ABSTRACT. The amounts and time courses of dopamine and ATP released from perfused PC12 cells were examined using a simultaneous on-line recording system. High KCl (60 mM) caused dopamine and ATP release with similar time courses. The relative amount of dopamine to ATP in the effluent was 9.5. In PC12 cells cultured with dexamethasone, reserpine or bafilomycin A1 for 2 days, these drugs did not affect increases of intracellular Ca 2+ in response to high KCl. Dexamethasone doubled the amount of dopamine release induced by high KCl without changing the amount of ATP release. High KCl failed to cause dopamine release in reserpine-treated cells but evoked ATP release. Bafilomycin A1 decreased both high KCl-induced dopamine and ATP release. The ratio of released ATP to total adenine nucleotides and adenosine in response to high KCl was not changed by treatment with the drugs. These results suggest that dopamine and ATP are simultaneously released from secretory vesicles of PC12 cells, in which they are stored via different pathways. Similar to dopamine uptake into secretory vesicles, the H + -gradient across the vesicular membrane developed by vacuolar ATPase may play an important role in the vesicular uptake of ATP. KEY WORDS: ATP, dopamine, on-line, PC12 cell, V-ATPase.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 63(4): 367-372, 2001 It is well known that catecholamine (CA) is stored together with adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) in secretory vesicles of the adrenal medulla [32] and pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells [31]. In adrenal chromaffin cells, it has been reported that CA is present in secretory vesicles but not in the cytosol [24] and that 75% of ATP in the cells is in secretory vesicles [7]. ATP stored in secretory visicles has been shown to be released on exocytosis [5]. ATP has been reported to evoke CA release from adrenal chromaffin cells [1,15] and PC12 cells [13] and to inhibit Ca 2+ currents in adrenal chromaffin cells [3,23].Continuous and on-line assay methods for CA released from cultured adrenal chromaffin cells [11,17] and perfused adrenal glands [4,18] have been developed using an electrochemical detector. We previously reported a simultaneous on-line assay method for CA and ATP released from cultured porcine adrenal chromaffin cells using an electrochemical detector and luciferin-luciferase, respectively [14]. Using this system, we found that CA and ATP appeared in the effluent with similar time courses in response to various secretagogues including high KCl. In the sympathetic nerves of the guinea-pig vas deferens, however, it has been reported that the ratios of CA and ATP appearing in the effluent greatly change during stimulation, suggesting the presence of heterogeneous secretory vesicles with respect to the concentrations of CA and/or ATP [28] and post-release degradation of ATP by soluble ectonucleotidases [29]. Furthermore, the vesicles isolated from PC12 cells have been reported to contain CA and ATP at various concentration ratios (CA/ATP) ranging from 13 to 29 [31].It is well known that ATP and CA are taken up ...