Studies on the Ca2+ transport mechanism of human erythrocyte inside-out plasma membrane vesicles V. Chlortetracycline fluorescence

The measurement of chlortetracycline fluorescence was employed as a probe for measuring the process to calcium transport by human erythrocyte inside-out vesicles. Chlortetracycline is a divalent metal chelator which increases its fluorrescence when bound to calcium in the presence of a membrane. Addition of calcium and ATP to inside out vesicles in the presence of chlortetracycline increased the chlortetracycline fluorescence as a function of time following an initial delay. Only after a threshold level of calcium had been accumulated did the fluorescence increase. The presence of both ATP and calcium were required. The addition of calmodulin increased the rate and absolute magnitude of the chlortetracycline fluorescence change. Similarly, calmodulin stimulated the rate and extent of ⁴⁵Ca transport by inside-out vesicles. Moreover, the presence of saponin abolished both chlortetracycline fluorescence change and ⁴⁵Ca uptake; a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog would not substitute for ATP in either ⁴⁵Ca transport or chlortetracycline fluorescence experiments. Comparison between the slopes of the linear portions of chlortetracycline fluorescence change and calcium transport time courses at varied free calcium concentrations showed a consistent ratio between the slopes. This suggests that calcium transport change can be calibrated by employing chlortetracycline fluorescence. Based on this data, it is concluded that chlortetracycline fluorescence is a rapid and accurate method for monitoring calcium transport by human erythrocyte inside-out vesicles.