Effect of Noradrenaline on the Kinetics of Evoked Acetylcholine Secretion in Mouse Neuromuscular Junction

Abstract

In contrast to frog neuromuscular synapses, where noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and its analogues caused synchronization of the acetylcholine release process, in mouse diaphragm endplates noradrenaline increased the degree of asynchrony of neurosecretion. The effect of noradrenaline on release timing persisted at different levels of external calcium ions (0.25–2.0 mM) and was abolished in presence of both α- and β‑adrenoblockers phentolamine and propranolol. The computer reconstruction of multiquantal endplate currents accounting for experimentally observed modification of release kinetics under noradrenaline showed that the rise time of postsynaptic response changes to a greater extent than the amplitude and falling phase of the multiquantal responses. We conclude that there exists a principal difference in the action of noradrenaline in the cholinergic neuromuscular synapses of warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals that can be accounted for by the differences in the type of adrenoreceptors involved in the modulation of synaptic transmission and/or in the involvement of distinct intracellular pathways triggered by receptor activation.