Cytosolic Ca 2ϩ is an important regulator of many cell functions. Increases in cytosolic Ca 2ϩ occur by release of Ca 2ϩ from intracellular stores located in the endoplasmic reticulum. There are at least two types of Ca 2ϩ channels that regulate release from Ca 2ϩ stores: an inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP 3 ) 1 -sensitive channel (IP 3 receptor) and a ryanodine-sensitive channel (ryanodine receptor). As its name implies, IP 3 opens the IP 3 receptor and is used as a second messenger in many cells to release Ca 2ϩ . The ryanodine-sensitive channel (RyR) is responsible for calcium-induced calcium release (CICR).There is solid evidence for CICR in the pancreatic acinar cell (1, 2), in addition to some of the first evidence for IP 3 signaling (3). CICR is important in the acinar cell during submaximal agonist stimulation. Low doses of cholecystokinin or carbachol induce Ca 2ϩ waves and oscillations (4). In the two pool model of oscillations, IP 3 acts as an initiator of Ca 2ϩ release triggering CICR, generating the Ca 2ϩ spike (5). Discovery of regulators of CICR are important for full understanding of Ca 2ϩ signaling. There is a growing list of RyR regulators including, caffeine, cyclic ADP-ribose, procaine, spermine, and long chain acyl-CoA derivatives (6). Even though CICR has been established for the pancreatic acinar cell, there is conflicting data regarding the effects of ryanodine and caffeine (classic activators of the RyR). In rat pancreatic acinar cells, there is data supporting activation (7), inhibition (8), and lack of effect (2) of ryanodine and/or caffeine. Unlike ryanodine and caffeine, cyclic ADP-ribose, another activator of the RyR, is naturally occurring in many cell types, but some mammalian cells, including pancreatic acinar cells, are far less sensitive to cADPR than sea urchin eggs (9). Acyl-CoA are also naturally occurring compounds that release Ca 2ϩ (10), but there is no data regarding the presence or the effects of acyl-CoA on acinar cell Ca 2ϩ movements. To study the regulation of CICR in pancreas, we tested the effect of acyl-CoA on Ca 2ϩ release mechanisms in permeablized rat pancreatic acini. Also the effect of acyl-CoA in relation to those of ryanodine and caffeine was measured.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESIsolation of Acini-Rat pancreatic acini were isolated as described previously (11). The rats were sacrificed by CO 2 induced asphyxiation, followed by cervical dislocation. The pancreas was removed and injected with a collagenase, digestion buffer (in mM: 95 NaCl, 6 KCl, 1 MgCl 2 , 4 sodium pyruvate, 11 glucose, 2 NaH 2 PO 4 , 4 sodium fumarate, 5 glutamate, 25 HEPES, 2 CaCl 2 , 2 glutamine, also included 20 units/ml purified collagenase, 2 ϫ minimal Eagle's amino acids, and 0.2% (w/v) bovine serum albumin (BSA) (pH 7.4) (NaOH)). The pancreas was incubated 45 min at 37°C in a shaking water bath (Dubnoff, Precision Scientific, Chicago, IL) in 5 ml of digestion buffer with three changes of buffer. Acini were dispersed by passage through large and small bore glass pipettes and then washed...