Effects of a nonionic detergent on calcium uptake by cardiac microsomes

We investigated the effects of the nonionic detergent octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12E8) on the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump in cardiac microsomes in view of its specific effects on different ATP-accelerated steps in the catalytic cycle of the Ca-ATPase in leaky fast skeletal muscle microsomes. At low concentrations of MgATP2- (< 2.5 microM), a nonsolubilizing concentration of added C12E8 (15 microM) increased apparent Vmax(MgATP) of oxalate-facilitated calcium uptake associated with MgATP2- binding to the high affinity catalytic site. An ATP induced acceleration of calcium uptake, attributable to regulatory nucleotide binding, was seen between 2 and 3 microM MgATP2- in both C12E8-treated and control microsomes. These effects of C12E8 are similar to those seen previously with trypsin treatment of microsomes [Lu, Y.-Z., Xu, Z.-C., & Kirchberger, M.A. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 3105-3111]. However, at a saturating Ca2+ between 3 and 10 microM MgATP2-, C12E8 produced a greater reduction in the magnitude of the ATP-induced acceleration of calcium uptake seen with trypsin. At 1 mM MgATP2-, C12E8 and trypsin as well as protein kinase A-catalyzed microsomal phosphorylation all increased the Ca2+ affinity of the pump, but only the latter two treatments significantly increased apparent Vmax(Ca). In fact in trypsin-treated and phosphorylated microsomes, C12E8 reduced Vmax(Ca) to close to the control values; it reduced Vmax(Ca) only slightly in control microsomes. Under our experimental conditions, comparable effects of 15 microM C12E8 on calcium uptake were absent in fast skeletal muscle microsomes, which lack phospholamban.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)