CHARACTERIZATION OF RECEPTOR-MEDIATED AND STORE-REGULATED CA2+ INFLUX IN HUMAN NEUTROPHILS

1. It is not known to what extent the emptying of intracellular Ca2+ stores participates in the mediation of chemoattractant-induced Ca2+ influx in human neutrophils. To study this question, we compared the properties of bivalent-cation influx in response to the chemoattractant N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (f-MLP) and to the microsomal Ca2+-ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin. 2. The influx pathway activated by f-MLP and thapsigargin had identical properties of permeation. Mn2+ influx became saturated at around 1 mM extracellular Mn2+, whereas Ca2+ influx did not become saturated up to concentrations of 10 mM. 3. The influx of the two bivalent cations, Mn2+ and Ca2+ activation. 4. The Mn2+ influx activated by f-MLP and thapsigargin was blocked, with identical dose-inhibition curves, by four imidazole analogues. 5. The same relationship between the emptying of Ca2+ stores and bivalent-cation influx was observed for f-MLP and thapsigargin, with a half-maximal activation of the influx of 40% emptying of intracellular stores. 6. In conclusion, neutrophils possess a single type of Ca2+-influx pathway that is activated by receptor agonists and by store depletion. Receptor agonists activate this influx pathway to a large extent, if not completely, through the depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores.