Basic mechanism leading to stimulation of glycogenolysis by isoproterenol, EGF, elevated extracellular K+ concentrations, or GABA.

Glycogenolysis, in brain parenchyma an astrocyte-specific process, has changed from being envisaged as an emergency procedure to playing central roles during brain response to whisker stimulation, memory formation, astrocytic K(+) uptake and stimulated release of ATP. It is activated by several transmitters and by even very small increases in extracellular K(+) concentration, and to be critically dependent upon an increase in free cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]i), whereas cAMP plays only a facilitatory role together with increased [Ca(2+)]i. Detailed knowledge about the signaling pathways eliciting glycogenolysis is therefore of interest and was investigated in the present study in well differentiated cultures of mouse astrocytes. The β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol stimulated glycogenolysis by a β1-adrenergic effect, which initiated a pathway in which cAMP/protein kinase A activated a Gi/Gs shift, leading to Ca(2+)-activated glycogenolysis. Inhibition of this pathway downstream of cAMP but upstream of the Gi/Gs shift abolished the glycogenolysis. However, inhibitors operating downstream of the Ca(2+)-sensitive step, but preventing transactivation-mediated epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor stimulation, a later step in the activated pathway, also caused inhibition of glycogenolysis. For this reason the effect of EGF was investigated and it was found to be glycogenolytic. Large increases in extracellular K(+) activated glycogenolysis by a nifedipine-inhibited L-channel opening allowing influx of Ca(2+), known to be glycogenolysis-dependent. Small increases (addition of 5 mM KCl) caused a smaller effect by a similarly glycogenolysis-reliant opening of an IP3 receptor-dependent ouabain signaling pathway. The same pathway could be activated by GABA (also in brain slices) due to its depolarizing effect in astrocytes.