Cellular mechanisms of adrenaline-induced hyperpolarization in renal epitheloid MDCK cells

The effects of adrenaline on the potential difference across the cell membrane, on formation of inositol phosphates and on intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) were analysed in cells without or with pretreatment with pertussis toxin or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). In untreated cells, adrenaline leads to a sustained hyperpolarization, a stimulation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 and Ins(1,3,4,5,)P4 formation and a transient increase in [Ca2+]i from 78 +/- 7 to 555 +/- 43 nM, followed by a plateau of 260 +/- 23 microM. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+ the effect of adrenaline on both potential difference and [Ca2+]i is transient. In cells pretreated with pertussis toxin, the effects of adrenaline on InsP3 and [Ca2+]i are still preserved, but the effect on potential difference is transient. In cells pretreated with PMA, the effect of adrenaline on InsP3 formation is severely decreased and that on [Ca2+]i abolished, whereas a transient hyperpolarizing effect is still present. This transient hyperpolarization is abolished by additional pretreatment with pertussis toxin. The observations suggest that adrenaline hyperpolarizes the cell membrane of MDCK cells by several distinct mechanisms. First, adrenaline stimulates the formation of InsP3 and InsP4, which at least in part accounts for the release of intracellular Ca2+ and the entry of Ca2+ from the extracellular fluid. Stimulation of phospholipase C is not mediated by pertussis-toxin-sensitive G-proteins, but apparently is inhibited by activation of protein kinase C. Second, adrenaline hyperpolarizes the cell membrane by a mechanism independent from increase in [Ca2+]i which is sensitive to pertussis toxin but is, at least in part, insensitive to PMA.