Histamine H1 receptors in C6 glial cells are coupled to calcium-dependent potassium channels via release of calcium from internal stores

Abstract

We investigated the action of histamine on C6-astroglioma cells using patch clamp recording and intracellular calcium measurement. Application of 100 µM histamine hyperpolarized the resting membrane potential and increased free intracellular calcium. Membrane hyperpolarization was accompanied by a decrease in input resistance. The effect of histamine was reversible and responses persisted following repeated applications. In voltage clamp experiments histamine elicited an outward current associated with a conductance increase and a reversal potential near the Nernst potential for potassium. The action of histamine was blocked by mepyramine but not by cimetidine or thioperamide suggesting that a H₁ receptor mediated the response. Quinidine and charybdotoxin, but not apamin, blocked the hyperpolarization. Buffering internal calcium with BAPTA diminished the activation of the potassium channel, suggesting a calcium-dependent K⁺-channel, which was also found to be regulated by protein kinase C and phosphatases. The increase in intracellular calcium was not dependent on external calcium or sensitive to pertussis toxin, cholera toxin, forskolin or 8-bromo-cAMP. Both the hyperpolarization and the increase in intracellular calcium were blocked by thapsigargin or the phospholipase C inhibitor U73122. These results indicate that histamine liberates calcium from internal stores by activation of phospholipase C which in turn leads to an increase of intracellular Ca²⁺ and thereby to the activation of a calcium-dependent potassium channel in C6 glial cells.