Abstract

DDT1-MF2 smooth muscle cells demonstrated a robust phospholipase C response to norepinephrine, as detected by inositol phosphate accumulation. A selective A1-adenosine receptor agonist, cyclopentyladenosine, caused only a minor stimulation of phospholipase C, which was eliminated in the absence of added extracellular calcium. The simultaneous addition of norepinephrine and cyclopentyladenosine resulted in a synergistic increase in phosphoinositide hydrolysis either in the absence or in the presence of external calcium. In the presence of external calcium and a calcium ionophore, and adenosine agonist caused a significant stimulation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis without the addition of norepinephrine. Influx of extracellular calcium through voltage-sensitive calcium channels did not appear to be required to observe an effect of cyclopentyladenosine, because neither calcium channel antagonists (nifedipine, verapamil, and LaCl3) nor a chelator of extracellular calcium (ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid) were able to alter the degree of potentiation of norepinephrine-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis due to the adenosine agonist. On the other hand, buffering of intracellular calcium concentration with the membrane-permeant calcium chelator quin2 blocked the potentiation. This blockade of potentiation by quin2 was reversed by the addition of extracellular calcium. Agents that stimulated cAMP production or membrane-permeable analogues of cAMP also blocked the action of the adenosine agonist to potentiate norepinephrine-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis. This effect of cAMP was less pronounced in the presence of elevated extracellular calcium and was abolished in the presence of a calcium ionophore. When norepinephrine-stimulated calcium transients were quantitated using fura-2 fluorescence, a reduction in the amplitude of the calcium response was observed in the presence of forskolin. Conversely, both the amplitude and the duration of the calcium response were enhanced by the addition of the adenosine agonist. The results of these studies suggest that the mechanism by which adenosine receptors enhance the stimulation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis is dependent upon a rise in intracellular Ca2+ concentration resulting from the simultaneous activation of alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. The results further suggest that cAMP inhibits this mechanism by decreasing the norepinephrine-stimulated rise in intracellular Ca2+ concentration.