Purification of the Ca2+-and Mg2+-requiring ATPase from rat brain synaptic plasma membrane

A Ca2+-ATPase (Ca2+- and Mg2+-requiring ATPase) was purified from a synaptic plasma-membrane fraction of rat brain. This enzyme had properties similar to those of plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPases from other organs: its splitting of ATP was dependent on both Ca2+ and Mg2+, it bound in a Ca2+-dependent fashion to calmodulin-Sepharose and it cross-reacted with specific antibodies raised against human erythrocyte-membrane Ca2+-ATPase. It had an apparent Mr of 138 000, similar to those of plasma-membrane ATPases from human erythrocyte and from dog heart sarcolemma. Previous high-Ca2+-affinity ATPases observed in brain had Mr 100 000; in at least one case, such an ATPase probably represented a different type of enzyme, derived from coated vesicles.