Regulation of calcium uptake in bovine aortic sarcoplasmic reticulum by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase.

The effect of cAMP-dependent protein kinase on calcium uptake and protein phosphorylation in bovine aortic microsomes was examined. Acid gel electrophoresis demonstrated that the aortic microsomes contained a Ca2+-dependent, hydroxylamine-sensitive phosphoenzyme (Mr 110 kDa), characteristic of the calcium pump in sarcoplasmic reticulum, but showed no evidence of a sarcolemmal calcium pump. Calcium uptake by these aortic vesicles was markedly stimulated by oxalate, whereas calcium uptake by canine cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles was oxalate-independent. Both cAMP plus protein kinase (cAMP-PK) and catalytic subunit of protein kinase stimulated oxalate-supported calcium uptake by bovine aortic microsomes 23 +/- 3% (P less than 0.05) at 0.3 microM Ca2+, but had no effect at 6 to 10 microM Ca2+. Catalytic subunit of protein kinase and cAMP-PK phosphorylated an 11 kDa protein in bovine aortic microsomes which comigrated with canine cardiac phospholamban after boiling in sodium dodecylsulfate. The stoichiometry of the aortic 11 kDa phosphoprotein to 110 kDa phosphoenzyme was approximately 1:1. These data are consistent with the recent identification of phospholamban in various smooth muscles, and suggest that cAMP-mediated vascular relaxation may in part be attributable to stimulation of calcium uptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum.