Inositol phospholipid metabolism during and following synaptic activation: role of adenosine.

The metabolic pathway of inositol phospholipids represents a series of synthetic and hydrolytic reactions with inositol as a by-product. Hence, the rate of [3H]inositol release from prelabeled phospholipids can be used as a reflection of activity of this pathway. In the frog sympathetic ganglion prelabeled with [3H]inositol, we studied the effect of synaptic activity (orthodromic stimulation) on release of 3H-label into the medium. This release was interpreted as [3H]inositol release. The value was low at rest and increased significantly by 32% during orthodromic stimulation (20 Hz for 5 min). However, on cessation of the stimulation, [3H]inositol release increased rapidly by 148% and remained elevated for at least 45 min. This increase in [3H]inositol release during and after the stimulation period was reduced by suffusion of the ganglia with adenosine. We hypothesized that synaptic activation releases a long-lasting stimulatory agonist and a short-lasting inhibitory (adenosine) agonist or agonists affecting [3H]inositol release. To demonstrate the presence of a stimulatory agonist, two sympathetic ganglia were used. One was prelabeled with [3H]inositol, and the other was not. The two ganglia were placed together in a 5-microliter droplet of Ringer's solution containing atropine. Orthodromic stimuli applied to the nonlabeled ganglion elicited release of [3H]inositol from the nonstimulated ganglion. To test whether the adenosine formed during orthodromic stimulation inhibits [3H]inositol release, we destroyed endogenous adenosine by suffusion of the ganglia with adenosine deaminase during the stimulation period. We found that adenosine deaminase induced large increases in [3H]inositol release during the stimulation period, in contrast to an increase seen only during the poststimulation period when adenosine deaminase was omitted. Because [3H]inositol release is assumed to parallel changes in content of inositol phosphates, we anticipated no changes of the levels of these compounds during orthodromic stimulation. However, measurements showed that levels of inositol phosphates and inositol phospholipids were all elevated except for phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate. On termination of the stimulus, they remained elevated, with a further increase in levels of inositol trisphosphate and phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate. We conclude that endogenous adenosine inhibits [3H]inositol release, possibly by modulating several of the steps of the inositol phospholipid pathway.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)