Simultaneous amperometric measurement of ascorbate and catecholamine secretion from individual bovine adrenal medullary cells.

Secretion of ascorbate and catecholamines from single bovine adrenal medullary cells has been detected with amperometry at carbon-fiber microelectrodes. Two carbon-fiber electrodes were employed. One was beveled, and voltammograms at this electrode showed overlap of the responses for ascorbate and the catecholamines. The other was beveled and electrochemically oxidized to shift the ascorbate oxidation wave to potentials more negative than that of the catecholamines. Thus, at an applied potential of 0.05 V vs SSCE, ascorbate was selectively oxidized at the treated electrode and both catecholamines and ascorbate were oxidized at an applied potential of 0.65 V at the untreated electrode. Exocytotic release from the cell was stimulated with K+, nicotine, and digitonin. Nicotine and K+ depolarize the cell membrane and elicit vesicular release. Digitonin is a detergent that reacts with cholesterol in the plasma membrane and causes the formation of pores. Ascorbate efflux from individual cells could be induced by digitonin but not by K+ or nicotine and was observed as a single peak with a full width at half-maximum of 4 s. In contrast, catecholamine release was observed as many rapid, sequential current spikes when the cell was exposed to either digitonin, K+, or nicotine. The two different types of release show that ascorbate and catecholamines are being released from two different cellular compartments. The calcium independence of the digitonin-induced ascorbate release provides additional evidence that ascorbate is released by a nonexocytotic process.