title: Calcium pools in saponin-permeabilized guinea pig hepatocytes.
abstract: The plasma membranes of isolated guinea pig hepatocytes were made permeable with saponin. The cells were then suspended in a medium resembling cytosol in which the level of ATP was kept constant with an ATP-regenerating system. Intracellular ATP-dependent 45Ca and 40Ca sequestration was then followed at various concentrations of Ca2+ in the medium. It was found that ATP-dependent Ca uptake could be divided into two mechanisms: a low affinity high capacity uptake sensitive to 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and oligomycin, thought to be mitochondrial, and a low capacity high affinity uptake, which was insensitive to DNP and oligomycin, thought to be mainly endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The threshold for ATP-dependent Ca uptake by the latter pool was about 20 nM Ca2+. The process had an EC50 value of 0.3 microM (for 45Ca) and a capacity of 2.7 nmol/45Ca/mg of protein. The "ER" mechanism also had a high affinity for ATP (EC50, about 43 microM). There was no significant accumulation of Ca by the postulated mitochondrial pool until the [Ca2+] of the medium was greater than 1 microM. The concentration of Ca2+ in the cytosol of normal unstimulated hepatocytes was estimated from measurements of phosphorylase a activity to be about 0.18 microM. At this [Ca2+], the ER pool of the saponin-treated hepatocytes accumulated Ca but there was no evidence of any Ca uptake into the "mitochondrial" pool. This suggests that most of the exchangeable Ca in a normal cell may be in DNP and oligomycin-insensitive pools (presumably the ER or possibly the plasma membrane) and suggests that these pools are likely to be involved in the increase in cytosolic [Ca2+] which occurs after stimulation by Ca-mobilizing hormones.
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010539:Permeability; D006005:Phosphorylases / Q000378:metabolism; D012503:Saponins / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D012503:Saponins; D002110:Caffeine; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D006005:Phosphorylases; D002118:Calcium