Elsevier

Brain Research Bulletin

Volume 50, Issues 5–6, November–December 1999, Pages 355-357
Brain Research Bulletin

Highlights
Purinergic cotransmission

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Purinergic neurotransmission

The first hint that ATP might be a neurotransmitter came from Holton in 1959 [9], who presented evidence for release of ATP from collateral branches of primary afferent sensory fibres during antidromic impulses, in sufficient amounts to produce vasodilatation of vessels in the rabbit ear artery.

In the early 1960s, Burnstock and his colleagues in Melbourne recorded inhibitory junction potentials (IJP’s) in intestinal smooth muscle in response to stimulation of nonadrenergic, noncholinergic

ATP as a cotransmitter

The possibility that some nerve fibres store and release more than one transmitter was raised by Burnstock in 1976 [3], and there is now considerable evidence for the coexistence of established transmitters with purine nucleotides in nerve terminals in both central and autonomic nervous systems 4, 5 (see Fig. 1).

It has been known for a number of years that ATP is stored and released together with catecholamines from adrenal chromaffin cells. The first indication that ATP might be released from

Significance

The important roles of purinergic cotransmission in control of various activities in visceral and cardiovascular systems is already recognised and is beginning to become apparent for many normal activities in the CNS. There is a rapid growth of interest in the roles of purinergic signalling in pathological conditions and therapeutic potential is being explored for a number of disease conditions, including bladder and renal failure, incontinence, pain, vasospasm, cancer, cystic fibrosis,

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References (10)

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