Photoaffinity labeling of the ryanodine receptor/Ca2+ release channel with an azido derivative of ryanodine.

Ryanodine receptors/Ca2+ release channels play an important role in regulating the intracellular free calcium concentrations in both muscle and nonmuscle cells. Ryanodine, a neutral plant alkaloid, specifically binds to and modulates these Ca2+ release channels. In the work described here, we characterize the interaction of a tritium-labeled, photoactivable derivative of ryanodine (3H-labeled 10-O-[3-(4-azidobenzamido)propionyl]ryanodine ([3H]ABRy)) with the ryanodine receptor of skeletal, cardiac, and brain membranes. Scatchard analysis demonstrates that this ligand binds to a single class of high affinity sites in skeletal muscle triads. Furthermore, competition binding assays of [3H]ryanodine with skeletal, cardiac, and brain membranes in the presence of increasing concentrations of unlabeled ABRy illustrate that this azido derivative of ryanodine is able to specifically displace [3H]ryanodine from its binding site(s). Analysis of the effects of Ca2+, ATP, and KCl on [3H]ABRy binding in triad membranes shows a similar modulation of binding to that seen in these membranes with [3H]ryanodine. Photoaffinity labeling of triads with [3H]ABRy resulted in specific and covalent incorporation of [3H]ABRy into a 565-kDa protein that was shown to be the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor. Digestion of the labeled ryanodine receptor revealed a [3H]ABRy-labeled 76-kDa tryptic fragment that was identified with an antibody directed against the COOH-terminal of the receptor. These results demonstrate that the 76-kDa COOH-terminal tryptic fragment contains the high affinity binding site for ryanodine.

Radioimmunoassay for the calcium release channel agonist ryanodine.

A novel photo-activatable derivative of ryanodine, 9-hydroxy-21-(4-azidobenzoyloxy)-9-epiryanodine, has been synthesized and conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin for the production of antibodies with high affinity and specificity to ryanodine. The anti-ryanodine antibodies reacted specifically on immunoblots with the azido-ryanodine compound covalently conjugated to bovine serum albumin. A radioimmunoassay specific for ryanodine was developed using the anti-ryanodine antibodies, and a dissociation constant for ryanodine of 1 nM was determined. Half-maximal inhibition constants (IC50) for various ryanodine derivatives were found to range between 3.2 and 200 nM. These IC50 values correlated very well with the IC50 values obtained for the compounds binding to the skeletal muscle membrane receptor. These antibodies should be useful for the characterization of the ryanodine binding site on the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release channel.