Effects of P2-purinoceptor antagonists on degradation of adenine nucleotides by ecto-nucleotidases in folliculated oocytes of Xenopus laevis

The aim oi the present study was to examine the effects oi a number of PZ-purinoceptor antagonists on degradation of adenine nucleotides by Xenopus laevis oocyte ecto-nucleotidases. Folliculated oocytes readily metabolize all three naturally-occurring nucleotides, the order oi preferential substrates being ATP > ADP > AMP. The degradation of ATP and ADP was decreased significantly in the presence oi several P2X- and P2Y- purinoceptor antagonists, including suramin, PPADS, cibacron blue, Coomassie Brilliant blue, Evans blue, Trypan blue, Congo red, and PIT (each compound was used at 100 mu M). All these compounds inhibited the degradation of ATP by up to 60%, whereas the hydrolysis oi ADP was inhibited by Congo red and PIT by 75-80%. In addition, DIDS (100 mu M) and TNP-ATP (100 mu M) selectively inhibited the breakdown of ATP, and sodium azide (10 mM) selectively inhibited the breakdown of ADP. The enzymatic breakdown of either ATP or ADP was unaffected by 8-pSPT (100 mu M), an antagonist of P1-purinoceptors, or by oxidized ATP (100 mu M), an antagonist of P2Z-purinoceptors. The degradation of AMP was prevented completely by PIT (100 mu M) and inhibited significantly by Congo red (100 mu M). In conclusion, the present study shows that most of currently available antagonists of P2-purinoceptors inhibit the enzymatic breakdown of extracellular ATP and ADP. The inhibitory effect on ecto-nucleotidase activity should be taken into account when these antagonists are used in pharmacological experiments.