Influence of PLA2-PG system on purine release and cAMP content in dissociated primary glial cultures from rat striatum.

Purine release and prostaglandin (PG) outflow were simultaneously evaluated from untreated glial primary cultures of rat striatum, at rest and under field electrical stimulation. Purine release was also assayed from sister cultured cells in which a suitable pharmacological treatment with 1 x 10(-6) M dexamethasone or 1 x 10(-4) M indomethacin had produced a complete inhibition of the phospholipase A2-prostaglandin (PLA2-PG) system. Purine release from untreated cells seems to be regulated by specific receptor sites for released adenosine (Ado); A1 receptors exert an inhibitory control on purine release while A2 receptors facilitate it. PG release appears to be related to A1-mediated Ado activity, since culture treatment with 1 x 10(-10) M 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX) or 1 x 10(-4) M N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), A1 receptor inhibitory agents able to increase purine release, induced a significant reduction of the evoked PG outflow. Purine amount, released from glial cells with inhibited PLA2-PG system, was remarkably greater than that one assayed from control cultured cells. In so treated cultures, no additive effect, NEM-induced, was detected, while the addition of a mixture of PGs partially reduced the increased purine outflow. An electrically evoked cAMP accumulation, significantly greater than that found in controls, was even detected in cultured cells with inhibited PLA2-PG system. Since 10 micrograms/ml adenosine deaminase (ADA) reduced while DPCPX enhanced the evoked cAMP accumulation, it seems partially due to released Ado and accounts for a prevalent A2-stimulating rather than an A1-inhibitory control on adenylate cyclase activity. Thus, in cultured glial cells, the PLA2-PG system, likely linked to A1 receptor sites, concurs to control purine release and seems to affect less directly cAMP accumulation.