Effects of mibefradil on intracellular Ca2+ release in cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts and human platelets.

The Ca2+ antagonist mibefradil at supratherapeutic concentrations induced a sustained increase of cytosolic Ca2+ in cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts and human platelets which lack sensitivity to K+ depolarization and Ca2+ channel block by verapamil or other Ca2+ antagonists. At concentrations above 10 microM, mibefradil elevated substantially cytosolic [Ca2+] without affecting the peak level of agonist-induced Ca2+ transients. These Ca2+-mobilizing actions of 10 or 100 microM mibefradil stand in contrast to the Ca2+ antagonism and relaxation of vascular muscle at 1 microM concentrations. Since a substantial part of mibefradil-induced increase in cytosolic Ca2+ was independent of extracellular Ca2+, and in order to define better the mechanism of Ca2+ increase, we exposed permeabilized cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts and human platelets to mibefradil at concentrations sufficiently high to identify covert effects. In permeabilized fibroblasts or platelets mibefradil at concentrations above 10 microM activated dose-dependent Ca2+ release from intracellular Ca2+ stores. Verapamil had no effect at concentrations of up to 100 microM. Mibefradil-induced Ca2+ release was not affected by ryanodine, thapsigargin, removal of ATP or dithioerythreitol, indicating that neither Ca2+ - nor disulfide reagent-induced Ca2+ release were involved and that mibefradil did not release Ca2+ by inhibition of the Ca2+-ATPase pump of endoplasmic reticulum. The rate, but not the amplitude, of mibefradil-induced Ca2+ release is increased up to fourfold in the presence of pentosan polysulphate or heparin, two potent inhibitors of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-induced Ca2+ release. Depletion of Ca2+ stores of permeabilized cells inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate in the presence of thapsigargin completely blocked mibefradil-induced Ca2+ release, and depletion of Ca2+ stores by mibefradil prevented further Ca2+ release by inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. Mibefradil at supratherapeutic concentrations (> or = microM) thus mobilized Ca2+ from an inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-sensitive Ca2+ pool in cultured rat cardiac fibroblasts and human platelets.