Mechanism of stimulation of Ca2+ uptake by miconazole and ethidium bromide in yeasts: role of vacuoles in Ca2+ detoxification.

The antifungal antibiotic miconazole and the cationic dye ethidium bromide, both caused K+ efflux, membrane depolarization and intracellular acidification in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Whereas miconazole inhibited the activity of the plasma membrane H+-ATPase, no such inhibition was observed using ethidium bromide at concentrations up to 600 microM. Low concentrations of both drugs caused marked stimulation of the energy dependent Ca2+ uptake. The extra Ca2+ taken up in the presence of the drugs was localized within the vacuoles, whereas K+ was lost mainly from the cytosolic pool. The ions Zn2+ and La3+ inhibited the effect of both drugs on the stimulation of Ca2+ uptake. The results indicated that both drugs caused an increase in the permeability of cell membranes to ions, leading to an increase in the influx of Ca2+ into the cytosol along its electrochemical gradient. Consequently, the concentration of Ca2+ within the cytosol increased and in turn led to the enhancement of Ca2+ uptake by the energy dependent vacuolar Ca2+ system, which functioned as a Ca2+ detoxification system.