Evidence for A1 and A3 receptors mediating adenosine-induced intracellular calcium release in the dorsal root ganglion neurons by using confocal microscopy imaging

Adenosine exerts a key role in analgesia. In the present study, adenosine-induced Ca2+ responses were revealed by using confocal microscopy imaging in the rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons in vitro. Our results showed that adenosine could evoke increases in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration in the DRG neurons. In addition, by application of selective receptor antagonists, two types of receptors, A1R and A3R, were identified to be involved in the adenosine-induced Ca2+ release from intracellular stores in neurons. Altogether, these results suggest that confocal microscopy imaging combined with fluorescent dyes could help to detect the analgesic-induced ion signaling in single cell.