Abstract
Increasing evidence indicates that volatile general anesthetics exert their effects by affecting various types of membrane conductance expressed in the central nervous system (CNS), such as ligand-gated receptor-channels. The most recently identified family of the receptor-channels in the CNS are the extracellular ATP-gated channels (P2X purinoceptors). In the present study, we tested whether volatile anesthetics can affect P2X receptor function in the CNS network. We recorded whole-cell currents of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons in pontine slices from young rats. Adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) sodium (0.03-3 mM) evoked a rapidly rising and moderately desensitizing inward current (50-200 pA) in a dose-dependent manner in LC neurons at a holding potential of -80 mV. Perfusion with clinically relevant concentration of sevoflurane (0.1-0.5 mM) reduced the ATP-induced inward current in a dose-dependent manner (to 56.8±5.9% of control with 0.5 mM sevoflurane; mean±S.E.M., n=13). Estimated IC50 of sevoflurane was 0.59 mM. We conclude that the attenuation of extracellular ATP-mediated signaling in the central nervous system might be one of the multiple actions of volatile anesthetics.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 226-232 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Brain research |
Volume | 921 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2001 Dec 7 |
Keywords
- Adenosine 5′-triphosphate
- Lucos coeruleus
- P2X receptor
- Patch-clamp
- Pontine slice
- Sevoflurane
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)
- Molecular Biology
- Clinical Neurology
- Developmental Biology