Properties of an ATP-dependent Ca2+ pump and (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase in brain synaptosome membrane vesicles from the bertha armyworm,Mamestra configurata Wlk

Biochemical and kinetic properties under identical substrate and reaction conditions were obtained for an ATP-dependent Ca²⁺ pump and (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺)-ATPase in synaptosome membrane vesicles prepared from the brain of the moth, Mamestra configurata. Both the ATP-dependent Ca²⁺ pump and (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺)-ATPase had single, high-affinity binding sites for ATP (K_m = 14 and 116 μM, respectively), Ca²⁺_free (K_m = 0.13 nM and 0.072 nM, respectively), and Mg²⁺ (K_m = 1.1 mM and 0.07 mM, respectively). Both systems were relatively little affected by K⁺ and were insensitive to ouabain, an inhibitor of (Na⁺ + K⁺)-ATPase. The results indicate that the ATP-dependent Ca²⁺ pump and (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺)-ATPase are functionally coupled in synaptic membranes and constitute a mechanism for Ca²⁺ transport in the brain of M. configurata. Although moth brain (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺)-ATPase is maximally active at nanomolar concentrations of free calcium ion, the enzyme retains at least one-half of its maximal activity at micromolar calcium concentrations, indicating either that the enzyme has two binding sites for calcium (a high-affinity site at nanomolar Ca²⁺_free and a low-affinity site at micromolar Ca²⁺_free), or that there are two enzymes with high and low affinity for calcium, respectively. Calcium extrusion from brain neurones of M. configurata may operate in a two-stage, concentration-dependent process in which a first stage, low-affinity pump reduces intraneuronal calcium to a concentration at which a second stage, high-affinity pump becomes activated.