Carbonic anhydrase in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of rabbit skeletal muscle

Sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles and mitochondria were prepared from red and white skeletal muscles of the rabbit. The preparations were characterized in terms of their specific activities of citrate synthase, basal (Mg2+-dependent) and Ca2+-dependent ATPase (the latter two in the presence of NaN3 and ouabain), and their specific carbonic anhydrase activities were determined. Skeletal muscle mitochondria had high specific activities of citrate synthase (700-1200 mu. mg protein-1) and low carbonic anhydrase activities (0.1-0.4 u. ml mg protein-1). The latter are likely to be due to a contamination of the preparations with sarcoplasmic reticulum (s.r.) Preparations of s.r. vesicles showed negligible activities of citrate synthase and the expected differing patterns of basal and Ca2+-dependent ATPase in red and white muscles. Specific carbonic anhydrase activities in s.r. from both muscle types were high (2-4 u. ml mg protein-1). The highest carbonic anhydrase activity, 11 u. ml mg protein-1, was found in s.r. from rabbit m. masseter. The inhibition constant of s.r. carbonic anhydrase towards acetazolamide was 4-6 X 10(-8) M and similar but not identical to that of cytosolic carbonic anhydrase II. It appears possible that the carbonic anhydrase II-like enzyme previously found by us in muscle homogenates (Siffert & Gros, 1982) originates from the s.r. Histochemical studies using the dansylsuphonamide method described previously (Dermietzel, Leibstein, Siffert, Zamboglou & Gros, 1985) showed an intracellular pattern of carbonic anhydrase staining compatible with the presence of the enzyme in s.r.: spots homogeneously distributed across the fibre cross-sections in transversely sectioned fibres and thin, longitudinally oriented, bands in longitudinally sectioned fibres. It is estimated that s.r. carbonic anhydrase accelerates CO2 hydration within the s.r. approximately 1000-fold. Thus, CO2 and HCO3- react fast enough to provide a rapid source and sink for protons leaving and entering the s.r. in exchange for Ca2+.