Membrane potential gradient is carbon monoxide-dependent in mouse and human small intestine

Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2007 Aug;293(2):G438-45. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00037.2007. Epub 2007 May 17.

Abstract

The aims of this study were to quantify the change in resting membrane potential (RMP) across the thickness of the circular muscle layer in the mouse and human small intestine and to determine whether the gradient in RMP is dependent on the endogenous production of carbon monoxide (CO). Conventional sharp glass microelectrodes were used to record the RMPs of circular smooth muscle cells at different depths in the human small intestine and in wild-type, HO2-KO, and W/W(V) mutant mouse small intestine. In the wild-type mouse and human intestine, the RMP of circular smooth muscle cells near the myenteric plexus was -65.3 +/- 2 mV and -58.4 +/- 2 mV, respectively, and -60.1 +/- 2 mV and -49.1 +/- 1 mV, respectively, in circular smooth muscle cells at the submucosal border. Oxyhemoglobin (20 microM), a trapping agent for CO, and chromium mesoporphyrin IX, an inhibitor of heme oxygenase, abolished the transwall gradient. The RMP gradients in mouse and human small intestine were not altered by N(G)-nitro-l-arginine (200 microM). No transwall RMP gradient was found in HO2-KO mice and W/W(V) mutant mice. TTX (1 microM) and 1H-[1,2,4-]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (10 microM) had no effect on the RMP gradient. These data suggest that the gradient in RMP across the thickness of the circular muscle layer of mouse and human small intestine is CO dependent.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carbon Monoxide / metabolism*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Guanylate Cyclase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Guanylate Cyclase / metabolism
  • Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) / deficiency
  • Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) / genetics
  • Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Intestine, Small / drug effects
  • Intestine, Small / enzymology
  • Intestine, Small / metabolism*
  • Membrane Potentials
  • Mesoporphyrins / pharmacology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Mice, Neurologic Mutants
  • Muscle, Smooth / drug effects
  • Muscle, Smooth / enzymology
  • Muscle, Smooth / metabolism*
  • Nitric Oxide Synthase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Nitric Oxide Synthase / metabolism
  • Nitroarginine / pharmacology
  • Oxadiazoles / pharmacology
  • Oxyhemoglobins / metabolism
  • Quinoxalines / pharmacology
  • Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / metabolism
  • Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase
  • Tetrodotoxin / pharmacology

Substances

  • 1H-(1,2,4)oxadiazolo(4,3-a)quinoxalin-1-one
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Mesoporphyrins
  • Oxadiazoles
  • Oxyhemoglobins
  • Quinoxalines
  • Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear
  • chromium mesoporphyrin
  • Nitroarginine
  • Tetrodotoxin
  • Carbon Monoxide
  • Nitric Oxide Synthase
  • Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing)
  • heme oxygenase-2
  • Guanylate Cyclase
  • Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase