High Extracellular Ca2+ Stimulates Ca2+-Activated Cl− Currents in Frog Parathyroid Cells through the Mediation of Arachidonic Acid Cascade

Elevation of extracellular Ca 2+ concentration induces intracellular Ca 2+ signaling in parathyroid cells. The response is due to stimulation of the phospholipase C/Ca 2+ pathways, but the direct mechanism responsible for the rise of intracellular Ca 2+ concentration has remained elusive. Here, we describe the electrophysiological property associated with intracellular Ca 2+ signaling in frog parathyroid cells and show that Ca 2+ -activated Cl − channels are activated by intracellular Ca 2+ increase through an inositol 1,4,5-trisphophate (IP 3 )-independent pathway. High extracellular Ca 2+ induced an outwardly-rectifying conductance in a dose-dependent manner (EC 50 ∼6 mM). The conductance was composed of an instantaneous time-independent component and a slowly activating time-dependent component and displayed a deactivating inward tail current. Extracellular Ca 2+ -induced and Ca 2+ dialysis-induced currents reversed at the equilibrium potential of Cl − and were inhibited by niflumic acid (a specific blocker of Ca 2+ -activated Cl − channel). Gramicidin-perforated whole-cell recording displayed the shift of the reversal potential in extracellular Ca 2+ -induced current, suggesting the change of intracellular Cl − concentration in a few minutes. Extracellular Ca 2+ -induced currents displayed a moderate dependency on guanosine triphosphate (GTP). All blockers for phospholipase C, diacylglycerol (DAG) lipase, monoacylglycerol (MAG) lipase and lipoxygenase inhibited extracellular Ca 2+ -induced current. IP 3 dialysis failed to induce conductance increase, but 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), arachidonic acid and 12S-hydroperoxy-5Z,8Z,10E,14Z-eicosatetraenoic acid (12(S)-HPETE) dialysis increased the conductance identical to extracellular Ca 2+ -induced conductance. These results indicate that high extracellular Ca 2+ raises intracellular Ca 2+ concentration through the DAG lipase/lipoxygenase pathway, resulting in the activation of Cl − conductance.