Arachidonic acid and oleoylacetylglycerol induce a synergistic facilitation of Ca(2+)-dependent glutamate release from hippocampal mossy fiber nerve endings.

Arachidonic acid and oleoylacetylglycerol enhance depolarization-evoked glutamate release from hippocampal mossy fiber nerve endings. It was proposed this is a Ca(2+)-dependent effect and that protein kinase C is involved. Here we report that arachidonic acid and oleoylacetylglycerol synergistically potentiate the glutamate release induced by the Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin. The Ca2+ dependence of this effect was established, as removal of Ca2+ eliminated evoked release and the lipid-dependent potentiation. Also, Ca2+ channel blockers attenuated ionomycin- and KCl-evoked exocytosis, as well as the facilitating effects of the lipid mediators. Although facilitation required Ca2+, it may not involve an enhancement of evoked Ca2+ accumulation, because ionomycin-dependent glutamate release was potentiated under conditions that did not increase ionomycin-induced Ca2+ accumulation. Also, the facilitation may not depend on inhibition of K+ efflux, because enhanced release was observed in the presence of increasing concentrations of 4-aminopyridine and diazoxide did not reduce the lipid-dependent potentiation of exocytosis. In contrast, disruption of cytoskeleton organization with cytochalasin D occluded the lipid-dependent facilitations of both KCl- and ionomycin-evoked glutamate release. In addition, arachidonic acid plus glutamatergic or cholinergic agonists enhanced glutamate release, whereas a role for protein kinase C in the potentiation of exocytosis was substantiated using kinase inhibitors. It appears that the lipid-dependent facilitation of glutamate release from mossy fiber nerve endings requires Ca2+ and involves multiple presynaptic effects, some of which depend on protein kinase C.