Enhancing Dopamine Accumulation in Secretory Vesicles of PC12 Cells: Mechanisms, Applications and Limitations

Fifty years ago, Green and Tischler established the chromaffin-derived cell line PC12. This line has been extremely successful to explore many biological functions as PC12 are easily manipulated by molecular biology techniques. These cells retain many features from the original source, although enzymes from the catecholamine synthetic pathway exhibit a very low expression or directly have disappeared. This is crucial when PC12 are required to explore the secretory responses, especially when electrochemical techniques are required. In this review we focus on the main characteristics of PC12 cells compared with chromaffin cells, with particular emphasis on the properties of large dense-core vesicles and their secretory mechanisms and how different culture maneuvers can enhance the secretory performance of PC12 cells by increasing dopamine synthesis and storage.