Spontaneous cytosolic calcium pulsing detected in Xenopus melanotrophs: modulation by secreto-inhibitory and stimulant ligands

The purpose of the experiments was to examine the behavior of cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) in individual pituitary melanotrophs and how that is affected by physiological ligands that inhibit or stimulate melanotroph secretion. Melanotrophs were dispersed from neurointermediate lobes of Xenopus laevis adapted to a black background, and [Ca2+]i was measured with fura-2. In basal (unstimulated) conditions, repetitive transient elevations in [Ca2+]i, not hitherto observed in any melanotrophs, were detected in 73% of the cells. These cytosolic Ca pulses occurred at fairly regular intervals (1-10 min) and lasted from a half to several minutes, during which [Ca2+]i rose several-fold. Pulsing was promptly and reversibly arrested by the secreto-inhibitory transmitters, dopamine, neuropeptide-Y (NPY), and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and also by quinpirole, muscimol, and baclofen. Pertussis toxin eliminated the responses to dopamine, NPY, and GABAB receptor activation, but spared responses to GABAA receptor activati...