Allosteric Activation of Sodium–Calcium Exchange Activity by Calcium: Persistence at Low Calcium Concentrations

The activity of the cardiac Na+/Ca2+ exchanger is stimulated allosterically by Ca2+, but estimates of the half-maximal activating concentration have varied over a wide range. In Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the cardiac Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, the time course of exchange-mediated Ca2+ influx showed a pronounced lag period followed by an acceleration of Ca2+ uptake. Lag periods were absent in cells expressing an exchanger mutant that was not dependent on regulatory Ca2+ activation. We assumed that the rate of Ca2+ uptake during the acceleration phase reflected the degree of allosteric activation of the exchanger and determined the value of cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) at which the rate of Ca2+ influx was half-maximal (Kh). After correcting for the effects of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and fura-2 buffering, Kh values of ∼300 nM were obtained. After an increase in [Ca2+]i, the activated state of the exchanger persisted following a subsequent reduction in [Ca2+]i to values <100 nM. Thus, within 30 s after termination of a transient increase in [Ca2+]i, exchange-mediated Ca2+ entry began without a lag period and displayed a linear rate of Ca2+ uptake in most cells; a sigmoidal time course of Ca2+ uptake returned 60–90 s after the transient increase in [Ca2+]i was terminated. Relaxation of the activated state was accelerated by the activity of the endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ pump, suggesting that local Ca2+ gradients contribute to maintaining exchanger activation after the return of global [Ca2+]i to low values

Sodium-dependent inactivation of sodium/calcium exchange in transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells

High concentrations of cytosolic Na+ ions induce the time-dependent formation of an inactive state of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX), a process known as Na+-dependent inactivation. NCX activity was measured as Ca2+ uptake in fura 2-loaded Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing the wild-type (WT) NCX or mutants that are hypersensitive (F223E) or resistant (K229Q) to Na+-dependent inactivation. As expected, 1) Na+-dependent inactivation was promoted by high cytosolic Na+ concentration, 2) the F223E mutant was more susceptible than the WT exchanger to inactivation, whereas the K229Q mutant was resistant, and 3) inactivation was enhanced by cytosolic acidification. However, in contrast to expectations from excised patch studies, 1) the WT exchanger was resistant to Na+-dependent inactivation unless cytosolic pH was reduced, 2) reducing cellular phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate levels did not induce Na+-dependent inactivation in the WT exchanger, 3) Na+-dependent inactivation did not increase the half-maximal cytosolic Ca2+ concentration for allosteric Ca2+ activation, 4) Na+-dependent inactivation was not reversed by high cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations, and 5) Na+-dependent inactivation was partially, but transiently, reversed by an increase in extracellular Ca2+ concentration. Thus Na+-dependent inactivation of NCX expressed in CHO cells differs in several respects from the inactivation process measured in excised patches. The refractoriness of the WT exchanger to Na+-dependent inactivation suggests that this type of inactivation is unlikely to be a strong regulator of exchange activity under physiological conditions but would probably act to inhibit NCX-mediated Ca2+ influx during ischemia