Abstract
Sustentacular cells have structural features that allude to functions of secretion, absorption, phagocytosis, maintenance of extracellular ionic gradients, metabolism of noxious chemicals, and regulation of cell turnover. We present data detailing their dynamic activity. We show, using a mouse olfactory epithelium slice model, that sustentacular cells are capable of generating two types of calcium signals: intercellular calcium waves where elevations in intracellular calcium propagate between neighboring cells, and intracellular calcium oscillations consisting of repetitive elevations in intracellular calcium confined to single cells. Sustentacular cells exhibited rapid, robust increases in intracellular calcium in response to G‐protein coupled muscarinic and purinergic receptor stimulation. In a subpopulation of sustentacular cells, oscillatory calcium transients were evoked. We pharmacologically characterized the properties of purinergic‐evoked increases in intracellular calcium. Calcium transients were elicited by release from intracellular stores and were not dependent on extracellular calcium. BAPTA‐AM, a cytosolic calcium chelator, and cyclopiazonic acid, an endoplasmic reticulum Ca^2+^‐ATPase inhibitor irreversibly blocked the purinergic‐induced calcium transient. Phospholipase C antagonist U73122 inhibited the purinergic‐evoked calcium transient. 2‐Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, an inositol‐1,4,5‐trisphosphate (IP~3~) receptor antagonist, and the ryanodine receptor (RyR) antagonists tetracaine and ryanodine, inhibited the UTP‐induced calcium transients. Collectively, these data suggest that activation of the phospholipase C pathway, IP~3~‐mediated calcium release, and subsequent calcium‐induced‐calcium release is involved in ATP‐elicited increases in intracellular calcium. Our findings indicate that sustentacular cells are not static support cells, and, like glia in the central nervous system, have complex calcium signaling. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.