[Intracellular calcium channels, hormone receptors and intercellular calcium waves]

The hormone-mediated intercellular Ca2+ waves were analyzed in multiplets of rat hepatocytes by video imaging of fura2 fluorescence. These multicellular systems are composed of groups of several cells (doublets to quintuplets) issued from the liver cell plate, a one cell-thick cord of about 20 hepatocytes long between portal and centrolobular veins. When the multiplets were homogeneously bathed with the glycogenolytic agonists vasopressin, noradrenaline, angiotensin II and ATP, they showed highly organized Ca2+ signals. Surprisingly, for a given agonist, the primary rises in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) originated invariably in the same hepatocyte, then was propagated in a sequential manner to the nearest connected cells (cell 2, then 3, cell 4 in a quadruplet, for example). The sequential activation of the cells appeared to be an intrinsic property of multiplets of rat hepatocytes. The same sequence was observed at each train of oscillations occurring between cells. The order of [Ca2+]i responses was modified neither by repeated additions of hormones nor by the hormonal dose. The mechanical disruption of an intermediate cell did not prevent the activation of the next cell. These results suggest that each hepatocyte in the multiplet displays its own sensitivity to the hormone and that a gradient of sensitivity between each cell could be responsible for directing the intercellular Ca2+ wave. To test this hypothesis, we selectively isolated rat hepatocytes from periportal (PP) and perivenous (PV) areas of the liver cell plate. Periportal (PP) and perivenous (PV) rat hepatocyte suspensions were loaded with quin2/AM and hormonal responses were studied in a spectrofluorimeter. Noradrenaline, angiotensin II, and vasopressin-induced [Ca2+]i rises were greater in PV than in PP hepatocytes. In contrast, PP cells were more responsive than PV cells to ATP. The function of the InsP3 receptor (InsP3R) was also studied by measuring the InsP3-mediated 45Ca2+ release from permeabilized PP and PV hepatocytes. In permeabilized PP and PV hepatocytes, internal Ca2+ stores displayed the same loading-kinetics, the responses to InsP3 were similar, and the sizes of InsP3-sensitive compartment were not different. In a further study, we investigated by video microscopy in fura2-loaded multicellular systems of rat hepatocytes, the mechanisms controlling intercellular propagation of the Ca2+ wave and coordination of Ca2+ signals induced by the different hormones. Using focal microperfusion which allows local perfusion of any cell of the multiplet, rapid agonist removal during the Ca2+ response and microinjection, we found that second messengers and [Ca2+]i rises in one hepatocyte cannot trigger Ca2+ responses in connected adjacent cells, suggesting that diffusion across gap junctions, while required for coordination, is not sufficient by itself for the propagation of the intercellular Ca2+ wave. In addition, focal microperfusion and intermediate cell disruption experiments revealed very fine functional differences (hormonal delay, frequency of [Ca2+]i oscillations) between hormone-induced Ca2+ signals, even between two adjacent connected hepatocytes. Recent unpublished results performed in suspensions of PP and PV rat hepatocytes supported the view of a major role played by vasopressin receptors (V1a) in genesis and orientation of the Ca2+ wave. Vasopressin binding sites, V1a mRNAs detected by RNAse Protection Assay, and vasopressin-induced InsP3 production, were more abundant in PV than in PP cells. A gradient of hormone receptors could orientate the propagation of the Ca2+ wave in multicellular systems and in liver cell plate. These results suggest that the intercellular Ca2+ wave in multicellular systems of rat hepatocytes is propagated through mechanisms involving at least three factors. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)