Voltage-sensitive calcium flux promoted by vesicles in an isolated cardiac sarcolemma preparation.

The effect of membrane potential on the vesicular uptake of calcium in an isolated cardiac sarcolemma preparation from canine ventricle was evaluated. Membrane potentials were developed by the establishment of potassium gradients across the vesicular membranes. In the presence of valinomycin, the fluorescence changes of the voltage sensitive dye, diS-C3-(5) were consistent with the development of potassium equilibrium potentials. Using EGTA to remove endogenous calcium from the preparation and to maintain a low intravesicular calcium concentration over time, the uptake of calcium was linear from 5 to 100 sec, in the absence of sodium, at both -98 and -1 mV. The rate of calcium uptake (calcium influx) was approximately twofold greater at -1 mV than at -98 mV, and prepolarization of the membrane potential to -98 mV did not enhance calcium influx upon subsequent depolarization to -1 mV. Hence, calcium influx was voltage-sensitive but not depolarization-induced and did not inactivate with time. Furthermore, the calcium influx was not inhibited by the organic calcium antagonists, which suggests that this flux did not occur via the transient calcium channel. Evaluation of calcium influx over a wide range of membrane potentials produced a profile consistent with the hypothesis that calcium entered the vesicles through the pathway responsible for the persistent inward current observed in voltage-clamped isolated myocytes. A model was proposed to account for these results.