Linked oscillations of free Ca2+ and the ATP/ADP ratio in permeabilized RINm5F insulinoma cells supplemented with a glycolyzing cell-free muscle extract.

We show in the accompanying paper that the steady-state level of free Ca2+ maintained by the organelles of permeabilized RINm5F insulinoma cells varies inversely with the ATP/ADP ratio when this ratio is set by addition of creatine phosphokinase and fixed ratios of creatine to creatine phosphate. We, therefore, asked whether acute cyclic alterations in the cytosolic ATP/ADP ratio in the range known to modulate O2 consumption might be involved in regulating the physiological activity of Ca2+ -ATPases and the cytosolic free Ca2+ level. To explore this hypothesis we combined two experimental systems: 1) permeabilized RINm5F insulinoma cells that can maintain a low medium Ca2+ concentration and 2) a cell-free extract of rat skeletal muscle that spontaneously exhibits oscillatory behavior of glycolysis and linked oscillations in the ATP/ADP ratio, when provided with glucose. The free Ca2+ level maintained by the permeabilized cells oscillated in phase with the glycolytic oscillations and correlated closely with the ATP/ADP ratio but not with glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, orthophosphate, or pH. When glucokinase replaced hexokinase as the glucose phosphorylating enzyme, Ca2+ oscillations were induced by increasing the glucose concentration from 2 to 8 mM. The results demonstrate a link between metabolite changes and free Ca2+ levels in a reconstituted physiological system. They support a model in which oscillations in glycolysis and the ATP/ADP ratio may cause oscillations in cytosolic free Ca2+, beta-cell electrical activity, and insulin release.