Short-term cholinergic desensitization of rat pancreatic secretory response

Abstract

Dispersed pancreatic acini were first exposed to carbamylcholine (10(-7)-10(-4) M) for 60 min, washed, and reexposed to this same agonist (10(-8)-10(-3) M) for 15 min. During this second incubation, the functional secretory capacity of these acini was evaluated by measuring amylase release. Acini preexposed to concentrations of carbamylcholine of 10(-6) M or greater showed shifts to the right in the subsequent carbamylcholine dose-response curves of amylase release. A 3-h recovery period (without carbamylcholine) did not restore the altered carbamylcholine dose-response curve. Ca2+ concentrations of 10(-7) M or 2.5 X 10(-3) M instead of 0.5 X 10(-3) M during the 60-min preincubation did not affect the desensitization process. With use of N-[3H]methylscopolamine to evaluate muscarinic receptors, the only changes observed after desensitization were a significant decrease in the high-affinity and an equivalent increase in that of the low-affinity receptors. After cholinergic exposure amylase release stimulated by caerulein was only slightly modified, whereas amylase release in response to a phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and to the ionophore A23187 was not altered. These data indicate that short-term desensitization with a cholinergic agent is relatively specific to muscarinic agonists, causes changes in the muscarinic receptor high- and low-affinity concentration but does not alter intracellular steps after calcium mobilization or protein kinase C activation known to be involved in the secretion process.