alpha-Latrotoxin alters spontaneous and depolarization-evoked quantal release from rat adrenal chromaffin cells: evidence for multiple modes of action.

alpha-Latrotoxin (alpha-LT) potently enhances both "spontaneous" and "depolarization-evoked" quantal secretion from neurons. Here we have used the patch-clamped rat adrenal chromaffin cell to examine simultaneously the effects of alpha-LT on membrane current or voltage, cytosolic Ca, and membrane capacitance, the latter used as an assay for exocytosis. In chromaffin cells exposed to toxin concentrations of >100 pM, the development of large conductance, Ca-permeable ion channels, accompanied by a rise in cytosolic Ca to levels near 1 microM, precedes the initiation of spontaneous exocytosis. These channels appear to be induced de novo, because they occur concurrently with massive reduction or pharmacological block of voltage-dependent Na and Ca currents. However, enhancement of depolarization-evoked release, seen in many cells at <50 pM toxin, often occurs in the absence of a rise in background cytosolic Ca or de novo channel activity. These results favor Ca entry through toxin-induced channels underlying initiation of spontaneous release and direct modulation of the secretory machinery by the toxin-bound receptor contributing to enhancement of depolarization-evoked secretion as well as spontaneous release.