Roles of Ca2+, inositol trisphosphate and cyclic ADP-ribose in mediating intercellular Ca2+ signaling in sheep lens cells.

To further characterize how gap junction-dependent Ca2+ waves propagate between sheep lens cells, we examined the possible roles of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), Ca2+ and cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR) in mediating intercellular Ca2+ waves. Second messengers were microinjected into a single cell in a monolayer of sheep lens cells while monitoring cytosolic Ca2+ with fura-2 and fluorescence microscopy. All three compounds initiated intercellular Ca2+ waves, but more cells responded following the injection of either IP3 or cADPR than responded following the injection of Ca2+. When either IP3 or cADPR was co-injected with the Ca2+ chelator EGTA, cytosolic Ca2+ in the injected cell decreased but cytosolic Ca2+ in the adjacent cells increased, indicating that the intercellular messenger was IP3 or cADPR, rather than Ca2+. The phospholipase C inhibitor U73122 eliminated mechanically initiated intercellular Ca2+ waves, indicating that mechanical initiation probably requires IP3 production. In U73122-treated cells, injected IP3 initiated an intercellular Ca2+ wave in which the number of cells responding increased as the amount of IP3 injected increased, indicating that the distance traveled by the Ca2+ wave was dependent on cell-to-cell diffusion of IP3. In contrast, the ability of cADPR both to increase cytosolic Ca2+ in the injected cell and to initiate intercellular Ca2+ waves was greatly attenuated by U73122. In conclusion, Ca2+, IP3 and cADPR can all mediate intercellular Ca2+ waves by passing through gap junction channels, but both IP3 and cADPR are more effective intercellular messengers than Ca2+.