Effect of reserpine pretreatment on calcium transport and Ca++-Mg++ adenosine triphosphatase activity of guinea-pig cardiac microsomes.

A previous report from this laboratory showed that reserpine pretreatment, in appropriate doses and under restricted conditions, increased the inotropic responsiveness of guinea-pig hearts to calcium. The enhanced responsiveness was characterized by a selective increase in the rate of ventricular relaxation (-dP/dt). We therefore hypothesized that reserpine might alter calcium uptake or (Ca++-Mg++) adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity of guinea-pig ventricular sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Pretreatment of guinea pigs with reserpine (2.5 mg/kg/day, 2 days) significantly elevated ATP-dependent, Tris oxalate-facilitated SR Ca++ uptake and increased the calcium-sensitive component of the SR (Ca++) ATPase activity. These changes appeared to be functionally related to a reserpine-induced potentiation of ventricular relaxation rate, as estimated by the relationship between negative and positive left ventricular dP/dt of isolated working guinea-pig hearts. An alternative dose of reserpine (5 mg/kg, -24 hr), which had been demonstrated to produce an equivalent degree of catecholamine depletion, had no effect on either the inotropic responsiveness to calcium or on the SR calcium uptake or ATPase activities. The exact mechanism for these reserpine-induced alterations in calcium homeostasis remains to be elucidated.