EFFECTS OF ACIDOSIS ON RESTING CYTOSOLIC AND MITOCHONDRIAL CA2+ IN MAMMALIAN MYOCARDIUM

Acidosis increases resting cytosolic [Ca2+], (Ca(i)) of myocardial preparations; however, neither the Ca2+ sources for the increase in Ca(i) nor the effect of acidosis on mitochondrial free [Ca2+], (Ca(m)) have been characterized. In this study cytosolic pH (pH(i)) was monitored in adult rat left ventricular myocytes loaded with the acetoxymethyl ester (AM form) of SNARF-1. A stable decrease in the pH(i) of 0.52 +/- 0.05 U (n = 16) was obtained by switching from a bicarbonate buffer equilibrated with 5% CO2 to a buffer equilibrated with 20% CO2. Electrical stimulation at either 0.5 or 1.5 Hz had no effect on pH(i) in 5% CO2, nor did it affect the magnitude of pH(i) decrease in response to hypercarbic acidosis. Ca(i) was measured in myocytes loaded with indo-1/free acid and Ca(m) was monitored in cells loaded with indo-1/AM after quenching cytosolic indo-I fluorescence with MnCl2. In quiescent intact myocytes bathed in 1.5 mM [Ca2+], hypercarbia increased Ca(i) from 130 +/- 5 to 221 +/- 13 nM. However, when acidosis was effected in electrically stimulated myocytes, diastolic Ca(i) increased more than resting Ca(i) in quiescent myocytes, and during pacing at 1.5 Hz diastolic Ca(i) was higher (285 +/- 17 nM) than at 0.5 Hz (245 +/- 18 nM; P < 0.05). The magnitude of Ca(i) increase in quiescent myocytes was not affected either by sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ depletion with ryanodine or by SR Ca2+ depletion and concomitant superfusion with a Ca2+-free buffer. In unstimulated intact myocytes hypercarbia increased Ca(m) from 95 +/- 12 to 147 +/- 19 nM and this response was not modified either by ryanodine and a Ca2+-free buffer or by 50 muM ruthenium red in order to block the mitochondrial uniporter. In mitochondrial suspensions loaded either with BCECF/AM or indo-1/AM, acidosis produced by lactic acid addition decreased both intra- and extramitochondrial pH and increased Ca(m). Studies of mitochondrial suspensions bathed in indo-1/free acid-containing solution showed an increase in extramitochondrial Ca2+ after the addition of lactic acid. Thus, in quiescent myocytes, cytoplasmic and intramitochondrial buffers, rather than transsarcolemmal Ca2+ influx or SR Ca2+ release, are the likely Ca2+ sources for the increase in Ca(i) and Ca(m), respectively; additionally, Ca2+ efflux from the mitochondria may contribute to the raise in Ca(i). In contrast, in response to acidosis, diastolic Ca(i) in electrically stimulated myocytes increases more than resting Ca(i) in quiescent cells; this suggests that during pacing, net cell Ca2+ gain contributes to enhance diastolic Ca(i).