Calmodulin stimulates calcium transport in cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum by increasing the turnover rate of the transport process, independent of cAMP pathways.
Calmodulin prepared from red cell hemolysates was found to significantly increase Ca2+ uptake into cardiac microsomal preparations enriched in sarcoplasic reticulum in a dose-dependent manner. The stimulation of calcium uptake by calmodulin was additive to that stimulation produced by maximal stimulatory concentrations of adenosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphate (cAMP) dependent protein kinase and cAMP, indicating separate mechanisms of action and potentially different modulatory roles for these two systems in the control of calcium transport. K+ significantly decreased calmodulin stimulation of calcium uptake, while in the absence of calmodulin, K+ increased Ca2+ uptake. In the absence of K+, calmodulin increased Ca2+ uptake to levels observed at maximal K+ concentrations without calmodulin present. Na+ produced effects similar to those of K+ in this preparation both in the presence and absence of calmodulin. The effect of calmodulin on the intermediate steps of the (Mg2+,Ca2+)ATPase in cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum was also investigated. Calmodulin was found to reduce the steady-state level of the Ca2+-dependent phosphoprotein (ECaP) and increase the (Mg2+,Ca2+)ATPase activity of this preparation. Dephosphorylation of ECaP in the presence of Tris-ATP (0.5 mM) was significantly stimulated by calmodulin. These studies indicate that calmodulin stimulates Ca2+ transport in cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum by increasing the turnover rate of the transport process.
Lopaschuk et al. (Sat,) studied this question.