Functional characterization of the Ca(2+)-gated Ca2+ release channel of vascular smooth muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum

The Ca(2+)-gated Ca2+ release channel of aortic sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) was partially purified and reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers. Canine and porcine aorta microsomal protein fractions were solubilized in the detergent 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethyl-ammonio]-1-propane sulphonate (CHAPS) in the presence and absence of 3[H]-ryanodine and centrifuged through linear sucrose gradients. A single 3[H]-ryanodine receptor peak with an apparent sedimentation coefficient of 30 s was obtained. Upon reconstitution into planar lipid bilayers, the unlabelled 30 s protein fraction induced the formation of a Ca(2+)- and monovalent-ion-conducting channel (110 pS in 100 mM Ca2+, 360 pS in 250 mM K+). The channel was activated by micromolar Ca2+, modulated by millimolar adenosine triphosphate, Mg2+ and the Ca(2+)-releasing drug caffeine, and inhibited by micromolar ruthenium red. Micro- to millimolar concentrations of the plant alkaloid ryanodine induced a permanently closed state of the channel. Our results suggest that smooth muscle SR contains a Ca(2+)-gated Ca2+ release pathway, with properties similar to those observed for the skeletal and cardiac ryanodine receptor/Ca2+ release channel complexes.