Functional aspects of calcium transport in sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles derived from frog skeletal muscle treated with saponin.
To study the physiological aspects of the excitation-contraction cycle, saponin (10-100 micrograms ml-1) was used as a skinning agent on muscle and sarcotubular vesicles derived from fast muscles (sartorius and tibialis anterior) of Rana esculenta. The vesicles showed similar Ca2+-ATPase activity and similar protein profiles carried out by SDS-PAGE. Calcium transport in untreated vesicles and those treated with different concentrations of saponin seemed to have the same quantitative and qualitative parameters if the saponin was used in a range between 10 and 50 micrograms ml-1. Our results confirm that saponin may be considered to be a valid skinning agent for the external membranes of fast skeletal muscles.
Fanó
G
G
Istituto di Biologia Cellulare, Universita' degli Studi di Perugia, Italy.
Belia
S
S
Fulle
S
S
Angelella
P
P
Panara
F
F
Marsili
V
V
Pascolini
R
R
D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active / Q000187:drug effects; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D000252:Calcium-Transporting ATPases / Q000378:metabolism; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D011893:Rana esculenta; D012503:Saponins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012519:Sarcoplasmic Reticulum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
D012503:Saponins; D000252:Calcium-Transporting ATPases; D002118:Calcium