H1 receptor mediates inositol phosphates response to histamine in gastric smooth muscle of guinea pigs

Histamine-enhanced contractile responses of gastric smooth muscle via interstitial cells of Cajal in the Syrian hamster

BACKGROUND

Gastric motility is controlled by the autonomic and enteric nervous systems and by interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs). Although histamine is known to be released from enterochromaffin-like cells in the gastric mucosa, its regulatory roles in gastric motility are still controversial. Therefore, we investigated the functional roles of histamine in gastric motility.

METHODS

Stomach preparations from hamsters were used because the stomach of hamsters can be easily separated into the forestomach and the glandular stomach. A whole preparation of the stomach was mounted in a Magnus tube, and mechanical responses were recorded using a force transducer.

KEY RESULTS

Exogenous application of histamine had little effect on contractile activity of the glandular stomach. In contrast, the monoamine evoked regular, periodic contractions in the forestomach. An H1 receptor agonist reproduced the contractile responses and an H1 receptor antagonist blocked histamine-evoked contractions. Atropine and tetrodotoxin did not affect the histamine-evoked contractions. Pretreatment with drugs that inhibit the activity of ICCs abolished the effects of histamine.

CONCLUSION & INFERENCES

The findings suggest that histamine regulates gastric motility by acting on ICCs via H1 receptors in the hamster. The remarkable ability of histamine to induce rhythmic contractions would be useful for treatment of gastric dysmotility.

The involvement of protein kinase C and tyrosine kinase in vanadate-induced contraction

Gastric smooth muscle of cats was used to investigate the involvement of protein kinase in vanadate-induced contraction. Vanadate caused a contraction of cat gastric smooth muscle in a dose-dependent manner. Vanadate-induced contraction was totally inhibited by 2 mM EGTA and 1.5 mM LaCl3 and significantly inhibited by 10 microM verapamil and 1 microM nifedipine, suggesting that vanadate-induced contraction is dependent on the extracellular Ca2+ concentration. and the influx of extracellular Ca2+ was mediated through voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel. Both protein kinase C inhibitor and tyrosine kinase inhibitor significantly inhibited the vanadate-induced contraction and the combined inhibitory effect of two protein kinase inhibitors was greater than that of each one. But calmodulin antagonists did not have any influence on the vanadate-induced contraction. On the other hand, both forskolin (1 microM) and sodium nitroprusside (1 microM) significantly inhibited vanadate-induced contraction. Therefore, these results suggest that both protein kinase C and tyrosine kinase are involved in the vanadate-induced contraction which required the influx of extracellular Ca2+ in cat gastric smooth muscle, and that the contractile mechanism of vanadate may be different from that of agonist binding to its specific receptor.

Regulation of protein kinases in steady-state contraction of cat gastric smooth muscle

Cat gastric smooth muscle strips were used to investigate the involvement of protein kinases in the steady-state contraction induced by 1 microM acetylcholine or 20 mM KCI. The steady-state contraction induced by acetylcholine or KCl was inhibited by EGTA dose dependently. Voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel antagonists dose dependently inhibited the contractions induced by KCI as well as by acetylcholine. Inhibitory effects of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel antagonists were significantly more prominent on KCI-induced contractions than on acetylcholine-induced contractions. The acetylcholine-induced contraction was dose dependently inhibited by 8-(N,N-diethylamino)octyl-3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate (TMB-8, a blocker of intracellular Ca2+ release), but the KCl-induced contraction was not inhibited at all. Therefore both intracellular Ca2+ release and extracellular Ca2+ influx seem to be necessary for the acetylcholine-induced contraction, but intracellular Ca2+ release is not necessary for the KCl-induced contraction. Protein kinase C inhibitors, 10 microM 1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methyl-piperazine 2HCl (H-7) and 1 microM staurosporine, significantly inhibited the contraction induced by acetylcholine or KCl. Calmodulin antagonists, 30 microM trifluoperazine and 50 microM N-(6-aminohexyl)-5-chloro-2-naphthalenesulfonamide HCI (W-7), however, significantly inhibited the contraction induced by acetylcholine but not by KCl. A tyrosine kinase inhibitor, 50 microM genistein, did not affect the acetylcholine-induced contraction but significantly inhibited the KCl-induced contraction. These results strongly suggest that the involvement of protein kinases in regulation of the steady-state contraction may be agonist-dependent.

Molecular pharmacological aspects of histamine receptors

In this article, we review the recent developments in the field of histamine research. Besides the description of pharmacological tools for the H1, H2 and H3 receptor, specific attention is paid to both the molecular aspects of the receptor proteins, including the recent cloning of the receptor genes, and their respective signal transduction mechanisms.