Transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) is a Ca2؉ -permeable cation channel involved in physiological and pathophysiological processes linked to oxidative stress. TRPM2 channels are co-activated by intracellular Ca 2؉ and ADP-ribose (ADPR) but also modulated in intact cells by several additional factors. Superfusion of TRPM2-expressing cells with H 2 O 2 or intracellular dialysis of cyclic ADPR (cADPR) or nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) activates, whereas dialysis of AMP inhibits, TRPM2 whole-cell currents. Additionally, H 2 O 2 , cADPR, and NAADP enhance ADPR sensitivity of TRPM2 currents in intact cells. Because in whole-cell recordings the entire cellular machinery for nucleotide and Ca
2؉homeostasis is intact, modulators might affect TRPM2 activity either directly, by binding to TRPM2, or indirectly, by altering the local concentrations of the primary ligands ADPR and Ca 2؉ . To identify direct modulators of TRPM2, we have studied the effects of H 2 O 2 , AMP, cADPR, NAADP, and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide in inside-out patches from Xenopus oocytes expressing human TRPM2, by directly exposing the cytosolic faces of the patches to these compounds. H 2 O 2 (1 mM) and enzymatically purified cADPR (10 M) failed to activate, whereas AMP (200 M) failed to inhibit TRPM2 currents. NAADP was a partial agonist (maximal efficacy, ϳ50%), and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide was a full agonist, but both had very low affinities (K 0.5 ؍ 104 and 35 M). H 2 O 2 , cADPR, and NAADP did not enhance activation by ADPR. Considering intracellular concentrations of these compounds, none of them are likely to directly affect the TRPM2 channel protein in a physiological context.
TRPM22 is a member of the transient receptor potential family of proteins and forms a nonselective cation channel that is permeable to Ca 2ϩ (1). TRPM2 channels are abundantly expressed in the brain, in hematopoietic tissues, and in leukocytes (1-4) and activate under conditions of oxidative stress to cause elevations in intracellular [Ca 2ϩ ] ([Ca 2ϩ ] i ) that contribute to chemotactic responses (5) and chemokine production (6) of immune cells, as well as to neuronal cell death following ischemia (4,7,8).The primary activators of TRPM2 are ADP-ribose (ADPR) and Ca 2ϩ (2-4); simultaneous binding of both agonists is required for channel opening (9). TRPM2 channels are homotetramers (10), and ADPR binds to the NUDT9-H domains located at the cytosolic C termini of the subunits, named based on sequence homology to the mitochondrial enzyme NUDT9 (2). Both NUDT9 and isolated NUDT9-H bind ADPR and convert it to AMP and ribose-5-phosphate (2, 11), but the role in TRPM2 channel gating of the very slow ADPR hydrolase (ADPRase) activity of NUDT9-H is unknown. In intact cells ADPR activates TRPM2 only in the presence of either intra-or extracellular Ca 2ϩ (4, 12, 13); biophysical studies in inside-out patches have shown that the activatory Ca 2ϩ -binding sites are located intracellularly of the gate, such that extracellular...