. With transient transfection of ChAT cDNA, neuroblastoma cells, which have no endogenous ChAT and either adhere to myotubes or not, failed to form functional synapses, and thus no evidence for release of ACh was detected. Stable neuroblastoma cell lines overexpressing ChAT accumulated ACh inside the cell, and slowly released ACh to the outside of the cell in a calcium-independent fashion. However, after co-culturing them with rat muscle cells, these transformed cells adhered to myotubes and ACh was secreted in a discrete fashion into the synaptic cleft efficiently in some neuroblastoma cell lines but rather inefficiently in another cell line. The results show that the latent secretion machinery of ChAT overexpressing neuroblastoma cells either is competent or possess defect(s) in ACh release.

Charybdotoxin, dendrotoxin and mast cell degranulating peptide block the voltage-activated K+ current of fibroblast cells stably transfected with NGK1 (Kv1.2) K+ channel complementary DNA.

The blocking actions of the K+ channel toxins charybdotoxin, dendrotoxin and mast cell degranulating peptide were studied in B82 mouse fibroblast cells transformed to express NGK1 (Kv1.2) K+ channels. All three toxins were potent blockers of the K+ current in these cells, with KD values of 1.7, 2.8 and 185 nM, respectively. The toxin block exhibited a weak voltage-dependence with the degree of inhibition decreasing at positive membrane potentials. For charybdotoxin and dendrotoxin, reducing [K+]i did not increase the fractional block, demonstrating that the relief of block at positive membrane potentials is not due to displacement of the toxin molecules by outward flow of K+ ions. A voltage-jump protocol was used to determine the rates of binding and unbinding of dendrotoxin and mast cell degranulating peptide; binding of charybdotoxin was too rapid to be quantitatively evaluated in this manner. The binding rates (dendrotoxin, approximately 5 x 10(7)/M per s; mast cell degranulating peptide, approximately 0.8 x 10(7)/M per s) were largely voltage-independent, suggesting that association of the toxin molecules with the channel is diffusion limited. The rates of unbinding (dendrotoxin, approximately 0.3/s; mast cell degranulating peptide, approximately 3/s at +60 mV) of both toxins increased e-fold per approximately 40 mV change in membrane potential, thus accounting for the voltage-dependence of the equilibrium block. Internal perfusion with the three toxins failed to affect the K+ current (in contrast to internal tetraethylammonium which strongly blocked the current), indicating that the toxins exert their blocking action by binding to extracellular sites.

Effects of toki-shakuyaku-san (Tsumura TJ-23) on electrical activity in neuroblastoma cells and frog neuromuscular junctions.

Toki-shakuyaku-san (Tsumura TJ-23) is a Chinese medicine which has been used for the treatment of gynecological symptoms in aged women. There are several reports on the usefulness of this drug in the treatment of cognitive disorders. We studied the effects of toki-shakuyaku-san on electrical activity in NG108-15 cells, a cell line of differentiated neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells, and on frog neuromuscular transmission. In the hybrid cells, an extract of toki-shakuyaku-san slightly depolarized the membrane potential, and strongly decreased the peak heights of the Na+ and Ca2+ current components of the action potential. The order of potency for NG108-15 cells of the 5 ingredients in toki-shakuyaku-san was soujyutsu >> shakuyaku, takusha, toki, senkyu. In voltage-clamped NG108-15 cells, toki-shakuyaku-san and soujyutsu decreased the Na+, K+, and Ca2+ current components. Toki-shakuyaku-san and soujyutsu also induced an increase in the intracellular calcium concentration. However, toki-shakuyaku-san did not affect neuromuscular transmission in the frog sartorius muscle. The results suggest that the effects of toki-shakuyaku-san on neurons are multiple, and tissue- and species-specific, and its effect derives mainly from soujyutsu.

Potassium channels cloned from neuroblastoma cells display slowly inactivating outward currents in Xenopus oocytes.

Messenger RNAs (mRNAs) specific for NGK1 and NGK2 potassium channels were synthesized from complementary DNAs (cDNAs) that had been cloned from mouse neuroblastoma x rat glioma hybrid NG108-15 cells. Outward pottasium currents were evoked by 5 s depolarizing voltage commands in Xenopus oocytes injected with NGK1- or NGK2-specific mRNAs. The NGK1 or NGK2 currents showed different activation and inactivation kinetics, and different pharmacological sensitivities. The threshold potential for activation of the NGK2 current (-14 mV) was more positive than that for the NGK1 (-36 mV). The NGK2 current showed faster inactivation during a 5 s depolarizing pulse than did the NGK1 current. Inactivation was best fit by time constants of 0.37, 1.5 and 19 s for the NGK2 current and 4.4 and 19 s for NGK1. Extracellularly applied tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA) was 1000 times more potent on the NGK2 current than the NGK1 current. Furthermore we examined outward current following co-injection of an equal amount of mRNAs for NGK1 and NGK2. The timecourse of inactivation differed from either alone or from a simple sum of the two individual currents. TEA sensitivity could not be explained by summation of the two homomultimeric channels. These findings suggest that both NGK1 and NGK2 proteins assemble to form heteromultimeric K+ channels in addition to homomultimeric K+ channels. NGK2 channels and the heteromultimeric channels may be responsible for the native transient outward current with slow inactivation in NG108-15 hybrid cells.

[Coupling of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, m1/m3 and m2/m4, to phosphoinositide metabolism and Ca2+ channels in DNA-transfected NG108-15 cells].

The muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) is an integral membrane protein that transduces stimulus to effectors through the activation of guanine nucleotide-binding (G) proteins. Four or more subtypes of mAChR were detected in various tissues, and their primary structures were elucidated by cloning and sequence analysis of complementary DNA. Functional differences between them existed when they were expressed in clonal culture cells. mAChRI (m1) and mAChRIII (m3) preferentially activated phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis and opened Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels followed by closure of the M (K+)-currents, while such current activities were rarely evoked by mAChRII (m2)- and mAChRIV (m4)-transformed cells. Although it has been reported that mAChRII and mAChRIV inhibited adenylate cyclase, there was little or no such inhibition by mAChRI and mAChRIII. It is known that heart and neuronal mAChR modulate voltage-sensitive Ca2+ currents, but which species of mAChR subtypes are involved has been poorly understood. Recently we identified that endogenous mAChRIV and exogenous mAChRII expressed in NG108-15 neuroblastoma-glioma hybrid cells, but not mAChRI and mAChRIII, efficiently depressed high-threshold Ca2+ currents in a pertussis toxin-sensitive manner.

Selective coupling with K+ currents of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes in NG108-15 cells.

The primary structures of two muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) species, designated as mAChR I and mAChR II, have been elucidated by cloning and sequence analysis of DNAs complementary to the porcine cerebral and cardiac messenger RNAs, respectively. mAChR I and mAChR II expressed in Xenopus oocytes differ from each other both in acetylcholine-induced response and in antagonist binding properties. These results, together with the differential tissue location of the two mAChR mRNAs, have indicated that pharmacologically distinguishable subtypes of the mAChR represent distinct gene products. The primary structures of two additional mammalian mAChR species, designated as mAChR III and mAChR IV, have subsequently been deduced from the nucleotide sequences of the cloned cDNAs or genomic DNAs. We report here that mAChR I and mAChR III expressed in NG108-15 neuroblastoma-glioma hybrid cells, but not mAChR II and mAChR IV, efficiently mediate phosphoinositide hydrolysis, activation of a Ca2+-dependent K+ current and inhibition of the M-current, a voltage-dependent K+ current sensitive to muscarinic agonists.

Cytotoxic action of prostaglandin D2 on mouse neuroblastoma cells.

Addition to the culture medium of prostaglandin (PG) D2 resulted in the degeneration in a dose- and time-dependent manner of N18TG-2 cells cloned from mouse neuroblastoma. The ED50 for PGD2-induced cytotoxicity was about 10 microM. The degenerative changes were irreversible when the cells were exposed for more than 10 h. Scanning and transmission electron microscopic examination revealed that treatment with PGD2 resulted in appearance of numerous blebs of various sizes along the cell surface and also in destruction of surface membrane and of cytoplasmic organelles. Tumor weight of N18TG-2 neuroblastoma inoculated subcutaneously on the backs of A/J mice was about 35-70% less than that of controls after 14 days of single daily i.p. or s.c. injections of 0.5-1 mg/kg of PGD2. The results indicate that PGD2 has growth-inhibitory effects on mouse neuroblastoma cells in vitro and in vivo.