Electrophysiological and morphological features underlying neurotransmission efficacy at the splanchnic nerve-chromaffin cell synapse of bovine adrenal medulla

2010 ◽  
Vol 298 (2) ◽  
pp. C397-C405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio M. G. de Diego
Keyword(s):  
Adrenal Medulla ◽  
Chromaffin Cells ◽  
Chromaffin Cell ◽  
Splanchnic Nerve ◽  
Staining Technique ◽  
Firing Frequency ◽  
Cholinergic Innervation ◽  
Bovine Adrenal Medulla ◽  
Acetylcholinesterase Staining ◽  
Few Data

The ability of adrenal chromaffin cells to fast-release catecholamines relies on their capacity to fire action potentials (APs). However, little attention has been paid to the requirements needed to evoke the controlled firing of APs. Few data are available in rodents and none on the bovine chromaffin cell, a model extensively used by researchers. The aim of this work was to clarify this issue. Short puffs of acetylcholine (ACh) were fast perifused to current-clamped chromaffin cells and produced the firing of single APs. Based on the currents generated by such ACh applications and previous literature, current waveforms that efficiently elicited APs at frequencies up to 20 Hz were generated. Complex waveforms were also generated by adding simple waveforms with different delays; these waveforms aimed at modeling the stimulation patterns that a chromaffin cell would conceivably undergo upon strong synaptic stimulation. Cholinergic innervation was assessed using the acetylcholinesterase staining technique on the supposition that the innervation pattern is a determinant of the kind of stimuli chromaffin cells can receive. It is concluded that 1) a reliable method to produce frequency-controlled APs by applying defined current injection waveforms is achieved; 2) the APs thus generated have essentially the same features as those spontaneously emitted by the cell and those elicited by fast-ACh perifusion; 3) the higher frequencies attainable peak at around 30 Hz; and 4) the bovine adrenal medulla shows abundant cholinergic innervation, and chromaffin cells show strong acetylcholinesterase staining, consistent with a tight cholinergic presynaptic control of firing frequency.

Interactions Between Bovine Adrenal Medulla Endothelial and Chromaffin Cells

1998 ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando F. Vargas ◽  
Soledad Calvo ◽  
Raul Vinet ◽  
Eduardo Rojas
Keyword(s):  
Adrenal Medulla ◽  
Chromaffin Cells ◽  
Bovine Adrenal Medulla

Diadenosine 5′,5′′′-P1,P4-tetraphosphate (Ap4A), ATP and catecholamine content in bovine adrenal medulla, chromaffin granules and chromaffin cells

Biochimie ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 404-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Günther Sillero ◽  
M. Del Valle ◽  
E. Zaera ◽  
P. Michelena ◽  
A.G. García ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adrenal Medulla ◽  
Chromaffin Cells ◽  
Chromaffin Granules ◽  
Catecholamine Content ◽  
Bovine Adrenal Medulla

scholarly journals Stress related network activity in the intact adrenal medulla

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose R. Lopez Ruiz ◽  
Stephen A. Ernst ◽  
Ronald W. Holz ◽  
Edward L. Stuenkel
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Adrenal Medulla ◽  
Chromaffin Cells ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Splanchnic Nerve ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Electrode Arrays ◽  
Functional Architecture ◽  
Local Networks

AbstractThe adrenal medulla has long been recognized as playing a critical role in mammalian homeostasis and the stress response. The adrenal medulla is populated by clustered chromaffin cells that secrete epinephrine or norepinephrine along with other peptides into the general bloodstream affecting multiple distant target organs. Although the sympatho-adrenal pathway has been heavily studied, detailed knowledge on the central control and in-situ spatiotemporal responsiveness remains poorly understood. For this work we implemented electrophysiological techniques originally developed to elucidate CNS circuitry to characterize the functional micro-architecture of the adrenal medulla. To achieve this, we continuously monitored the electrical activity inside the adrenal medulla in the living anesthetized rat under basal conditions and under physiological stress. Under basal conditions, chromaffin cells fired action potentials with frequencies between ∼0.2 and 4 Hz. Activity was exclusively driven by sympathetic inputs coming through the splanchnic nerve. Furthermore, chromaffin cells were organized into arrays of independent local networks in which cells fire in a specific order, with latencies from hundreds of microseconds to few milliseconds. Electrical stimulation of the splanchnic nerve evoked the exact same spatiotemporal firing patterns that occurred spontaneously. Induction of hypoglycemic stress by administration of insulin resulted in an increase in the activity of a subset of the chromaffin cell networks. In contrast, respiratory arrest induced by anesthesia overdose resulted in an increase in the activity of the entire adrenal medulla before cessation of all activity when the animal died. The results suggest the differential activation of specific networks inside the adrenal gland depending on the stressor. These results revealed a surprisingly complex electrical organization and circuitry of the adrenal medulla that likely reflects the dynamic nature of its neuroendocrine output during basal conditions and during different types of physiological stress. To our knowledge, these experiments are the first to use multi-electrode arrays in vivo to examine the electrical and functional architecture of any endocrine gland.Significance StatementStress from extrinsic (environmental, psychological) and intrinsic (biological) challenges plays a critical role in disturbing the homeostatic balance. While the body’s responses to stress are designed to ameliorate these imbalances, prolonged and dysregulated stress often drives adverse health consequences in many chronic illnesses. The better understanding of the sympatho-adrenal stress response, will potentially impact and improve the treatment of several stress related illnesses. This work focusses on the study of the functional architecture of the adrenal medulla, a key component in neuronal stress response.

NGF-like trophic support from peripheral nerve for grafted rhesus adrenal chromaffin cells

1990 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey H. Kordower ◽  
Massimo S. Fiandaca ◽  
Mary F. D. Notter ◽  
John T. Hansen ◽  
Don M. Gash
Keyword(s):  
Tyrosine Hydroxylase ◽  
Adrenal Medulla ◽  
Sural Nerve ◽  
Chromogranin A ◽  
Chromaffin Cells ◽  
Chromaffin Cell ◽  
Adrenal Chromaffin Cells ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Adrenal Chromaffin ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Autopsy results on patients and corresponding studies in nonhuman primates have revealed that autografts of adrenal medulla into the striatum, used as a treatment for Parkinson's disease, do not survive well. Because adrenal chromaffin cell viability may be limited by the low levels of available nerve growth factor (NGF) in the striatum, the present study was conducted to determine if transected peripheral nerve segments could provide sufficient levels of NGF to enhance chromaffin cell survival in vitro and in vivo. Aged female rhesus monkeys, rendered hemiparkinsonian by the drug MPTP (n-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6 tetrahydropyridine), received autografts into the striatum using a stereotactic approach, of either sural nerve or adrenal medulla, or cografts of adrenal medulla and sural nerve (three animals in each group). Cell cultures were established from tissue not used in the grafts. Adrenal chromaffin cells either cocultured with sural nerve segments or exposed to exogenous NGF differentiated into a neuronal phenotype. Chromaffin cell survival, when cografted with sural nerve into the striatum, was enhanced four- to eightfold from between 8000 and 18,000 surviving cells in grafts of adrenal tissue only up to 67,000 surviving chromaffin cells in cografts. In grafts of adrenal tissue only, the implant site consisted of an inflammatory focus. Surviving chromaffin cells, which could be identified by both chromogranin A and tyrosine hydroxylase staining, retained their endocrine phenotype. Cografted chromaffin cells exhibited multipolar neuritic processes and numerous chromaffin granules, and were also immunoreactive for tyrosine hydroxylase and chromogranin A. Blood vessels within the graft were fenestrated, indicating that the blood-brain barrier was not intact. Additionally, cografted chromaffin cells were observed in a postsynaptic relationship with axon terminals from an undetermined but presumably a host origin.

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