Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 73 (3), 197-205 (1997)


Potentiation by Indomethacin of Receptor-Mediated Catecholamine Secretion in Rat Adrenal Medulla

Akira Warashina

Department of Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951, Japan

Abstract: Effects of indomethacin on catecholamine secretion evoked by receptor agonists, muscarine, bradykinin or histamine, in rat adrenal chromaffin cells were studied. Indomethacin at 200 microM increased a sustained component of secretion during stimulation with muscarine, bradykinin and histamine by a factor of 2.3, 2.1 and 2.9, respectively, whereas it did not significantly alter basal, high-K+ - and nicotine-evoked secretions. Although indomethacin at above 400 microM dose-dependently increased basal secretion, the amount of secretion induced by indomethacin alone was much smaller than that in muscarine-evoked secretion as compared at the same concentration of indomethacin applied. Bradykinin-evoked secretion and its potentiation by indomethacin were not inhibited by 20 microM nifedipine but were suppressed by 0.5 mM Ni2+. The cyclooxygenase inhibitor, ibuprofen (200 microM) did not mimic the effect of indomethacin; prostaglandin E2 (20 microM) and arachidonic acid (100 microM) did not significantly alter either bradykinin-evoked secretion itself or its potentiation by indomethacin. Bradykinin increased the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration, [Ca2+]i, in cells loaded with indo-1, and this response was enhanced in the presence of indomethacin. These results suggest that indomethacin may promote Ca2+ entry to potentiate agonist-evoked catecholamine secretions through a novel action that is not directly related to the inhibition of cyclooxygenase activity with indomethacin.

Keywords: Adrenal chromaffin cell (rat), Catecholamine secretion, Indomethacin, Muscarine, Bradykinin


Copyright© The Japanese Pharmacological Society 1997

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