Serotonergic and cholinergic stimulation of inositol phosphate formation in the rabbit retina. Evidence for the presence of serotonin and muscarinic receptors.

A direct assay which involves prelabelling with [3H]inositol has been performed to characterize receptor-mediated breakdown of inositol phospholipids in the rabbit retina. In the presence of 10 mM lithium, the receptor agonists, carbachol and serotonin (5-HT), evoked an increase in the accumulation of tritiated inositol phosphates in a dose-dependent manner. A variety of 5-HT and other antagonists were used to show that at least part of the 5-HT-induced response is mediated by 5-HT2 receptor sites, adding weight to the theory that 5-HT plays a neurotransmitter role in the mammalian retina. The very high rate of carbachol-stimulated inositol phosphate accumulation observed in retinas from young animals (10 days) decreases significantly during development of the rabbit to the adult stage. In contrast 5-HT only induces significant stimulation of inositol phosphate accumulation in retinas of animals matured to at least 17 days. Separation of total accumulated inositol phosphates (after stimulation with both carbachol and 5-HT) showed that the vast majority of tritium label was associated with the monophosphate fraction.