Vesicular exocytosis under hypotonic conditions shows two distinct populations of dense core vesicles in bovine chromaffin cells.

Several previous reports have discussed the effects of external osmolarity on vesicular exocytotic processes. However, few of these studies considered hypotonic conditions on chromaffin cells. Herein, the exocytosis of catecholamines by chromaffin cells was investigated in a medium of low osmolarity (200 mOsm) by amperometry at carbon fiber microelectrodes. It is observed that the frequency of the exocytotic events is significantly higher under hypotonic conditions than under physiological conditions (315 mOsm). This further confirms that the swelling of the polyelectrolytic matrix (which follows ionic exchanges) contained in dense core vesicles is the energetic driving force of the exocytotic phenomenon, being favored by a lower osmolarity. The mean amount of catecholamines released during secretory events also increases importantly under the hypotonic condition. This may be rationalized by the coexistence of two distinct populations of dense core vesicles with a relative content ratio of 4.7. The larger content population is favored under hypotonic conditions but plays only a side role under isotonic conditions.