Osmotic activation of a Ca(2+)‐dependent phospholipase C pathway that regulates ∆N TRPV1‐mediated currents in rat supraoptic neurons

The magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) of the hypothalamus regulate body fluid balance by releasing the hormones vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OT) in an osmolality‐dependent manner. Elevations of external osmolality increase MNC firing and hormone release. MNC osmosensitivity is largely due to activation of a mechanosensitive non‐selective cation current that responds to osmotically‐evoked changes in MNC volume and is mediated by an N‐terminal variant of the TRPV1 channel (∆N TRPV1). We report a novel mechanism by which increases in osmolality may modulate ∆N TRPV1‐mediated currents and thus influence MNC electrical behaviour. We showed previously that acute elevations of external osmolality activate the enzyme phospholipase C (PLC) in isolated MNCs. We now show that the osmotic activation of PLC has a time course and dose‐dependence that is consistent with a role in MNC osmosensitivity and that it contributes to the osmotically‐evoked increase in non‐selective cation current in MNCs through a protein kinase C‐dependent pathway. We furthermore show that the mechanism of osmotic activation of PLC requires an increase in internal Ca(2+) that depends on influx through L‐type Ca(2+) channels. Our data therefore suggest that MNCs possess an osmotically‐activated Ca(2+)‐dependent PLC that contributes to the osmotic activation of ∆N TRPV1 and may therefore be important in MNC osmosensitivity and in central osmoregulation.