Cytosolic-free calcium transients in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells: microfluorometric measurements.

Microfluorometric recordings were made of changes in the concentration of cytosolic-free calcium in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells treated with quin 2, an intracellularly trapped dye, under several conditions. Nitroglycerin decreased calcium in both the presence and absence of extracellular calcium and strongly and progressively decreased the extent of transient increases in calcium induced by repeated applications of caffeine in the absence of extracellular calcium. Therefore nitroglycerin probably decreases cytosolic-free calcium by accelerating the extrusion of calcium through the sarcolemmal membrane.