Nitric Oxide Disrupts Ca2+ Homeostasis in Hippocampal Neurons

Abstract: Nitric oxide has been recognized in recent years as an important mediator of neuronal toxicity, which in many cases involves alterations of the cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ concentration (Ca²⁺]_i). In Ca²⁺]_i fluorimetric experiments on cultured hippocampal neurons, the nitric oxide-releasing agent S -nitrosocysteine produced a delayed rise in Ca²⁺]_i over a 20-min exposure, which was accompanied by a progressive slowing of the kinetics of recovery from depolarization-induced Ca²⁺]_i transients. These effects were blocked by oxyhemoglobin and by superoxide dismutase, confirming nitric oxide as the responsible agent, and suggesting that they involved peroxynitrite formation. Similar alterations of Ca²⁺]_i homeostasis were produced by the mitochondrial ATP synthase inhibitor oligomycin, and when an ATP-regenerating system was supplied via the patch pipette in combined whole-cell patch-clamp-Ca²⁺]_i fluorimetry experiments, S -nitrosocysteine had no effect on the resting Ca²⁺]_i or on the recovery kinetics of Ca²⁺]_i transients induced by direct depolarization. We conclude that prolonged exposure to nitric oxide disrupts Ca²⁺]_i homeostasis in hippocampal neurons by impairing Ca²⁺ removal from the cytoplasm, possibly as a result of ATP depletion. The resulting persistent alterations in Ca²⁺]_i may contribute to the delayed neurotoxicity of nitric oxide.