The effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) on an inward current activated by extracellular ATP were investigated in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. Under whole-cell voltage-clamp conditions 5-HT (10 microM) reversibly enhanced the amplitude of the current activated by 30 microM ATP. The enhancement may not be due to an increase in the number of functional channels because the current activated by 300 microM ATP was not remarkably augmented compared with the current activated by 30 microM ATP. The current enhancement by 100 microM 5-HT was less obvious than that by 10 microM 5-HT. When the current kinetics were compared, activation of the ATP-evoked current was accelerated to the same extent by either 10 or 100 microM 5-HT, whereas deactivation was largely more accelerated by 100 microM 5-HT. Propranolol (10 microM), a 5-HT1 receptor antagonist, or LY53857 (10 microM), a 5-HT2 receptor antagonist, exerted an agonistic effect: the ATP-activated current was facilitated by these compounds. Metoclopramide (10 microM), a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, neither facilitated the ATP-activated current, nor blocked the current facilitation by 5-HT. Guanosine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP[beta S]) (2 mM), the non-hydrolysable analog of guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP), or K-252a (2 microM), a protein kinase inhibitor, did not affect the facilitation by 5-HT of the ATP-activated current when they were included in the intracellular solution. The ATP-activated current pre-facilitated by 10 microM dopamine was not enhanced by 10 microM 5-HT. Similarly, the pre-facilitation by 5-HT attenuated the current enhancement by dopamine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)