Calcium signals recorded from two new purpurate indicators inside frog cut twitch fibers.

Two new Ca indicators, purpurate-3,3'diacetic acid (PDAA) and 1,1'-dimethylpurpurate-3,3'diacetic acid (DMPDAA), were synthesized and used to measure Ca transients in frog cut muscle fibers. These indicators are analogues of the purpurate components of murexide and tetramethylmurexide, in which two acetate groups have been incorporated into each molecule to render it membrane impermeant. The apparent dissociation constant for Ca is 0.95 mM for PDAA and 0.78 mM for DMPDAA. One of the indicators was introduced into a cut fiber, which was mounted in a double Vaseline-gap chamber, by diffusion from the end-pool solutions. The time course of indicator concentration, monitored optically in the middle of the fiber in the central-pool region, suggests that 19% of the PDAA or 27% of the DMPDAA became bound or sequestered inside the fiber. In resting fibers, the absorbance spectrum of either indicator was well fitted by the indicator's [Ca] = 0 mM cuvette absorbance spectrum, which is consistent with the idea that PDAA and DMPDAA do not enter the sarcoplasmic reticulum as tetramethylmurexide appears to be able to do (Maylie, J., M. Irving, N.L. Sizto, G. Boyarsky, and W. K. Chandler, 1987. Journal of General Physiology. 89:145-176). After an action potential, the absorbance of either indicator underwent a rapid and transient change that returned to the prestimulus baseline within 100-200 ms. The amplitude of this change had a wavelength dependence that matched the indicator's Ca-difference spectrum. The average amplitude of peak free [Ca] was 21 microM (PDAA or DMPDAA) if all the indicator inside a fiber was able to react with Ca as in cuvette calibrations, and was 26 (PDAA) or 28 microM (DMPDAA) if only freely diffusible indicator could so react. These results suggest that PDAA and DMPDAA are the first Ca indicators that provide a reliable estimate of both the amplitude and time course of (the spatial average of) free [Ca] in a twitch muscle fiber after an action potential.