Calmodulin: biochemical, physiological, and morphological effects on Schistosoma mansoni

Results of radioimmunoassays for the Ca2+-binding protein, calmodulin, revealed that this receptor constitutes 0.53 +/- 0.12% of the total protein in adult male Schistosoma mansoni. Schistosome calmodulin purified by Ca2+-dependent hydrophobic interaction chromatography showed an apparent molecular weight of 19 kDa, and its mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels was influenced by the presence of Ca2+ but not the antischistosomal drug praziquantel. Calmodulin from the parasite effected a four-fold stimulation of bovine heart adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate phosphodiesterase; this process was inhibited by removal of Ca2+ with ethyleneglycol-bis(B-aminoethylether)-N,N'-tetraacetic acid but not by praziquantel. Inhibition of calmodulin-activated processes with antipsychotic compounds in vitro resulted in a number of time- and concentration-dependent changes, including inhibition of schistosome calmodulin stimulation of bovine heart phosphodiesterase, disruption and depolarization of the parasite's tegument, and positive inotropic effects on longitudinal musculature. Results of this study indicate that calmodulin is a functional component of schistosomes and suggest that the role it serves is analogous to that obtained in other eukaryotes; i.e., it is an important component of numerous processes regulated, in part, by Ca2+.