ENHANCEMENT OF RATES OF H+, NA+ AND K+ TRANSPORT ACROSS PHOSPHOLIPID VESICULAR MEMBRANE BY THE COMBINED ACTION OF CARBONYL CYANIDE M-CHLOROPHENYLHYDRAZONE AND VALINOMYCIN - TEMPERATURE-JUMP STUDIES

Enhancement of Delta pH relaxation rate by the combined action of valinomycin (VAL) and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) has been studied under a variety of concentration conditions in soyabean phospholipid (SBPL) vesicles after creating a pH gradient across the vesicular membrane Delta pH by temperature jump. After taking note of the changes by VAL and CCCP induced membrane disorder (using nigericin and monensin mediated Delta pH decay as probes) the following could be inferred about the mechanism of enhancement of Delta pH decay rate: (i) in solutions containing KCl, the rate limiting species have been identified to be (a) Val-K+-CCCP-, at low [Val](0) and [CCCP](0) (with translocation rate constant k(2) similar to 3.2 . 10(3) s(-1)); (b) CCCPH, at high [Val](0) (with translocation rate constant k(1) similar to 2 . 10(5) s(-1)); (c) the neutral valinomycin species Val, at high [CCCP](0). (ii) In solutions containing NaCl, in our concentration range, the rate limiting species are Val-Na+-CCCP-. (iii) The apparent dissociation constant K-M* of Val-M(+) decreases with pH in SBPL vesicles but is independent of pH in vesicles prepared from PC + 6% PA. (iv) The differences in the ionic strength dependencies of kinetic data shows that the environments of Na+ and K+ binding sites on VAL are different. (v) In vesicle solutions containing 100 mM MCl, the cation selectivity of VAL (towards K+ in preference to Na+) is reduced when CCCP- is already bound to it in the membrane. The CCCP- dissociation constant of Val-M(+)-CCCP- is smaller with M(+) = Na+ (similar to 0.22 mM at 100 mM NaCl) when compared to that with M(+) = K+ (similar to 2 mM at 100 mM KCl). Attributing these differences to the differences in electrostatic interaction between CCCP- and M(+) in Val-M(+)-CCCP-, we can say that CCCP- binds closer to the Na+ binding site than to the K+ binding site on VAL.