Increased responsiveness of rat mast cells to compound 48/80 due to removal of extracellular magnesium. Effects of ouabain and EGTA

Abstract

A decreased secretory response of mast cells to compound 48/80 (12% of control value) after preincubation of the cells with magnesium but without calcium was partially restored by removal of magnesium. EGTA (10 microM) blocked the restoration and decreased the restored secretory activity again, while this was further increased by ouabain (1 mM). Furthermore, ouabain completely restored the decreased secretion (50% of control value) due to preincubation without the divalent cations. This may indicate that magnesium influences a pool of cellular calcium that is involved in the stimulus-secretion coupling and is available to EGTA, and ouabain did not counteract the inhibitory mechanism of magnesium.