Tetrodotoxin-resistant release of ATP from guinea-pig taenia coli and vas deferens during electrical field stimulation in the presence of luciferin-luciferase

Abstract

Guinea-pig taenia coli was superfused with medium containing luciferin-luciferase at 25 °C in order to directly detect the release of ATP. The resting lone of the tissue increased during the first 2–10 min of superfusion and then fell to a low level where spontaneous activity ceased. Under high tone conditions during the first 2–10 min of exposure to luciferin-luciferase, in the presence of atropine and guanethidine, ATP was released and the taenia coli relaxed when stimulated at 2–4 Hz, 70 V, 0.3-ms pulses for 15 s. Variable and continuous changes of tone made it difficult to test whether relaxation and release of ATP were tetrodotoxin sensitive. Field stimulation of preparations showing low tone after the initial exposure to luciferin-luciferase also resulted in ATP release. The muscle usually contracted during stimulation, even in the presence of atropine. Release was not due to movement of the muscle, since the release preceded the movement of the tissue and contraction with acetylcholine failed to release ATP. Neither release nor the contractile response of the tissue were blocked by tetrodotoxin (3 × 10⁻⁶ M), suggesting that under these conditions the release of ATP originated from the muscle or possibly directly from nerve terminals. A qualitatively similar release of ATP was also observed when desheathed guinea-pig vas deferens was field-stimulated electrically in the presence of luciferin-luciferase. Tetrodotoxin did not block ATP from this tissue either, but unlike the taenia coli, it did abolish the contractile response, which was not affected by luciferin-luciferase during the 1st h of exposure. It is concluded that in the presence of luciferin-luciferase the field-stimulation induced release of ATP observed in guinea pig taenia coli or vas deferens was not mediated by propagation of action potentials in nerve.