We measured intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) during adrenergic stimulation using fura-2 ratio imaging of individual cultured neonatal rat brown fat cells. One micromolar norepinephrine (NE) increased [Ca2+]i from an average resting value of 105 nM to 555 nM in approximately 30 s. [Ca2+]i remained elevated as long as NE was present but returned to resting levels within 2-3 min after NE removal. The response was half maximal at approximately 50 nM NE and was primarily alpha-adrenergic. The sustained, but not the initial, increase in [Ca2+]i required extracellular calcium. Cells stimulated in high-K media had [Ca2+]i responses like those in 0 Ca2+, suggesting that depolarization abrogates calcium influx. Parallel perforated-patch recordings showed that the increase in [Ca2+]i activates a calcium-activated K conductance. Blocking K channels with moderate concentrations of tetraethylammonium (TEA) had only small effects on NE-induced changes in [Ca2+]i, but high concentrations of TEA significantly reduced the response. We conclude that cytoplasmic calcium is modulated by fluxes from both intracellular and extracellular sources and that K channels may not be required for normal short-term [Ca2+]i responses to hormone.

Sympathetic stimulation of brown adipocytes plays a major role in body energy homeostasis by activating energy-wasting pathways. Sympathetic neuronal input initiates a variety of metabolic, developmental, and membrane responses in brown fat cells. Many of these actions are mediated by adrenergic pathways mobilized by released norepinephrine. However, since sympathetic stimulation may also release vesicular ATP, we tested brown fat cells for ATP responses. Micromolar concentrations of extracellular ATP had a number of effects on brown adipocytes. We have shown previously that ATP elicits substantial (average of approximately 30%) increases in cell membrane capacitance (P. A. Pappone and S. C. Lee, J. Gen. Physiol. 108: 393-404, 1996). Here, we show that cytosolic calcium levels were increased by ATP, both through release from intracellular stores and through influx, as assessed by fura 2 imaging. In addition, ATP indirectly activated a nonselective cation conductance that was independent of cytosolic calcium levels in patch voltage-clamped brown fat cells. Similar calcium, conductance, and capacitance responses could be activated by 2-methylthio-ATP and ADP, consistent with mediation by a P2 type purinergic receptor. Calorimetric measurements from cell suspensions showed that ATP increased basal heat production of isolated brown fat cells by approximately 40% but had no effect on the greater than fivefold increase in heat production seen with maximal adrenergic stimulation. These myriad responses to extracellular ATP suggest that P2 receptor-mediated signaling is important in brown adipocyte physiology and that sympathetic stimulation may normally activate purinergic as well as adrenergic pathways in brown fat.

The activity of the uncoupling protein in brown fat mitochondria is enhanced at alkaline pH, leading to the hypothesis that changes in intracellular pH (pHi) may modulate the thermogenic response to sympathetic stimulation. We employed ratio imaging of the fluorescent dye 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein to measure pHi in acutely isolated single brown fat cells from hamster and neonatal rat and in cultured rat cells. Basal pHi averaged approximately 7.2 in HCO3- media and 0.1-0.15 pH units lower in nominally HCO3(-)-free media in all cell types. In both HCO3- and HCO3(-)-free media, stimulation with norepinephrine (NE) typically caused an alkalinization of approximately 0.05-0.1 pH units, which was followed by a smaller net acidification occurring primarily after NE was removed. Alkalinization seemed to be mediated predominantly by alpha-adrenergic stimulation, while acidification most often followed beta-adrenergic activation. Similar pHi changes were elicited by NE in rat and hamster cells, but responses were more frequent in hamster cells. Assays of recovery from ammonium prepulse-induced acid loads indicated that rat and hamster cells have both Na(+)-H+ and Na(+)- and HCO3(-)-dependent regulatory systems, while hamster cells have, in addition, a Na(+)-independent recovery mechanism activated at acid pHi. We conclude that alpha-adrenergic alkalinization of brown fat may contribute to the control of thermogenesis.