Sodium-dependent calcium release from vascular smooth muscle mitochondria.

Interest in mitochondrial calcium (Ca2+) uptake and release waned as it became apparent that sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium stores dominate the control of cytoplasmic calcium concentration. Our recent demonstration of a very large rise in vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cytoplasmic sodium (Na+) concentration after inhibition of the sodium, potassium-ATPase (sodium pump) led us to several questions. Do VSM mitochondria show Na(+)-dependent Ca2+ release? Are the documented changes in cytoplasmic Na+ concentration sufficient to cause Ca2+ release? Do features of the cardiac mitochondrial exchange system, including differential sensitivity to a number of calcium antagonists and cation specificity, apply to VSM? We isolated mitochondria from bovine aorta and mesenteric arteries and employed arsenazo III as the Ca2+ indicator. Mitochondria from arterial vessels accumulated added calcium (up to 50 nmol Ca2+/mg protein) and released Ca2+ on exposure to Na+. This concentration-dependent relationship was linear from 0 to 10 mM of Na+, and it plateaued between 20 mM and 40 mM of Na+. VSM mitochondria exposed to 20 mM Na+ released 118 +/- 25 nmol Ca2+ per mg mitochondrial protein in 20 min, when a new equilibrium was reached. Lithium (Li+), in contrast to Na+, produced much smaller amounts of Ca2+ release from the VSM mitochondria. Na+-dependent Ca2+ release was antagonized in a concentration-dependent manner by diltiazem (0-320 microM) with a Ki of 10.2 microM. Nifedipine had a lesser effect, and verapamil produced almost no inhibition. VSM mitochondria responses resemble those from heart mitochondria in that Na+-dependent Ca2+ release is present with a similar range of sensitivity to Na+ and a similar pattern of influence of diltiazem, nifedipine and verapamil. However, the influence of Li+ on Ca2+ release was much smaller and the amount of the Ca2+ released was much greater for VSM mitochondria compared with that reported for heart mitochondria. The large amount of Ca2+ released and the range of Na+ concentration that provoked Ca2+ release being within the physiologically achievable range raise the interesting possibility that these mechanisms may modify intramitochondrial cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, and hence could potentially contribute to the contractile response that follows inhibition of the sodium pump.