CYCLIC-GMP-DEPENDENT REFILLING OF CALCIUM STORES IN MACROPHAGES

The effects of cyclic GMP on the release of calcium from intracellular stores, induced in murine peritoneal macrophages by either ATP or platelet-activating factor, were studied by microfluorimetry with fura-2. When macrophages were incubated for 10-20 min with 10-mu-M LY83583, an inhibitor of guanylate cyclase, the rise in intracellular calcium induced by agonist application was strongly depressed. This inhibition of the response to platelet-activating factor could be reversed by the addition of 0.1 mM cyclic 8-bromo-GMP. In the presence of cyclic 8-bromo-GMP, the decay of the calcium transient was speeded. Furthermore, when two calcium transients were evoked within 1 min by stimulating the cells with 10-mu-M ATP, the second calcium transient was more depressed than the first one in the presence of LY83583. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that cyclic GMP is necessary for the activation of the calcium pump of the intracellular stores.