Functional aspects of calcium transport in sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles derived from frog skeletal muscle treated with saponin

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Abstract
To study the physiological aspects of the excitation-contraction cycle, saponin (10–100Μg ml−1) was used as a skinning agent on muscle and sarcotubular vesicles derived from fast muscles (sartorius and tibialis anterior) ofRana esculenta. The vesicles showed similar Ca2+-ATPase activity and similar protein profiles carried out by SDS-PAGE. Calcium transport in untreated vesicles and those treated with different concentrations of saponin seemed to have the same quantitative and qualitative parameters if the saponin was used in a range between 10 and 50Μg ml−1. Our results confirm that saponin may be considered to be a valid skinning agent for the external membranes of fast skeletal muscles.