cAMP-mediated decrease in K+ conductance evoked by serotonin and dopamine in the same neuron: a biochemical and physiological single-cell study.

The extracellular application of either serotonin or dopamine and the intracellular injection of cAMP all evoke in the same identified neurons of the snail Helix aspersa inward currents associated with a decrease in K+ conductance. The serotonin-, dopamine-, and cAMP-induced inward currents all show the same maximal amplitude. When the response to one transmitter is maximal, the response to the other is blocked. Using a single-cell microassay, we found that both serotonin and dopamine stimulate the adenylate cyclase [adenosine triphosphate pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.6.1] activity of the neurons giving the inward-current responses; on the other hand, the adenylate cyclase activity of a neuron that does not show the serotonin- and dopamine-induced currents was not stimulated by the transmitters. In contrast with the nonsummation of the maximal inward-current responses, the maximal stimulating effects of the transmitters on the enzyme activity are additive. The diterpene forskolin, which stimulates the adenylate cyclase activity of the single cells 9-fold, also evokes an inward current. We conclude that single snail neurons are endowed with independent serotonin and dopamine receptors linked to the adenylate cyclase. Activation of each of these receptors evokes a cAMP-mediated decrease in K+ conductance. The physiological interaction between the transmitters probably takes place at a late step in the chain of events leading from the increase in cAMP to the closing of the K+ channels.