* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received October 16, 1997; Revision received March 3, 1998
Experiments with highly purified preparations of Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase solubilized from sarcolemma and a fraction of inside-out sarcolemmal vesicles were performed to study the kinetics of inhibitory effects of eosin Y (0-100 µM) on the catalytic and transport activity of Mg2+,ATP-dependent calcium pump of myometrial cell plasma membrane. For both the Ca2+,Mg2+-dependent ATP hydrolysis and the Mg2+,ATP-dependent accumulation of Ca2+ the apparent inhibitory constant Ki was 0.8 µM. However, eosin Y used at concentrations of up to 100 µM had absolutely no effect on Na+-Ca2+ exchange in the plasma membrane fraction. This inhibitor decreased the turnover rate of purified Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase determined both by Mg2+ and ATP. However, the affinity of purified Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase for Mg2+ increased, and its affinity for ATP decreased in the presence of eosin Y. In the case of Mg2+,ATP-dependent Ca2+ transport, eosin Y decreased the turnover rate of the calcium pump whose affinity for Mg2+ and ATP displayed virtually no dependence on the presence of the inhibitor in the incubation medium. The possibility of the use of eosin Y in model experiments for identification of Mg2+,ATP-dependent and Na+-dependent calcium fluxes from smooth muscle cells into the intercellular milieu is discussed.
KEY WORDS: Ca2+,Mg2+-ATPase, calcium pump, eosin Y, plasma membrane, smooth muscle cells, myometrium