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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Quantifying Spontaneous Ca2+ Fluxes and their Downstream Effects in Primary Mouse Midbrain Neurons
Published on: September 9, 2020
Ca2+ channel activating action of maitotoxin in cultured brainstem neurons
Atsushi Kakizaki1, Masami Takahashi, Hiroyuki Akagi
1Department of Pharmaceutical Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
Abstract:
The actions of maitotoxin were studied using cultured brainstem cells and adrenal chromaffin cells. Maitotoxin induced a profound increase in the Ca2+ influx into cultured brainstem cells after a brief lag period. The maitotoxin-induced Ca2+ influx was suppressed by various voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel blockers such as Co2+, Mn2+, verapamil and diltiazem. Maitotoxin-catecholamine release in brainstem cells initiated to increase after a lag period of about 1 min and the increase continued even at 4 min after treatment, while in the adrenal chromaffin cells the release started after an about 1-min lag period to attain a maximum within first 2-min and gradually decrease thereafter. These results suggest that maitotoxin acts on Ca2+ channels to increase the Ca2+ influx, accompanied by enhancement of catecholamine release in the brainstem cells with a different temporal profile from that in the adrenal chromaffin cells.
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