Cytosolic calmodulin is increased in SK-N-SH human neuroblastoma cells due to release of calcium from intracellular stores.

Abstract

Muscarinic receptor stimulation elicits a redistribution of calmodulin (CaM) from the membrane fraction to cytosol in the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH. Increasing the intracellular Ca2+ concentration with ionomycin also elevates cytosolic CaM. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of extracellular and intracellular Ca2+ pools in the muscarinic receptor-mediated increases in cytosolic CaM in SK-N-SH cells. Stimulus-mediated changes in intracellular Ca2+ were monitored in fura-2-loaded cells, and CaM was measured by radioimmunoassay in the 100,000-g cytosol and membrane fractions. The influx of extracellular Ca2+ normally seen with carbachol treatment in SK-N-SH cells was eliminated by pretreatment with the nonspecific Ca2+ channel blocker Ni2+. Blocking the influx of extracellular Ca2+ had no effect on carbachol-mediated increases in cytosolic CaM (168 +/- 18% of control values for carbachol treatment alone vs. 163 +/- 28% for Ni2+ and carbachol) or decreases in membrane CaM. Similarly, removal of extracellular Ca2+ from the medium did not affect carbachol-mediated increases in cytosolic CaM (168 +/- 26% of control). On the other hand, prevention of the carbachol-mediated increase of intracellular free Ca2+ by pretreatment with the cell-permeant Ca2+ chelator BAPTA/AM did attenuate the carbachol-mediated increase in cytosolic CaM (221 +/- 37% of control without BAPTA/AM vs. 136 +/- 13% with BAPTA/AM). The effect of direct entry of extracellular Ca2+ into the cell by K+ depolarization was assessed. Incubation of SK-N-SH cells with 60 mM K+ elicited an immediate and persistent increase in intracellular free Ca2+ concentration, but there was no corresponding alteration in CaM localization. On the contrary, in cells where intracellular Ca2+ was directly elevated by thapsigargin treatment, cytosolic CaM was elevated for at least 30 min while particulate CaM was decreased. In addition, treatment with ionomycin in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, which releases Ca2+ from intracellular stores, induced an increase in cytosolic CaM (203 +/- 30% of control). The mechanism for the CaM release may involve activation of the alpha isozyme of protein kinase C, which was translocated from cytosol to membranes much more profoundly by thapsigargin than by K+ depolarization. These data demonstrate that release of Ca2+ from the intracellular store is important for the carbachol-mediated redistribution of CaM in human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells.