Summary
The Ca2+-stimulated release of vesicle contents from cortical fragments prepared from sea urchin eggs is an in vitro model for exocytosis. Cortical fragments have been isolated either in suspension (cell surface complex, CSC preparation), or attached to polycation-coated surfaces (cortical lawn, CL preparation). CL, but not CSC, have been reported to undergo a rapid “aging” process whereby they fail to respond to micromolar free Ca2+. Since, in principle, the only difference between the two preparations is the use of polycations in the CL preparation, polycations were suspected of being inhibitory. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating the effects of polycation-containing buffers on the Ca2+ threshold, rate, and extent of exocytosis in CL prepared from the eggs ofStrongylocentrotus purpuratus. A sensitive microphotometric assay, based on light scattering by the individual cortical vesicles in the CL, was used to quantitate the exocytotic response. Buffers containing polylysine were found to be potent inhibitors of cortical exocytosis. The Ca2+ threshold of CL that had been treated for 15 min at room temperature with 50 μg/ml of polylysine was more than three orders of magnitude greater than that of freshly prepared CL. The other polycations tested (protamine, spermine and neomycin) were also found to be inhibitory, but to a lesser degree than polylysine. Two lines of evidence suggested that the polycations used in the preparation of CL are responsible for the rapid “aging” phenomenon: (i) CSC fragments that had been affixed to polylysine-coated coverslips were shown to aquire “aging” characteristics similar to the CL preparations; control CSC that had been maintained in suspension did not. (ii) Radiolabeled poly-l-lysine was shown to dissociate from coated coverslips and redistribute onto CL.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, W., Harthill, J.E., Rahmatalla, R. 1980. The influence of molecular size and pH on the macrocationic inhibition of pepsin by polylysine.J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 32:248–255
Baker, P.E., Knight, D.E. 1978. Calcium-dependent exocytosis in bovine adrenal medullary cells with leaky plasma membranes.Nature (London) 276:620–622
Baker, P.F., Knight, D.E., Whitaker, M.J. 1980. The relation between ionized calcium and cortical granule exocytosis in eggs of the sea urchinEchinus esculentus.Proc. R. Soc. London B207:149–161
Baker, P.F., Whitaker, M.J. 1978. Influence of ATP and calcium on the cortical reaction in sea urchin eggs.Nature (London) 276:513–515
Ballas, S.K., Mohandas, N., Marton, L.J., Shohet, S.B. 1983. Stabilization of erythrocyte membranes by polyamines.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80:1942–1946
Crabb, J.H., Jackson, R.C. 1985.In vitro reconstitution of exocytosis from plasma membrane and isolated secretory vesicles.J. Cell. Biol. 101:2263–2273
Decker, G.L., Lennarz, W.J. 1979. Sperm binding and fertilization envelope formation in a cell surface complex isolated from sea urchin eggs.J. Cell Biol. 81:92–103
Detering, N.K., Decker, G.L., Schmell, E.L., Lennarz, W.J. 1977. Isolation and characterization of plasma membrane-associated cortical granules from sea urchin eggs.J. Cell Biol. 75:899–914
Dottavio-Martin, D., Ravel, J.M. 1978. Radiolabeling of proteins by reductive alkylation with [14C] formaldehyde and sodium cyanoborohydride.Anal. Biochem. 87:562–565
Haggerty, J.G., Jackson, R.C. 1983. Release of granule contents from sea urchin egg cortices: New assay procedures and inhibition by sulfhydryl-modifying reagents.J. Biol. Chem. 258:1819–1825
Hostetler, K.Y. 1984. Molecular studies of the induction of cellular phospholipidosis by cationic amphiphilic drugs.Fed. Proc. 43:2582–2585
Hostetler, K.Y., Matsuzawa, Y. 1981. Studies on the mechanism of drug induced lipidosis: Cationic amphiphilic drug inhibition of lysosomal phospholipases A and C.Biochem. Pharmacol. 30:1121–1126
Itano, T., Itano, R., Penniston, J.T. 1980. Interactions of basic polypeptides and proteins with calmodulin.Biochem. J. 189:455–459
Jackson, R.C., Ward, K.K., Haggerty, J.G. Mild proteolytic digestion restores exocytotic activity to N-ethylmaleimide-inactivated cell surface complex from sea urchin eggs.J. Cell Biol. 101:6–11, (correction:101:1167)
Kelly, R.B., Deutsch, J.W., Carlson, S.S., Wagner, J.A. 1979. The biochemistry of neurotransmitter release.Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 2:399–446
Moy, G.W., Kopf, G.S., Gache, C., Vacquier, V.D. 1983. Calcium-mediated release of glucanase activity from cortical granules of sea urchin eggs.Dev. Biol. 100:267–274
Nakai, C., Glinsman, W. 1977a. Interaction between polyamines and nucleotides.Biochemistry 16:5637–5640
Nakai, C., Glinsmann, E. 1977b. Effects of polyamines on nucleosidediphosphate kinase activity.Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 74:1419–1425
Nakas, N., Graff, G. 1982. Inhibitory activity of polyamine on phopholipase C from human platelets.Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 109:1035–1040
Qi, D-F., Schatzman, R.C., Massei, G.J., Turner, R.S., Raynor, R.L., Liao, S., Kuo, J.F. 1983. Polyamines inhibit phospholipid-sensitive and calmodulin-sensitive calcium-dependent protein kinases.Biochem. J. 213:281–288
Reasor, M.J. 1984. Phospholipidosis in alveolar macrophages induced by cationic amphiphilic drugs.Fed. Proc. 43:2578–2581
Rubin, R.P. 1982. Calcium and Cellular Secretion. Plenum, New York
Sasaki, H. 1984. Modulation of calcium sensitivity by a specific cortical protein during sea urchin egg cortical vesicle exocytosis.Dev. Biol. 101:125–135
Sasaki, H., Epel, D. 1983. Cortical vesicle exocytosis in isolated cortices of sea urchin eggs: Description of a turbidimetric assay and its utilization in studying effects of different media on discharge.Dev. Biol. 98:327–337
Schon, E.A., Decker, G.L. 1981. Ion-dependent stages of the cortical reaction in surface complexes isolated fromArbacia puntulata eggs.J. Ultrastruc. Res. 76:191–201
Sechi, A.M., Cabrini, L., Landi, L., Pasquali, P., Lennaz, G. 1978. Inhibition of phospholipase A2 and phospholipase C by polyamines.Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 186:248–254
Seydel, J.K., Wasserman, O. 1976. NMR studies on the molecular basis of drug induced phospholipidosis II.Biochem. Pharmacol. 25:2357–2364
Steinhardt, R., Zucker, R., Schatten, G. 1977. Intracellular calcium release at fertilization in the sea urchin egg.Dev. Biol. 58:185–196
Steinhardt, R.A., Alderton, J.M. 1982. Calmodulin confers calcium sensitivity on secretory exocytosis.Nature (London) 295:154–155
Steinhardt, R.A., Alderton, J. 1983. Calmodulin restores calcium sensitivity to secretory exocytosis in “aged” preparations.J. Cell Biol. 97:172a
Vacquier, V.D. 1975. The isolation of intact cortical granules from sea urchin eggs. Calcium ions trigger granule discharge.Dev. Biol. 43:62–74
Whitaker, M., Aitchison, M. 1985. Calcium-dependent polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis is associated with exocytosis in vitro.FEBS Lett. 182:119–124
Whitaker, M.J., Baker, P.F. 1983. Calcium-dependent exocytosis in anin vitro secretory granule plasma membrane preparation from sea urchin eggs and the effects of some inhibitors of cytoskeletal function.Proc. R. Soc. London B 218:397–413
Yip, L.C., Balis, M.E. 1980. Polyamine-polyphosphate complexes as enzyme inhibitors.Biochemistry 19:1849–1856
Zimmerberg, J., Sardet, C., Epel, D. 1985. Exocytosis of sea urchin cortical vesiclesin vitro is retarded by hyperosmotic sucrose: Kinetics of fusion monitored by quantitative light-scattering microscopy.J. Cell Biol. 101:2398–2410
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Crabb, J.H., Jackson, R.C. Polycation inhibition of exocytosis from sea urchin egg cortex. J. Membrain Biol. 91, 85–96 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01870218
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01870218