Advancing age alters rapid and spontaneous refilling of caffeine-sensitive calcium stores in sympathetic superior cervical ganglion cells.

Intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) release from smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) stores plays an important role in cell signaling. These stores are rapidly refilled via influx through voltage-gated calcium channels or spontaneously via store-operated calcium channels and subsequent pumping by SER Ca2+-ATPases. We measured [Ca2+]i transients in isolated fura 2-loaded superior cervical ganglion cells from 6-, 12-, 20-, and 24-mo-old Fischer 344 rats. For rapid refilling, [Ca2+]i transients were elicited by a 1) 5-s exposure to K+, 2) caffeine to release Ca2+ from SER stores, 3) K+ to refill SER Ca2+ stores, and 4) caffeine. The percent difference between the peak and rate of rise of the first and second caffeine-evoked [Ca2+]i transient significantly declined over the age range of 12-24 mo. To estimate spontaneous refilling, cells were depolarized for 5 s with 68 mM K+ (control), followed by a 10-s exposure to 10 mM caffeine "conditioning stimulus" to deplete [Ca2+]i stores. Caffeine was then rapidly applied for 5 s at defined intervals from 60 to 300 s. Integrated caffeine-evoked [Ca2+]i transients were measured and plotted as a percentage of the K+ response vs. time. The derivative of the refilling time curves significantly declined over the age range from 12-24 mo. Overall, these data suggest that the ability of superior cervical ganglion cells to sustain release of [Ca2+]i following rapid or spontaneous refilling declines with advancing age. Compromised ability to sustain calcium signaling may possibly alter the overall function of adrenergic neurons innervating the cerebrovasculature.